We created this set of 24 animated stickers for Google's 2018 Christmas Campaign. They are available for free on Gboard so everyone can spread the festive cheer!
The stickers were created for an international market, so the set focuses on the most recognisable Christmas objects. Each scene appeals to the positive feelings associated with the holiday season.
The stickers were first animated in 3D before adding eyes and facial features hand drawn on top in 2D. This mixture of methods brings the technicality of 3D together with the handmade feeling of traditional frame by frame animation.
We started by sketching out ideas for characters based on common Christmas tropes and after creating a full set we translated the ideas into 3D models in Cinema 4D.
As this is an international campaign, most of the stickers express their sentiments without any text. This was a fun challenge and we're sure people will interpret them differently in different contexts.
Another challenge of appealing to an international market was creating characters with whom people all over the world can connect and feel represented by. We decided not to use human figures, but instead make our favourite Christmas elements the protagonists for this sticker set.
Although most of the feelings we express in the set are positive, we wanted to represent a sentiment that many people experience during this period; that of missing a loved one.
