Channel Frederator Blog

Super talented illustrator and animator Lindsey Olivares’ captivating thesis film “Anchored” blends different media together to tell one heckuva love story. Read on to learn more about her style, and the cool stuff she has lined up post graduation.

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Lindsey Olivares: I majored in computer animation at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida.

Channel Frederator: What has influenced your style the most?

LO: My older sister, Brooke Olivares, is a traditional painter/illustrator and through her I was exposed to illustrators such as Sterling Hundley, Malcolm T. Liepke, Dean Cornwell etc. After drawing/painting from life a lot I really wanted to play with ways of distorting and stylizing more and appreciated artists like Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt. After my second year at school I interned over at Disney Animation Studios and gained a greater appreciation for the beauty of drawing and design in classic Disney artists like the nine old men. As far as my style in storytelling, those ideas are usually informed by my personal experiences.

CF: Where did you get the idea for “Anchored”?

LO: Initially I really wanted to tell a story that had a strong moral or message. I wanted some kind of feel good story. I thought about different fables or parables. In a notebook I wrote out the parable of the lost sheep from the Bible. I thought about the sentiment of how no matter how far we stray or how discouraged we become, through faith in Christ we can always find our way. I wanted to do a simple relatable metaphor for God’s love for his people. And that’s the love story behind “Anchored”.

I had a hard time making a story out of this parable so I just started trying to make an idea out of a painting I had done of the man and origami cranes. I was drawing ideas in my sketchbook when I heard the lyrics from “From My Own True Love (Lost at Sea)” the Decemberists song, “Mr. postman, do you have a letter for me? From my own true love lost at sea.” That sparked something and the idea pretty fluidly fell into place. The more I worked on the film I saw the message working its way back into the story.

CF: Can you tell us a little about the techniques you used to create the watercolor-meets-CG-look in the film?

LO: I think there‘s so much potential for CG, and I knew I wanted to experiment and explore the possibilities. I rendered out my characters and water in several passes and experimented with compositing in Aftereffects to see what different looks I could achieve. I scanned watercolor paintings and textures. I mixed them with Photoshop paintings to blend the hand painted feel with the digital. I experimented with stop motion bleeding/dripping ink for some of the transitions and textures. Since the film is in motion I wanted to incorporate moving textures throughout the whole piece. I also hand painted some of the trees and elements for the water and brought them into Maya to add moving brush strokes to the water and environments.

CF: Do you have any projects coming up that you can tell us about?

LO: I’m currently getting ready to start work this July as a visual development artist at DreamWorks. In the mean time and on the side, I’m working on a couple children’s books. One is an alphabet book and the other is a color book that follows a little Peruvian girl in her travels around the world collecting colors.

Thank you for the interview, Lindsey!

You can check out “Anchored” right here on Channel Frederator!

-Bailee DesRocher