Design District Wizard

To announce new living spaces in Dubai's Design District - a neighbourhood that's already established as a hotspot for creative enterprise - Kingdom Of Something knew they had to deliver something special to really spark the imaginations of potential new residents.

The concept was a pre-vis with a difference, not a beautiful rendering of the new build exterior and interior. But with the addition of art, life and characters spilling out and in every direction. Curiously interacting and playing with the environment.

The Character

My assignment was to bring life to a Wizard character designed by Marcus Gestré. To me, most striking part of the design was the pose, so I let that lead in the animation. I decided to use this as the first spell-casting pose and developed a second pose that was similarly dynamic but complimentary, then planned out a spin to contrast with the two key poses. The wizard's walk cycle also took notes from the original design and I made sure the hit the similar leg angles with each step. I also wanted to really linger on that main pose so I added a beat where they rummage in their coat for the magic wand, this doubled as a nice bit of anticipation the main spell-casting action.