Ufitia Sagapolutele approached me to illustrate and animate a new intro for the latest season of her podcast/video series, Taumafa Talks. In each episode, Tia interviews a different Pacific Island creative from Aotearoa over a shared meal. With food and location being central themes of the series (including Tia’s fantastic style and aesthetic), it was important to nail that in the intro animation. After discussing the look and vibe Tia was after, plus the type of foods she likes and the colour palette, I got to work sketching out a story board for the 20 second intro. Further refinements and changes to the sketches were made before I outlined and coloured the final illustrations. The last part saw me jumping into Premiere Pro to animate the individual parts of the illustrations. I knew Tia was going to overlay different songs with the intro for each episode, so I had to create the animation without a specific song or rhythm in mind but with clear beats so that it would fit a variety of songs.

You can check out the animated intro in Tia’s video below.