It’s one thing to illustrate something, it’s quite another to bring it to life. That’s the tricky part of storytelling, and it’s why we love Aaron, our motion designer. He literally brings our clients’ stories to life through animation.
While creating an animation is a full team undertaking at 2A, Aaron brings the unexpected playfulness that make them so engaging for viewers. Not only is he an all-in-one illustrator plus animator, he’s also a natural marketer. He’s an expert at conveying technical concepts through a compelling visual narrative in a way that’s easy to understand.
His illustrations capture the heart of the story
Aaron portrays the world around him through sketches. His notebook is full of fluid line drawings in pencil, depicting everything from food trucks to floating heads. His keen sense of his surroundings keeps our designs fresh and our images current.
Aaron refined his illustration talents at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he received his BFA. He has screened his work—Dwellings and Bric-a-brac to name a few—in various galleries and festivals, including the Ann Arbor Film Festival, New York City’s Animation Block Party and the Northwest Film Forum.
He’s got the right flow for animations
While animation effortlessly tells the story, Aaron’s process to bring images to life is pretty labor-intensive. Motion designing—the final phase in creating animations—involves Aaron adding motion to illustrations on one screen, while viewing a giant sequencing chart on the other, to get the story just right. But he makes it look easy.
Aaron knows how to conjure emotion and entertain the viewer by balancing the right amounts of story and flow. How many motion designers can make viewers swoon for oysters? In a 25-second loop, Aaron merged the creative genius of The Big Lebowski, Rube Goldberg and a Victorian era favorite, the zoopraxioscope. A nautical Pacific Northwest scene was the perfect setting for his animation that gave some flare to our Aw Shucks Party.
He seizes marketing challenges
Aaron knows the value of an engaged audience. When creating an animation to achieve a marketing goal, he never loses sight of the main message, and develops visual concepts to make it pop. His storytelling abilities go beyond illustrations and motion design: Aaron has a way with words and helps craft scripts to elevate clients’ messaging. Most of the animations 2A produces involve highly technical subject matter (like this one about Azure Cosmos DB), which Aaron helps communicate smoothly and with personality.
We’re pretty emotional about Aaron and his motion designs. We’ll let him tug at our heartstrings any day. Got a story you need brought to life through animation? Send us an email and let’s talk.