Katy Wang on playful storytelling and fruitful partnerships
Our New Talent series highlights visual creatives who are sharing great work on Facebook and Instagram. Here, animation director Katy Wang discusses her creative approach
London-based animation director Katy Wang hit the ground running in 2017 when she graduated from Kingston School of Art’s highly regarded Illustration Animation course. Some of her student films enjoyed success at festivals, which helped her make the leap into commercial work – including projects for brands, charities, and some music videos.
“I love working with harmonious colour palettes and simple shapes, and my work focuses a lot on character and transitions,” explains Wang. “I’m drawn to projects that are playful, have a good story, and give me the opportunity to come up with fun characters. I particularly like animating anthropomorphised animals.”
One of her portfolio highlights is Forests, a music video for singer-songwriter Tom Rosenthal. “The song is very peaceful, sweet, and cosy,” Wang explains. “We came up with the story of a character driving through the mountains at night in the back of their parents’ car. I wanted to evoke that feeling of falling asleep in the back of a warm car as a child, something a lot of people can relate to.”
She draws plenty of inspiration from nature, ranging from quiet woodland walks to simply being close to the ocean. “I also love watching movies and looking at illustrated books – in particular, the illustration work of Icinori, Sakura Tamagawa, and Mogu Takahashi,” she adds. “Hayao Miyazaki’s films are a huge inspiration. And I also really look up to Charles and Ray Eames and the playful approach they had towards all their work.”
Wang’s creative process begins in an analogue way with sketches on paper, planning initial ideas in thumbnail form, and then developing a rough storyboard. She then fires up Photoshop to work up the concept in more detail, experimenting with brushes and colour palettes to determine the look and feel of the film.
She collaborated with illustrator Charlotte Ager on The Peace of Wild Things, bringing Ager’s distinct style to life through animation. “I used layers of colour and textures to try and make it feel organic and less digital,” explains Wang. “I really love the music that David Kamp made for the film. It’s subtle but suits the atmosphere of the poem perfectly.”
Wang is increasingly collaborating with her partner Gabriel de Bruin as a co-director. The duo recently teamed up for our On Brief project to create an animated campaign for gal–dem, a platform for people of colour from marginalised genders to share their unique perspectives on the world. Find out more about the project here.
Wang and de Bruin have forged a dynamic creative partnership, and they have plenty of ideas for short films, music videos and commercials on the slate. “One day, we’d love to do longer narrative work, like a feature film or TV show,” adds Wang.
The duo has already made inroads in this space, directing two episodes of Guide to Meditation – Headspace’s animated Netflix series – remotely during lockdown. The client was keen to avoid something too character-led, which posed a creative challenge. “We opted to make a lot of the scenes in first-person POV, so the camera moves around a lot,” Wang explains. “My favourite aspect was the dreams and nightmares imagery in the Sleep episode. Gabriel created 3D references for us to animate onto, giving the environments a heightened sense of scale and drama.”
Wang’s advice to fellow animators trying to make their own way in this challenging global climate is simple: “Focus on making things that are meaningful and fun to you and share them with the world.” She adds a gem of advice to avoid the risks of creative burnout: “Don’t dedicate 100% of your energy, 100% of the time, into projects that you don’t value.”
New Talent is part of Inspire, a partnership with Meta to highlight outstanding creative work on the platforms; @watykang