Documentary · Hand-drawn character animation
Billy’s Story
An ordinary round of golf.
A sudden medical emergency.
Drawing what
wasn’t filmed.
I made this sequence for a documentary edit, following Billy from the golf course into a medical emergency and the uncertainty of hospital.
The animation needed to make those events clear, while leaving room for the interviews to tell the story. Small gestures, changes of light and the people around Billy carry much of the feeling.
Selected animation
From calm
to uncertainty.
The open golf course gives way to closer, darker scenes. Here’s an excerpt of the animation, without sound.
Colour & character
The same person.
A different feeling.
I kept the painted texture visible as the setting changed, moving from the warmth and space of the course to the more confined bedroom and hospital scenes.
Working with
the edit.
The wider film was still being assembled, so I shared finished sections alongside short work-in-progress clips and stills. That let editorial try the animation in place while I worked on the remaining shots.
Once the picture was locked, the last changes were specific: a longer phone insert and flashing light in the ambulance scene. The drawings had to work as part of the film, not just as individual pictures.
Got a story
that needs drawing?
Send me a little about the film and where you think animation could help.
Say hello →