1. Kick-off

Global campaigns, cheeky sticker packs, brand illustration and motion systems – they all need to start somewhere. Cue the project kick-off, a meeting to set everyone up for success. 

Here, you'll meet your dedicated creative team, director and producer and spend time aligning on the creative goals for your project. You'll also be guided through the production process to ensure that the creative review and feedback plan works for you.

2. Style Development & Design

Whether it's devising original creative or jumping off from existing style guidelines, at this stage the creative team will establish the best visual language for your project. 

Outputs might include mood boards, character sheets, style frames, colour palettes or concept art.

4. Storyboard & Animatic

At this point the script is translated into rough visuals. The storyboard sketches out all of the key scenes, shots and actions for the animation, while an animatic plots this against a timeline so you can get a feel for the pacing, camera angles, transitions and overall duration of the piece.

5. Production

Time for your animation team to really get stuck in. In this joyful phase, the design and story framework that’s been established in the pre-production stages is animated shot-by-shot. 

Depending on the style of animation, this might be linework and artworking for hand-drawn animation (also known as cel) or character rigging followed by animation for 2D vector or 3D animation.

With the animation in place, it’s then time to fine-tune the lighting, colours, textures and finishes into the final, polished product.

6. Midway Retro

With production underway, this is when your dedicated account manager will meet with you away from the bustle and fizz of production calls to find out how you’re finding the partnership on a more holistic level. 

Here at Animade we’ve found this to be a priceless session, creating some of the most meaningful relationships that have spanned many projects over the years. It allows us to have an open and candid check-in, making room to adjust ways of working or sharing for the next phases of production. 

When we say collaboration, we mean it – we know one size doesn't fit all.

7. Sound Design & Composition

While this isn’t called for on every project, sound has the power to enhance any animation. Building the soundscape whilst creating the visual opens up an even richer dynamic, adding a new dimension to your work to help it fly. 

You may or may not already have sound to bring to your animation team. At Animade, we have a network of trusted studios who can provide carefully selected library tracks or bespoke compositions and sound designs, if needed.

8. Render & Delivery

Once you’re happy, your animation team set their machines a-whirring to render out all your deliverables to the highest quality before sending them over, right on schedule of course!