Count on June Bug!
Studio
Double Scoop + The WNET Group
Role
Episode Director, Animation Director, Storyboard, Layout
Join June and her friends as they explore nature and make new mathematical discoveries that help save the day!
This project was conceived in response to an RFP generated by The WNET Group for a Preschool Math Digital Series. Based on an original concept by the incomparable Eri Hashimoto, the Double Scoop team shepherded the project through development, production, and into its launch as a pilot series. Along the way, our friends at Split Studio were incredible partners in giving this microscopic world larger-than-life personality!
Across the five episodes, I served multiple roles as Storyboard and Layout Artist, Animation Director, and Episode Director for three: “Counting Clovers,” "A Sticky Situation,” and “Spider Silk Swing.”
Be sure to check out the full series!
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Executive Producers Alex Herder, Sandra Sheppard, Jill Peters
Senior Producer Michelle Chen
Series Directors Katie Trayte and Eri Hashimoto
Producer Katrina Deptula
Consulting Producer Natalie Engel
Head Writer Kevin Del Aguila
Episode Writers Mike Capbarat and Katrina Deptula
Educational Advisors Bob Krech and Sheila Williams Ridge
Animation Director Conner Troxclair
Storyboard Eri Hashimoto, Conner Troxclair
Storyboard Revision Eleonora Stella Oei
Animatic Editor Kat Messing
Animation Split Studio
Music & Sound Design Ambrose Yu
Storyboards
As each script came together, Eri would work up beat boards to establish the setting and major story moments for the episode. I’d then bring those into Storyboard Pro, expanding on scenes and fleshing out the acting, or working up new scenes to pitch as the episodes needed to be reworked to fit our three minute runtime.
The following are a few scene excerpts from across the episodes, as well as a handful of my own roughs that show a bit of my process.
Layout
Once boards were locked, I continued into building Layouts for each episode to inform the background design and provide clear character placement for the animation team at Split.
For the episode “In Perfect Shape,” we had a unique challenge of designing a central “art puzzle” that would translate across each scene – see how the layout translated to final production art below!
Animation
The look of the show was grounded in strong, graphical shape-language that highlighted the math-based curriculum. Our goal in the animation was to further that approach – from the character posing to designing June’s wing-flap to how we represented characters in wide shots.
Animation Direction was captured in a Slides deck, providing copious visual references and animation tests to act as the jumping-off point for the Split team.
Bonus Designs
When the decision to add titles cards to each episode came up, I jumped at the chance to lean into the simplified shape-versions of our characters we had worked up for use in the wide scenes. While we ultimately didn’t go in the direction for the final versions, I love how these vignettes of key story moments from each episode turned out – almost like seeing the episode play out in actual size!
