Barker Museum Animation Project

Literally bringing toys to life.

Barker first approached me about creating something special for their museum after COVID-19 hit. They wanted to attract more visitors online, specifically those of the Y2K crowd. After a few meetings, we decided to create a series of animations using toys in the museum.

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After some careful storyboarding, I decided to make seven animations based off the collection of toys. Here's a list of the said toys.

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• He-Man & The Masters of the Universe Action Figure
• Jolly Chimp (Monkey with the cymbals) 
• Sailor Moon Action Dolls
• Popeye Wind-Up Tin Toy
• Cast Iron Ramp Walkers
• Elvis Celebriduck
• Pokemon Pikachu Figurine

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Now onto the photoshoot. I used a Canon Rebel T3i to capture photo and video, and a tiny light box the items that needed some ✨special✨treatment. Honestly, this was the hardest part of the process. A lot of the toys are incredibly old, and need extreme care when handling. Defently wore gloves when handling the Ramp Walkers- they were almost 150 years old. Had to get a little creative with the green screening as well! Check out some of the footage below.

This series of animations was created using After Effects. My favorite thing is to watch it render; it's a lot more fun that watching paint dry.

Had to get a little creative with green screen. Super low budget, ya know? Ended up using a fidget spinner to get that awesome 360 I was envisioning.

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Here's the finished product.

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Each animation I created was completely unique; I tried to pay homage to the franchise that each toy belonged to. I also tried to add my own unique style into each one. I'm super into fun, 70's style fonts and bright, psychedelic colors. This for sure came across in my work.

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One more thing.

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We were actually featured in the Hartford Business Journal for our innovative advertising ideas. They totally didn't credit me in the article, so I added in a little note for anyone who wasn't aware.

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