Director/animator Joe Donaldson: “I was recently commissioned by The New Yorker to direct, design, and animate a pilot series of three animated visual essays. The first film features the great Leonard Cohen as he reflects on death and preparing for the end. [Watch]
Holdframe is a new platform for the animation and motion design community offering a curated collection of project files to purchase for educational purposes from top designers and directors. [Watch]
Sophomore level animation students at Ringling College of Art and Design (class of 2020) team up to “pay tribute to Carl Sagan and spread a message of positivity in such divisive times.” [Watch]
Buck LA art director Joe Donaldson teams with audio mavens Antfood to answer UNICEF’s call for a short, shareable animation to bring awareness to the conditions faced by victims of the recent earthquakes in Nepal. [Watch]
The all-Brooklyn duo of Joe Donaldson and Jay Quercia take inspiration from the Magnus typeface for their stab at Animography’s monthly animation project.
“We didn’t have any preconceived notions of doing a film noir style short. Typically, the Animography monthlies are very short visual-based explorations primarily using typography.
“From the beginning we knew we wanted to shape our story around the Magnus typeface but at the same time we didn’t want to make it just about the type itself. Early on in the development stage we observed that the way the type animates on is similar to the movement of opening and closing blinds so windows and blinds became the root of our idea.
“Soon after we landed on the noir genre and consequently built the story around the theme of high contrast lighting, corruption and a tortured detective. Overall, it was a great experience in focusing on style while also reaching further into the realm of storytelling.” [Watch]
An tale of unexpected love and how opposites attract told with illustrative poise by Brooklyn freelance animator/designer Joe Donaldson (who counts Digital Kitchen, The Mill and Buck among his clients) for The New York Times and their Modern Love column. “Typically, I work in the world of advertising and motion [Watch]
