Animation Is The Best Choreography Without Real-World Limits

“After working my second [graphic design] internship designing Kool-Aid packaging and tampon boxes, I knew I had to pivot quickly. I had an opportunity to jump into After Effects and at least make those tampons dance. Thus began a career in motion design.”

With over 15 years of experience in graphic design, 3D, and animation, Ronny Young always knew that his talent for drawing would be integral to his career path. But after earning a graphic design degree, he found his true calling bringing designs to life for the likes of design firm LPK and Cincinnati's “local ivory tower”, Lightborne.

Now the president of his Kentucky-based motion design studio OddBeast, he leads a team that creates engaging and realistic visuals for global brands such as Old Spice, Gillette, John Frieda, Bioré, Mentos, and more. Also with experience as a creative director, he’s served as a mentor to the local community of up-and-coming animators.

Speaking to LBB, Ronny discusses his professional journey so far, the work he’s proudest of, and the importance of being a reliable resource who loves what they do.

LBB> What’s the key to animation that really lives and, excuse the pun, moves people? How can you study movement effectively?

Ronny> Pun forgiven! Who doesn’t love a good pun?

As an animator, you must observe the world around you. How does a heavy object move? What about a bouncy ball versus a lead ball? How do people move? But, more importantly, how do people expect things to move? You need a solid grasp of physics in order to replicate it. Once you understand, only then can you break those rules.

Study the OG Disney animators and the 12 Principles of Animation. These are core concepts in any animator's toolkit. Some are more useful than others, at least for me in my career. Motion can help or hinder the story you’re trying to tell. Remember back to how snake-like Jafar could be!? Or how the stone giants move in ‘Frozen 2’ compared to Bruni, the quick little fire salamander. Or think about Godzilla! We know that larger objects move more slowly than smaller ones. As an animator, you need to understand this.

Animation is like the best choreography, but without real-world limits! Everything is planned and beautifully executed, but we get to do things you simply can’t do in the real world. We get to exaggerate life and overemphasise the story we’re telling.

^{Above: OddBeast Launch Video}

LBB> What kinds of projects do you personally enjoy working on? How would you describe your design style and creative process? Is this where the ‘OddBeast’ oddness comes into play?

Ronny> Blown away as kids watching ILM in the ‘90s and early 2000s, I think we’re all in love with making things look beautiful, high-end, realistic and just crazy cool. Think Davy Jones from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest’ which is crazy cool and still holds up. Or think about the T. rex scene from ‘Jurassic Park’ and how impactful that was. We want to make an impact like that.

I enjoy working on product stuff, which lends itself well to 3D animation. I also really enjoy automotive work, and would love to do more of that! Of course, I know we could go make more passion projects around automotive to demonstrate our chops, but who has time when you’re busy with paid work already? It’s a balancing act.

OddBeast’s creative process, which we’ve honed after learning from the pain of past projects, is more buttoned up year after year. By recognising which pitfalls are coming, we can pivot quickly and adapt, alerting clients to potential snags before they become major problems. This is the #1 thing we’ve learned.

Our Oddness is hard to quantify, but those that spend any amount of time with us immediately get it!

LBB> What’s the most memorable, or creatively interesting project you’ve worked on recently? Tell us a bit about how you brought it to life!

Ronny> We recently created some really nice work for iRobot that will be rolling out in the near future; some already has. The amount of deliverables is insane, the most we’ve ever delivered for a single project. Spanning fully CGI animated videos to product stills to GIFs, we touched almost every part of their new robot product launch.

Sterling Brands, iRobot’s agency, was our client, so we worked very closely with that team and helped guide them to a better end result. This involved constant standing meetings, many Zoom calls, late nights and holiday work, so we essentially killed ourselves for this job, but we’re very proud of our work.

LBB> How is your craft evolving? What new technologies or practices are shaping the future of your process?

Ronny> Of course, we’re keeping an eye on AI and using it only when it makes sense. An example here is the use of [AI media generation tool] Runway on a holiday commercial we worked on for Buffalo Trace. In this case, Runway added movement to old family photos. This, in turn, allowed the camera crew to capture raw, authentic reactions on set.

Another area that’s evolving for us is rendering. We’re now directly connected to OTOY, the creators of our render engine of choice. And with this new connection, they’ve given us a grant to use their RNDR network for all of our studio’s rendering needs. This allows us to work longer and render later in the pipeline, so we can tweak to our hearts’ desire. OTOY’s RNDR network is so fast, we’re hooked. We KNOW we need it now – haha! We actually couldn’t have done some of our latest projects for John Frieda without the RNDR network.

LBB> What other work have you recently been proud of?

Ronny> Admittedly, running my studio means I don’t have the time to animate that much anymore, as I find myself in sales calls and inside Figma creating statements of work. That said, here’s a list of the work I’m most proud of from our studio lately.

- The entire iRobot refresh launch campaign: These videos are slowly trickling out as iRobot reveals their new product lines. Shout out to Sterling Brands for the close partnership and for looping us in on this one!

- Hello Sunday lip balm OOH.

- OddBeast’s launch video - Of course, I still love this!

- Some fun stuff with GREY Midwest and Febreze.

- We’re also working on some upcoming Olay and Secret animations for P&G. Be on the lookout for those!

LBB> What advice would you give to up-and-coming animators and motion design artists?

Ronny> Don’t shy away from AI. It’s here and it’ll change the landscape. Try to use it to bring your vision to life. This industry is going to look very different in five years. Plan for the worst, but hope for the best. Learn it!

Look to professional photographers for lighting guidance, tips and tricks. Look to science and technology for inspiration.

And if you don’t love it (and I mean actually love it), don’t waste too much time in this space. I’ve seen too many friends spend money on school to be a designer or animator, only to end up working a job outside their degree. It’s not worth it! If your gut isn’t feeling it, I would listen to that.

For those of you who do love this space, lean in and run at full speed! With hard work and the willingness to be a reliable resource, you’ll be just fine. Please note – reliable means you always come through! If you do what you say you’re going to do, you’ll be fine (yes, that means the rare all-nighter if you can’t budget your time well).