In 2022, 1,920 people were killed or seriously injured in drink-driving-related collisions, with young men disproportionately affected. To address this, The UK Government and Department of Transport road safety body THINK! has launched a winter campaign using bold visuals to emphasize that even a little alcohol can risk your licence, freedom, and safety.
In collaboration with design agency VML, Tim McDonagh depicted a whirlpool of beer in a pint glass, into which a young male subject, and his driver’s license, is falling. Tasked with creating animation-ready artwork, Tim meticulously hand-inked the watery scene and its movable elements, before assembling the composition in photoshop to add colour and depth.
Bristol based animation studio Yatta then joined the process to bring Tim’s vision to life as a 15-second animation. Since multiple hand-rendered keyframes would surely break Tim, Yatta turned to a 3D mapping process- creating a 3D model of the scene and overlaying Tim’s artwork giving it dynamic movement.
Targeting young male drivers, the campaign's stylised character featured a range of terrified expressions and lifelike paddling, thanks to Yatta’s expertise. They also managed sound design (we can't verify, but hope a paddling pool was involved in the splashing sounds) and typography, delivering assets for Snapchat, Reddit, Instagram, YouTube, pubs, and radio ads airing on Kiss and TalkSPORT.
You can follow some key steps in the process below:
Tim McDonagh brought the client briefing to life with two bold concepts: a wave and a whirlpool. The whirlpool’s dynamic composition and animation potential quickly stole the show. Once approved, Tim delved into detailed inking, presenting alternate poses and expressions for feedback.
The final pose evolved into two distinct character routes - one for OOH (posters and print) and another for social media. After exploring various color options, a limited palette was chosen, and Tim polished the illustration to his usual high level of detail. Meanwhile, Yatta studio took the reins on animation.
Using Tim’s sketches, Yatta crafted a 3D whirlpool model, mapping the character with precision. In an innovative twist, their animation team created a 360-degree perspective of the character from a single keyframe, allowing for fully articulated movement.
With Tim's illustration as a guide, Yatta infused life into every reflection, bubble, and splash, producing intricate animations optimised for Think!'s online and social media campaign. Keep scrolling to dive into the final result!
