The 2020 Days of Christmas

Life in general (and in particular the year 2020) is filled with surprises, tragedy, and also some sweet moments. This was a personal project I created to deal with the absurdity of 2020. I used Illustrator, 3ds Max, and After Effects to create the animations. The style inspiration came from a cross between Nordic folk art and royal icing cookies. The sweetness of the look is contrasted by the darkness of the story. Check out my Instagram to see extended versions and descriptions of the individual days. Starting on December 13, 2020 I posted an animation a day for the 12 days of Christmas - ending with this accumulation of the animations on Christmas day.

This scene has special meaning. On the surface it's poking fun at Zoom and the personalities of people on those calls - but there's deeper significance if you look closer. The birds in the top row are George (Floyd) and Breonna (Taylor) - they are muted. The bottom left red, white, and blue bird is (Uncle) Sam. He's not paying attention and is falling asleep - every once in a while he gets startled awake, but doesn't stay awake/engaged. The bottom right bird is Karen - the entitled white one who won't shut up, and should stop talking and listen instead.