Words by @nikita_gill “Upon Seeing The St. George’s Flag Next To Anti-Refugee Graffiti Again This Week I am reminded of the history of Saint George, a man who had a Palestinian mother and a Turkish father, a man who gave away his possessions to the poor and the sick, to those most in need of aid, a man who was taken as a prisoner of war and tortured. And I wonder what he would think that a flag in his name is flown by a country that is sending arms to destroy his mother’s homeland while using that same flag as a symbol to say that those who need asylum most are enemies who are not welcome here.” 616 frames printed using RISOgraph

I almost cried when I thought of the idea for this animation. It’s a rotoscope animation of my partner Bess dancing as a child, with sounds of her parents encouragement. It made Bess cry when I surprised her with it at the exhibition launch party last week. It made her sisters, her mum, and her dad cry when she showed it to them afterwards. It made my creative director teary, even though he has no connection to the family. The reason I’m writing this is because creating strong emotional responses to art gives me hope against the tidal wave of AI hype that’s around. Connection is something that can’t be created by plagiarism machines - they know no love. I usually say ‘please listen if you’re into sound,’ but this time the sound really does help with this connection, so pls do listen if you can. The experience of making this animation has been beautiful. Special thanks to @himhallows for giving his time in the mornings to help me with the risograph printer and other processes. And for being mint crack ofc. The animation is being shown alongside work from my @enginehouse.studio pals at the New Cross in Manchester for the next month. Do head down if you’re in Manny - it’s an incredible show of art. You can purchase artwork with proceeds going to Turning Point. Created mostly in @cavalry.app and after effects, printed in risograph. Music made with UDO Super 6.

Happy Lunar New Year This is my first submission for @motioncollabs - we were asked to make 10 seconds of collage style animation for a “Year of the Horse” collab. The animation was made in after effects, then printed using risograph, with additional marker pen writing and painting using Chinese ink scanned and composited. It was a labour of love and a process I’m sure I’ll treasure. Lóng mǎ jīngshén

Snippets of risograph animation from a video I made for my friend’s nanotech company. In a world full of AI this and that, I’m extremely proud and grateful to make something different - strong and aesthetically raw storytelling with physical animation. This was my first full production as a freelancer and I couldn’t have done it without collaborating with my brilliant team and client. Thanks guys. Producer: @lilyfreeston Camera and Colour: @matthewhn Edit, Animation, Direction: Jimograph Client: Watercycle Technologies

Beach Jumps Sound on for this one 🧡 Risograph print and animation for Ben and his family. I’ve only known Ben’s family for a short while but I think they’re bloody fantastic. Strong and caring people who know how to be silly. They’re also very cute. This is my first attempt at a CMYK print on risograph. Some of the prints I used orange ink instead of the yellow, which is the final full colour frames you see in this video. Music using the UDO SUPER 6 and recordings from family videos. 68 frames in risograph.

Overscanned Chinese characters. Marker pen and risograph - frames 65-73 of my recent Year of the Horse animation

Part 3 - Sharing a risograph animation as I create it Test shot 03 for the collab with @sophie_ormy Process: This time I’ve tried improving the alignment by scanning the colours separately using black ink and recolouring in post (thank you @himhallows for this). I’ve also tried a different paper stock this time round. Learning: There’s a real delayed gratification with this, I only start seeing colour at the end which makes the printing less fun. More control over colours is cool. I really enjoyed the ability to move the colour stack up and down and change the vibe of the animation after printing. And this all took much longer than the tradish method. I’m trying to make this into a full music video - if you know anyone who needs one (and has a budget ofc) please do reach out. Digitally made in Cavalry and After Effects, printed with risograph.

Part 2 - Sharing a risograph animation as I create it Test shot 02 for the collab with @sophie_ormy There’s quite a lot of misalignment in this print. Unsure yet on whether this is a good or a bad accident. The contact sheet was perfect this time though so an improvement on that front Digitally made in Cavalry and After Effects, printed with risograph.

Part 1 - Posting an animation as I create it I’ll be posting the each shot from this as I go along, including failed tests like this one. This is the first shot of an animation I’m making collaboration with the incredibly talented @sophie_ormy Made using Cavalry and printed with risograph. #riso #risograph #animation #motion #motiondesign

Animation process I started the day like many days, with a cloth simulation to get the perfect St. George flag. The rest of the day was quite a whirlwind. Design, animation, printing, and sequencing all in one very long day. Couldn’t have done it without my printing hand and occasional director @bessjulia31 The visually acute will have noticed that the animation is in red but the contact sheets are blue. This is because of a defect in our red RISOgraph drum. After a test, I decided to print in blue and shift the hue to red in post. The animation consisted of 616 frames across 11 contact sheets. Although the topic is something that stresses me the fuck out, the day of making was incredibly beautiful and spent with the person I love most. I wish I had something clever to say about that, thankfully there’s an edit button and I can come back to it later.

“What do you call it when you hear a new word, and then hear it everywhere? Is there a word for it? Should be. I’d like to learn it. One of life’s great feelings, getting to use your new word. Maybe teach it to someone else. Hope I used it right. Nice shoes mate, very loquacious. Fucked it.” - Written by @sit.down.with.hosie I recently created an animated identity for my friend Oli’s creative writing project. Made using risograph printing and some more traditional motion design tools like Cinema 4D and After Effects. Tactile and timeless, there should be a new word for it.

I’ve taken a desk with the wonderful group @enginehouse.studio ! For those that don’t know, I work remotely at @lyonandlyon , and they’ve generously covered a big chunk of a studio space for me (and others at the company) to be able to have a dedicated creative space. I’m feeling grateful to share a space and chat silly things over lunch with such a lovely group of people ❤️ As always, I’ve overscored to oblivion, if that’s your thing please have a listen 🎹