Adobe MAX 2024 Creativity Award Honoree — Animation

The client's goal was to create a fun and catchy song to stimulate young kids and teens to brush their teeth, along with a cheerful music video that visually represented and complemented the carefree mood and all the cheesy puns of the lyrics. My starting point were the music and the lyrics, and I had total creative freedom on everything, from storyboarding to illustration style and final animation.

Everything was designed in Adobe Illustrator and animated in After Effects, with the help of some essential plugins (such as Rubberhose and Overlord). The final look with the mix of flat and shaded elements was obtained using mostly layer styles and native effects. For the animations I used a wide range of techniques, but mostly the "path follow nulls" function, used for both character and type animations.

Artist bio

Hi! I'm Gabriele Calvi, a motion designer and animation director based in Italy. Since 2014, I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with national and international clients and studios. I specialize in creating animated videos characterized by a clean, geometric style. With a background in graphic design, I’ve always worked as a freelancer, focusing on a design-driven approach to animation. My goal is to visually represent ideas in unique and impactful ways, tailoring my work to perfectly match each client’s needs and tone. I’m also passionate about music, which influences my work. Rhythm and pacing are key elements I carefully integrate into my creative process. When I’m not animating, you can find me playing drums in my noise-rock band Mooth.