Art Direction & Illustration
The illustration and animation were commissioned to explain how biobanks support cancer research.
My role was to illustrate complex concepts for animation in a clear, transparent and human way, to help patients and the wider public see the real-world impact of participation. The video was edited and animated in-house by the CH Video team. I created illustrations, detailed static frames and suggested ways to animate and transitions for each line in the script.
The illustrations were animated in-house by CH Video and formed a roughly 1 minute animated sequence of a total of a 2.5 minute film. The film was created for the King's Health Partners in association with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
I worked digitally using the Adobe suite (Illustrator and After Effects). Although the brief deliberately mentioned the visuals of the samples and cells do not need to be scientifically accurate, I spent a bit of time researching how cells from each sample category look in real life looking at online photos and videos taken under a microscope. I then applied textures and bold colours to create a rich micro universe of made-up cells to help tell the story.
My role: Illustration, Art Direction
Editing and animation: Aidan Patterson, Sam Thorpe
Producers: Madeline Razzell, Ashleigh Chahin
Production Company: CH Video
Producers: Madeline Razzell, Ashleigh Chahin
Production Company: CH Video
Client: King's Health Partners Cancer Biobank
The concept was to visualise the journey of cell samples: from the moment they are collected, through processing and storage, to the point where they are placed in Petri dishes for treatment testing and later used and stored by researchers. The aim was to make this complex pathway easy to follow and visually coherent.
Although the brief deliberately mentioned the visuals of the samples and cells do not have to be scientifically accurate, I spent a bit of time researching how cells from each sample category look in real life looking at online photos and videos taken under a microscope.
I even got to see some incredible photography and biomedical imaging at the Wellcome Photography Prize exhibition at Francis Crick Institute in London (perfect timing for this project).
I then drew my own versions of each sample and applied textures and bold colours to differentiate each category and to create a rich micro universe of made-up cells to help tell the story.
The intricate 2D illustrations of the ‘made-up’ magnified cells were presented as if viewed through a microscope lens, to immerse the audience in this microscopic world while clearly communicating each stage of the process.
Need a Freelance 2D Character Illustrator & Animator for your character based Explainer Video? Get in touch hello@afoxonabox.com
