Tradition embraces modern technology, infusing both with humanity. The simple truth of, Common Thread, for Connecticut’s, Middlesex Hospital Group, a group so confident of their mandate they could step outside the expected, both in the service they offer and the design they endorsed.

Hand drawn, tinted illustrations on aged textured paper is the foundation of Medicine. In centuries gone by and still today they are used with great success to explain new and breakthrough technologies in the Medical Sciences. These illustrations evoke a feeling of tradition, one that speaks also to the very best of doctor-patient relationships. And its these traditions that are symbolic of the human touch we all crave when being cared for at a time when we feel at our most vulnerable. In the modern world we also rely on the latest technology, placing our trust in the hands of state of the art equipment and expertly trained physicians, to eradicate all illnesses and to restore us to our healthy selves. This is the mission of a successful hospital group.

In, Common Thread, we seek to embody the very idea of tradition and humanity and weave it into the design style. To add the new with the tried and true and echo the message, creating the dynamic, appealing, all encompassing story of the Middlesex Hospital Group and how it can be the common thread between you and a healthful long life.

The camera takes us on an upward journey through a series of water color blooms and live action vignettes, where we move, both literally and metaphorically, from a medical treatment to connect, via the common thread, to a place of restored health, a place where a person can fully resume the enjoyment of life. It’s an elegant story with a very strong message supported by very powerful graphics.

You can see the :30 second commercial and its accompanying :15, together with the concurrent print campaign, on the east coast from April on.

Creating interesting imagery for complex medical applications is no easy task. There are strict FDA guidelines to adhere to, seemingly insurmountable regulations and a plethora of almost incomprehensible technical language to distill into copy that can be easily understood by your fellow human being – or as our copy writer would say: Exceedingly hard!  But it can be done if you’re lucky enough to find a client that believes in their product enough to allow it to stand out from the crowd.

Engaging and entertaining whilst getting the message across was the brief. So, in, Retin-A-Microsphere, we take the viewer on a journey through a stylized creation of the product and illustrate, in a technical way, just how and why the product works. And it really does. Some things are magic and some things are just pure science at work.

Created as a video wall installation and now an award winning addition to the Little Fluffy Clouds lexicon of winners. Exceedingly good!

Proud to have been a Poet Laureate, America’s most accessible poet, Billy Collins, reads poems from his Nine Horses collection in this animated talk for TED – Every Day Moments Caught in Time. Using five of the twelve animated poems New York agency JWT commissioned for their client, Sundance Channel, as his backdrop, Mr. Collins strides the stage in his usual comfortable downhome way and charms the crowd to their feet with his wry suggestive tone.

When you get a poem [in a public place], it happens to you so suddenly that you don’t have time to deploy your anti-poetry deflector shields that were installed in high school. – Billy Collins: Everyday Moments, Caught in Time.

If you are even an occasional listener to NPR his is a voice you will recognize immediately and if you are not do yourself a favour – watch and listen to these poems – and you will see why Billy Collins has been credited with the accolade of bringing poetry to the masses.

Although not one of those featured here, TODAY, was one of the twelve poems chosen by JWT to be animated. Unharnessed from the usual client restraint the agency gave full unfettered creative freedom to their appointed animation studios. We count ourselves fortunate to be amongst them.  In many ways the project was a watershed moment for us at Little Fluffy Clouds - it gave us the chance to do things differently – see for yourself.

Watch the entertaining Mr. Collins’ TED talk here: http://bit.ly/GW2C5m. See all the animated poems in the line-up here: Billy Collins Action Poetry and listen to NPR’s TED Radio Hour here: http://n.pr/Npfer7. A treat for the ears, a feast for the eyes.

When Ian Lumsden, the UK’s most revered animation blogger, reviews your work it’s more than an honour. It’s a testament to his unwavering ability to sort through all noise, and regardless of paid PR, level the playing field. His focus is on good animation and speaks only to that. So, it is in itself a reassurance that even in this commercially overloaded world, and somewhere within the overcrowded bandwidth, there’s a person out there of great wit and intelligence who notices – and some how it makes it all worthwhile.

Thank you Ian for everything you do to promote incredible animation from around the world with no thought of financial gain and industry sway. Yours is a review worth having.

It is a pleasure to see the work of skilled professionals and Jerry van de Beek and Betsy de Fries (littlefluffyclouds) are consummate professionals. Bose: The Power of Sound embraces a host of animation techniques, from 2D to 3D to origami. Jerry is a master, artist and technician both, employing whatever software, or scissors, it takes to convey the message.

Given a high end product like Bose, it figures the one minute piece requires something extra special. Technologically advanced article waveforms emanate from the music itself, scissored horses and cranes soar through the skies and scarlet sampans traverse the ocean; there is even a mathematical Fibonacci sequence of numbers in free flight.

This orchestral and visual feast is a masterclass. I’ve not asked but I guess the ad is linked to the tsunami that hit Japan. The giant wave crashes down and soaring out of the explosion red flowers climb towards the moon. It seems like a rebirth to me, a proud nation responding to devastating adversity.

I need to add that I had intended, and still do, to write about two other ads in the small (in size not stature) California studio’s impressive library of work, one a very traditional cartoon (like they used to do it) and, secondly, a follow-up to an earlier piece I had written about on the blog. But I got waylaid. Jerry, by the way, hails from the Netherlands and Betsy from the UK. It’s warmer in California.

Check out Ian’s animation blog http://www.animationblog.org/ and spend sometime catching up on some incredible animations.

What do Americans like to do best? Drive, drive, drive! Hey people, it’s a vast and beautiful country out there and there’s lots to see. But in this age of rising gas prices how can we satisfy our yearning to explore, save money and still be true to our conscience and the planet by being ever “greener”?

Well, like Toyota says in this ad campaign, brought to you by the creative team at Hoffman Lewis, drive a hybrid and you can have it all. Statistics show that you can drive more 535 miles in a Prius averaging 50 MPG. Catch Lucy as she drives across the country underlining the point and take a quiz on-line at www.toyota.com to see which car fits your needs.  Toyota – Do the Math.

Nimbly animated by our very own team here at Little Fluffy Clouds, this multi-spot full campaign includes TV, print, radio and web. Voiced by San Francisco favorite, Denny Delp. Lucy airs from April 2012. It’s fast, it’s fun and it’s cost effective - Save the Planet!

Imagine the incredible surprise of being awarded not just one, but two, platinum Pixel Academy Pixies. Well, that was the news around here this morning. Making the win super sweet is the knowledge that these awards are judged by our fellow animators and VFX artists. High praise indeed.

First up, with a 9.7 score, was Power of Sound, itself an interesting take on the character of sound. This traditional 2D animation uses origami to illustrate the narrative whilst skillfully synthesizing that imagery with CG models to underscore the use of technology in sound applications today. The sampans, water, moon, ocean and skies are created using only particles and projected lights and are not models. The “waveform” is also particle based but here movement is initiated by the music. VFX, using plug-ins, comprise the transitions. The origami horses, boats, kites and cranes are all 2D as is the floating text and the Golden Ratio shell animations. The larger shell in that scene is it’s 3D counterpart. Here’s what the judges had to say:

“A very powerful creative work. Imagery is very strong, created by excellent animation.”

Next up, with a 9.2 score, was CALU Built, which like it’s companion piece, Journey, is a veritable kaleidoscope of images, beautifully layered together in 2D and 3D. These stunning Super Bowl spots combine hand-drawn imagery with CGI to recreate the textured and layered look of a traditional watercolor painting – one that breathes life into the canvas. Built scored 9.2 and here the judges said:

“A very well done animation with very realistic body movements. Good job!”

Winning the Pixies does feel like a good job indeed. So, well done us!

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania is a beautiful city of rivers and bridges with wide stretches of recreational areas but, like many of the north east industrial towns, the air quality is still not everything it could be. In an effort  to identify and focus attention on this real environmental threat local philanthropists, The Heinz Endowments, have sponsored a multi-platform ad campaign – spearheaded by The Breathe Project and San Francisco agency, Citizen Group - to encourage businesses and citizens to work together to provide a solution for the betterment of all.

Having a great affection for the Steel City, Little Fluffy Clouds was more than happy to step in and provide animation, VFX, color correction and motion graphics for such a worthwhile cause. The entire campaign includes on-air PSA’s, print, billboards and a 30 minute informational awareness film.

Air was voiced by Pittsburgh favorite actress, Blythe Danner, whose dulcet tone strikes just the right note to bring across the message. Airing regionally from September 2011. Go Steelers!

Using simple animation accompanied by programmed expressions, Power of Sound, gets an interesting take on the character of sound. The animation, running at just over a minute, is a pretty good example of a mostly 2D piece using 3D cameras in 2D space, coupled with occasional CG models to underscore the use of technology in sound applications today.

The sampans, water, moon, ocean and background skies are made using only particles and projected lights. These are not models. The “waveform” section is also particle based and movement is initiated by the music. VFX, using plug-ins, comprise the transitions. The origami horses, boats, kites and cranes are all 2D, as is the floating text and the “Golden Ratio” shell animations. The larger shell in that scene is it’s 3D counterpart.

There are moments in the life of an animation when the subconscious takes over – even in a commercial.  And so it was here, where Power of Sound became less about the technology and the message and more of an artistic response to the shock of the Japanese EQ and their resultant tragedy. It became an homage in a way to the Japanese people and a small story about the lifting and triumph of the spirit in such a dark moment.

Software: AFX, Trapcode, Sapphire and Maya.

In his continuing foray into live action, Little Fluffy Clouds director Jerry van de Beek, explores with visuals, graphics and music, the dreams and plans of today’s independent investor in, Portraits, two companion pieces for on-line broker, TD Ameritrade.

Conceived as personal moments in busy lives both spots were shot on location – one at work and one upon arriving home. With deft use of slow motion, enhanced with VFX and text graphics, the viewer is drawn into a seminal and private moment. A space where time slows down and the outside world becomes very still – allowing ideas to spin through the mind in free fall motion – allowing the modern day, time crunched, person the breadth for inspiration to formulate just the right plan of action.

Both spots were filmed on the same day in snowy Denver Colorado for local agency, Karsh\Hagan, using a small but very nimble crew. Footage was then transferred and transported to Little Fluffy Clouds here in sunny California for editing, post, color grading and VFX. Trivers Myers Music LA, composed original music on a theme for both spots. These sponsorship “billboards” air on all PBS stations from April 2011.

About a year ago I wrote about, Designing with Color – Concepts and Applications, when it was still in it’s formative stages. You can read that post dated Jan. 10, 2010 in our archives. I commented then that good design books are hard to come by and how pleased we were to be contributing to one that, from the galleys, looked like it would be just that.

As an animation and design studio Little Fluffy Clouds often provides images and commentary on our work to writers, editors and publishers, only to find that for whatever reason the book in question never sees the light of day. I could write an entire post on the whys and wherefores of the publishing industry and how difficult it is to bring a book – particularly an instructional one – to market in this day and age of instant apps but for right now I’m just happy to report that the book is now published.  Hats off to Fairchild Books, a division of Conde Nast Publications, for staying the course and making this happen.

Written primarily as a workbook for students who want to work in the field of arts it might also benefit art directors across the board  in the way that only good design publications and the theory of art outlined within can do. After all, the joy of the “happy accident” is short lived in an artist’s entire career, of far more use is the ability to confidently articulate why an image – a project – a campaign – was created that way and publications such as this one help put you on that path of knowledge backed up by experience.

Designing with Color takes examples from nine disciplines: advertising, animation, fashion, fine art, graphic design, illustration, industrial design, interior design and photography. The idea of this is less to separate these areas of art but to “inspire” and illustrate “the interconnected nature of all the visual and applied arts.”

The book is divided into 17 subject areas in two parts: part one color, part two design. Each chapter is choc-a-block with images from artists: photos, drawings, diagrams, paintings that come together to succinctly illustrate the chapter point. Space is allowed for those keen enough to contribute their own ideas –  a sort of journal of art –  along the lines of “process and idea” so the entire book can be personalized and students can take advantage of the myriad of tools – camera phones, apps, iPads – available to them.

Here’s an introductory quote from the authors talking about the porous nature of the crossover in media that is the mainstay of today:

One defining feature of the postmodern era we live in is the breakdown of disciplines. An artists practice might resemble that of an architect: an illustrator’s that of a 3D modeler. With the pervasiveness of marketing and media in our current culture, people in disciplines such as advertising, photography, graphic design, illustration and 3d animation frequently collaborate. The disciplines of fine art, industrial design, interior design and fashion also merge to create, represent and disseminate a product and the visuals that surround it.

Designing with Color – Concepts and Applications, by Chris Dorosz and J.R. Watson, published by Fairchild Books a division of Conde Nast Publications, is available now – go out and get your copy.