These Two Animators Have Made Films, Puzzles, Art, A Life Together

When Haein Kim and Paul Rhodes met over a decade ago, they were working together on a university assignment to make a music video as part of their animation degree.

“We’ve just been joined at the hip ever since,” Haein told LBB. “We’ve done every single thing together, basically, from uni.”

The pair didn’t just hit it off creatively. They soon began dating and slowly developed a laundry list of projects together.

“We decided we wanted to have a go at freelancing,” she continued.

“We’ve freelanced, we’ve worked at different companies, but we’ve done everything together.”

Now animation directors at the Melbourne animation production collective, Robot Fights Monster, the duo are embarking on a new chapter of their creative journey. They have spent 11 years together, and are now engaged.

“When I first met Paul, I remember thinking, ‘This guy is so passionate,’” Haein said.

“I really admired that quality of drive and motivation, because I don't feel like a lot of people have that during uni days.

“I still think he’s like that. Always tinkering away at stuff. Obviously, we're both older now and at different life stages, but Paul is still so interesting – the way he can see an opportunity anywhere, one little glimmer of something, and he goes insane with his creative thoughts and stuff.

“He is really, really collaborative, whereas I tend to work by myself. Paul wants to work with everyone and anyone, like he is so genuinely excited to work with new, talented people.”

But for Paul, Haein is the artist he always wants to work with the most.

“Haein is super talented and extremely sweet, and her work is so honest,” Paul said.

“It's like a reflection of her identity. I think I find that really inspiring, and that's what makes me want to work with her, because her work is always just 100% Haein.

“I think that's super hard to do as an artist. Developing a skill or craft is relatively easy if you devote enough hours to it, but having a point of view or something to say, not so much.

“She's just always had that ever since I've known her.”

Together, Haein and Paul have put on art shows, developed risographs, and made merchandise, rugs, and illustrations. Most notably, they have been involved in a handful of short film projects, including Paul’s ‘Best Friend Style’, which was featured on Adult Swim.

“We've made a few films, and our uni film did really well,” Haein said.

“It gave us quite a lot of opportunities, and since then, Paul came out with a really great film called ‘Best Friend Style’, which I really want to turn into an anthology or a series or something.”

The film came about serendipitously, Paul explained, after chatting about ideas in a pub with a fellow animator.

“I’d just made a deck of a little short film, and then flicked it to him. At that point, it was an idea that had lived in my head for a while. Putting it down in a pitch deck was the first time seeing it on paper.

“It was a real ‘Shit, this is actually happening’ moment.”

More recently, Haein and Paul have shifted to more physical media, becoming interested in designing everything from puzzles to hats.

“He's trying to bring the trucker hats back in the Von Dutch style,” Haein laughed.

“We're trying to make toys as well, and hope to break into the fashion industry. After starting off in animation, we've evolved into so many different spaces.”

Haein credits their robust collaborative style with being able to pick up any part of the production pipeline.

“We tend to take on different, specific roles when we're working on animation together,” she said.

“Paul can do sound design, which I can’t, but we can otherwise both do the whole pipeline.”

And since they started working together, that pipeline has become more complex and demanding.

“It’s interesting,” Paul noted, “because at uni, you learn the animation pipeline. But when you leave, the pipeline grows. You have to learn how to pitch, how to talk to people about yourself, and how to amplify your projects. You don’t just put out the project, but you do all the media around it. You just have to learn as you go.”

When it comes to animation, the pair like to play to their strengths.

“For example, I tend to do character designs, and Paul usually does background designs,” Haein said. “Paul will do pretty much all the pre-production stuff, like animatics and storyboarding, and then post as well, whereas I kind of do more of the nitty-gritty animation stuff.”

Their combined creative efforts recently metastasised into a web store called PPANG, a creative space where they can experiment without fear of failure.

“We've been evolving over the past few years, really getting into our niche style,” Haein said, crediting PPANG with helping them break new creative territory.

“It blurs the line between fine art and merch,” Paul added.

“Haein and I love art. We love going to galleries, we love the art world. We're super inspired by it, but we also feel that sometimes it can be a bit too serious and a bit boring.

“The artists we’re drawn to are people who have a little bit more of a cheeky attitude, are a bit bolder, and whose art demands your respect. When you walk into the room, it sort of has a lot of energy and grabs your attention.”

Looking ahead, Haein and Paul are enthusiastic about the next chapter of their creative lives with Robot Fights Monster, where they are reuniting with executive producer Graham Pryor.

“We’ve known Graham for years,” Haein said.

“We have a really great relationship, and I really trust he knows what he's doing. I’m really excited about all the things we can do together. He’s been really supportive of our work, and not just in animation.”

Paul also stressed he hopes their work at Robot Fights Monster will be an extension of themselves.

“[Graham]’s a great producer, in the sense that he can just roll with the punches,” he said.

“I’m really inspired by that attitude of, ‘We've never done it before, but let's just do it and see what happens.’

“With bigger projects, bigger budgets, and a bigger team to collaborate with – I’m super excited.”