Who would win gold in the Bird Olympics?
RETROSPECTIVE
Preliminary
I was visiting a falconry outside of London when I learned the titilating fact that Peregrine Falcons, while known for their impressive diving speeds, are not actually the best fliers. The falcon expert went on to list off how ducks and pigeons can often outfly a falcon, which is why they needed to develop diving skills to catch their prey. It got me curious if I could pitch this as a visual story, and with the Olympics coming up in the summer, I quickly found the news peg: Bird Olympics.
From the start I knew I wanted a simple, vector illustration style for the birds, because that would make animation easier (they needed to fly!) I created a simple color palette and pulled bird reference photos, then created the birds in Adobe Illustrator.
Illustration
Soon after deciding on illustration style, we had our flock, and made them fly. I collaborated with talented animator and designer Emma Kumer to bring these bad boys into Adobe After Effects, where she created wing cycles based on each species individual flight patterns.
Development
Emma and I researched and wrote this piece, and we published during the Summer Olympics. Apart from our main race event, we also named what other Bird Olympic events could be, like running, distance, swimming and stealth flight. I then designed this page for print and it published on August 4, 2024.
Online and in print!
