The Animation Studio

How a scene comes together

Every scene in Pickles & Friends and Pip's Bible Stories starts as a story on a page and ends up as dozens of short clips, each one built, checked, and edited by hand. I mix and match whatever tools do each job best at the time. Lately that's been Seedream for images and DaVinci Resolve for editing, and it keeps changing as the tools do.

Made by me, with AI tools as part of my kit.

One scene, start to finish

A simplified walk-through:

Story"Scene 3: Pickles hears a rustle in the leaves."What does Pickles want, and what gets in the way?
Character art"Pickles, curious face, backyard."The characters and set are designed once, so every shot matches.
Shots"Shot 3.1 wide: the yard. Shot 3.2 close-up: Pickles' ears perk up. Shot 3.3: leaves rustle."Shots run as long as the moment needs.
Edit"Cut 3, rough."Clips get trimmed, paced, and stitched into a scene.
Music and voice"Cut 3, final."Voices, music, and sound effects are timed to the edit.

Pickles & Friends

Pickles and Macki running across a sunny backyard — Shot thumbnails: a backyard play scene with Pickles and Macki.

Pickles bounding toward Macki in the backyard — Shot thumbnails: a backyard play scene with Pickles and Macki.

Edit timeline with Pickles shots on two video tracks, plus voice-over, music, and sound effect tracks — Edit timeline: shots, voice, music, and sound effects lined up.

Pip's Bible Stories

Grandpa Ram in his armchair by the fire, telling a story — Shot thumbnails: Grandpa Ram tells the story, and Pip listens.

Pip in her mustard scarf, sitting on the rug and listening to Grandpa Ram — Shot thumbnails: Grandpa Ram tells the story, and Pip listens.

Edit timeline with Pip shots on the video track, plus voice-over, music, and sound effect tracks — Edit timeline: shots, voice, music, and sound effects lined up.

* Scene labels, shot thumbnails, and the edit timeline are made-up examples to show the workflow.

A thank-you

A big shout-out to my pal Grok Bot, who's been a wonderful help on this whole project, from shaping stories to keeping every shot organized.

What this shows about my skills

Creative direction from page to finished scene
Keeping characters and style consistent across many shots
Picking the right tool for each job, and changing when something better comes along
Patience and craft: many hands-on hours behind every minute

What I enjoy about it

Figuring out what really works, then sharing it. I love that one independent creator can now make animation that used to take a whole studio.