Unannounced MV
In this project, I led the overall visual direction of the music video. I defined and established the art style across all departments, from 2D character designs and background art to 3D renders. I created clear style guides to maintain visual consistency and collaborated closely with the director, producer, and lead technical artists to ensure that all artistic decisions were both feasible and high-quality. I provided redlines and paintovers for every art division, including visual development, layout, background paint, and character animation (on-model support), ensuring a cohesive final look.
Pre-production Style Explorations
During the pre-production phase, I researched and assembled a spectrum of stylistic options based on existing animation references. I worked with the leads to evaluate these choices and determine the most suitable direction for our team—one that aligned with our technical abilities, artistic preferences, and, most importantly, the mood and context of the song.
Because the song has a youthful, lighthearted EDM vibe, I aimed for a color direction that felt clean, refreshing, and airy—avoiding overly commercial or artificial palettes. This helped the shots feel natural, uplifting, and in harmony with the music’s energy.
Style Guides for artists
After finalizing the visual style, I created focused guides for each art component to align the team around a clear vision. Below the guides are examples of the wonderful work our artists produced by following these style guides.
Character design
Below are the character sheets I created to help animators reference facial angles, expressions, and overall style. I’ve also included examples of the drawovers I provided on select shots to support anatomy and facial accuracy.
Below are examples of my drawover sketches used to help animators stay on-model and maintain consistency - in other words, Sakuga Kantoku (Sakkan)!
On-model / sakkan
Animation lO sheet
Before assigning shots to rough animators and background artists, the director Bea and I each create an LO sheet. These sheets clarify lighting direction, camera movement, perspective, how background layers should be separated and filled, the correct layer order, and the setup for any animated objects.
