ABOUT

I had the pleasure of working with production and content marketing agency Hurricane Media back in June this year. At least once a year they do some charitable work, and this year had taken it upon themselves to create an animation for Together For Short Lives – a fantastic charity who support, love and care for children with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions.

Hurricane Media contacted me as they thought my illustration/animation style was well suited to the project. I went to their office and we discussed mood boards and the storyboards that they had written. They wanted a emotional and engaging piece, aiming to raise the profile and fundraising potential of Together for Short Lives, and to connect emotionally with the target end-users – parents, carers and health workers.

Hurricane MD, Jon Mowat interviewed a number of families about their experiences of receiving their child’s diagnosis and coping with the news that their child has a life-limiting condition. A common thread began to appear – from “being cast adrift” when parents heard this news, to feeling “grounded” and supported by children’s hospice and palliative care services and by calling the Together for Short Lives family helpline.

Creative Director, John Lanyon turned these experiences into a poignant, yet uplifting script vividly delivered by Bristol actor, Jessica Macdonald. I was then given the task to design characters, backgrounds and to start creating the short hand-drawn film! I regularly updated Hurricane Media with my progress and we discussed style and script ideas along the way.