Anna Kuptsova is an illustrator and creative designer based in Europe.

She dedicated the last 12 years of her career to illustration, design and art direction. During this time, she collaborated with various international agencies, magazines and individual clients.

Anna’s main interest lies in developing and creating unique and eye-catching digital illustrations. As an artist she is known for her vivid, romantic, and thought-provoking art style. Anna often draws her inspiration from nature, classic and modern cinematography, science fiction and her favourite music.

Talk us through your creative process. How do you approach an animation brief?

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When I create an artwork meant to have some animation added, I start by planning exact elements that I would need to turn into animation. Thinking through this beforehand makes the whole process afterwards much, much easier. Knowing what elements of the image will be animated I can add extra layers to my source file so they are ready to be used later on. For example, if I’m drawing flowers and I know they will be animated I will break them into several separate layers instead of merging them into a single one. I start working on the animation itself after the static version of the illustration is approved and finished. Only after that I move on to preparing the source file and exporting it to Adobe After Effects. It’s the software I use to create my animations.

Night Window

Your work is aesthetically unique to you, how do you approach transposing your style from illustration to animation?

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My style of animation is rather subtle. For me the main focus should be on the illustration first. I try to make an image as striking as possible. And the animation just adds the additional layer of creative expression.

How did you begin animation? What was the spark of inspiration?

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Adding animation to my artwork came rather naturally to me as a part of my creative journey. As an artist I’m always looking to develop new skills and add new ways to enhance my artwork. Animation serves as a beautiful tool that allows me to do just that. I started by creating simple GIFs in Adobe Photoshop a while ago. However, it has its limits in terms of more complex animations. That’s why I started learning new technics in Adobe After Effects.

What’s your favorite part of the animation process?

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Personally for me working on the final version of the animation after the main bulk of work has been done, is really exciting and satisfying. At this point the animation has almost been finished, but adding those final touches can change the way it feels and looks. Finding that perfect look and speed is what I really enjoy.

Coffee Shop

To an up-and-coming animator, what’s one piece of advice you would give?

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To everyone who wants to start adding animation to their artworks I would advise to start simple. Learning the very basics and that moving to more complex staff is the way to go. There are a lot of animation courses that can be found online these days. Many of them are actually free. So it would be a good idea to watch them first to see what interests you the most and what areas of animation you would like to know more about.

What would be your dream animation brief?

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Describing a dream animation brief is a tricky task, because every project is different. However, in general I prefer when I have as much creative freedom as possible so that I can have more ways to implement the idea and express it in animation the way I see it.

Summer

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To work with Anna, get in contact here.