Plain Ol’ Crow Music Video

In November of 2024, local recording artist Brian Bowen contacted me about creating an animated music video for his upcoming single Plain Ol’ Crow. The song is a tribute to the work of guitarist John Prine, depicting the humorous folk story of the crow and its place in media and culture. I was immediately interested in the project after hearing the full song, and Brian’s desire for all-ages appeal led me to draw inspiration from childhood favorite PBS shows like Kipper and Franklin. My previous work has leaned heavily into the look of mid-00’s Flash cartoons, cel-shaded video games, and other aesthetics that look decidedly computer-generated. But this project demanded something more organic, something with texture. After multiple weeks of lookdev, I settled on a design for the crow that utilizes a dark silhouette, a boil effect, and negative line art enhanced by Blender’s Geometry Node system to give the appearance of an ink blot. This led to the development of the watercolor and cut-paper compositing effects that can be seen in the final video.