150 Years of Impressionism
Concept Art · Character Design · Art Direction · 2D Animation
Created for the Musée d'Orsay in Paris as part of the celebration of 150 years of Impressionism. The piece was developed as the opening film for one of the museum's talks during the 2024 anniversary program.
CONCEPT
The film follows a small character travelling through the four seasons, painting and transforming the landscape around him along the way.
We wanted to draw from the way Impressionist artists observed nature, light and the changing environment, using those ideas as the foundation for the world and the character's journey.
PROCESS
We began by exploring the museum's collection and studying works by artists including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro.
Their use of color, texture, light and landscape became an important reference throughout the project.
From there, we developed the character and explored ways of translating elements from the paintings into a moving world. Each season was given its own visual language, while keeping the character and the overall journey consistent.
Once the character direction was established, we moved into styleframes and animation, combining painted textures with simple character movement to bring the environments to life.
first concept of the character
STILLFRAMES