This Design & Animation Duo Are on the ADVNTR of a Lifetime
Would you like to go on an ADVNTR? Then may I suggest a journey through the work of Jill and Willie Russell, the New York-based design and animation duo signed with creative studio, JANE.
The married couple's playful and experimental approach mixes visual styles to create unique and special designs and animated worlds. Whether it's combining 3D elements with hand drawn illustration, or flat vector design with textured and dimensional background elements, ADVNTR expertly marries different distinct styles to create one harmonious piece of work.
Since launching ADVNTR in 2014, the duo have spent the last decade harnessing an equilibrium of creative duties: Jill specialises in brand visuals, web, and product design, having honed her craft at esteemed agencies such as AKQA, Havas, and Huge; while Willie focuses on design, motion graphics, and animation, having previously contributed his talents to renowned animation and production studios like Buck, Imaginary Forces, and Identity Visuals.
Motivated to join JANE's roster after witnessing the studio’s encouraging attitude towards their crew and talent, and how they would advocate for them to shine and thrive, regardless of the creative endeavour. Welcoming the couple with open arms, JANE were thrilled to add the distinguished duo to their ranks. Sitting down with Jill and Willie, LBB’s April Summers hears about their trademark style, balancing responsibilities and how, since joining JANE, they have felt empowered to exercise creative autonomy based on their strong points, making each project “a joy to work on.”
LBB> ADVNTR's work is playful, colourful, and joyous – and full of surprises! Where do you look for inspiration? And how do you stay inspired?
ADVNTR> Fortunately, we are living in a very creative world, so it's easy to find inspiration anywhere: social media, films, music, shows, fashion, anywhere in New York City! We luckily live in an inspiring city, surrounded by creative people, so it's easy for us to stay immersed in creativity and inspiration. A lot of the time we find humour in the everyday experiences we all share. We can take something relatable and, using animation, put a fun twist on it. We taught these concepts in our Domestika course, where we animated a wizard having a tough time trying to relax.
Music has also played a huge part in our lives too and we're always inspired by music – we have so many Spotify playlists of songs that inspire different types of movements for us. If we hear something or create a new song that sparks an idea for an animation or design, why not make a quick Instagram post to get that creativity out?
LBB> How do you immerse yourself in the creative? What roles do you take on at the start of a new project?
ADVNTR> We always start a project as a team. We hop on a call to get briefed together and after that, we both get to work – normally on the couch! Our days are usually busy with current projects so when we start a new project, we usually wait until after dinner to debrief together. So that means we are usually on our living room couch, with a laptop, iPad, or notebook in hand and we start conceptualising and brainstorming together.
Our roles are pretty much the same at this point, as we each have different ideas and collaborate on what exactly is the story we're trying to tell and how we're going to visualise it. After that, Jill takes all our chicken scratch and sketches, draws or illustrates the storyboards and styleframes. Once these are approved by the client, it's up to Willie to animate the spot. Even though we technically are tag teaming at this point, both of us are always in the loop and sharing their opinion and creative direction along the way.
LBB> Which of your work shows what ADVNTR does best – and why?
ADVNTR> A lot of our Contra and Flatiron work reflect what ADVNTR does best. For Contra, it is so playful, high energy, and filled with surprise and delight. We thankfully have a lot of creative control and freedom with our projects working with the Contra team since we've worked on so many projects with them at this point. Because of that, each project we take on with them, we're able to elevate and level up the story and design and have a lot of fun doing so.
Flatiron is another piece of work that shows what we do best: taking somewhat of a complicated concept and translating it into simple, beautiful and informative design and animation. Working with a company that specialises in cancer research and data and creating impactful, smart animations has been an absolute pleasure for us.
LBB> How do you merge your individual experiences with new technology to develop innovative ways to design and deliver extraordinary creative?
ADVNTR> We are not ones to shy away from trying out new technologies or techniques that can help elevate either the way we design and animate, or the way we work and deliver projects. We try to remain curious about emerging technologies while staying grounded in our relatable human experiences and storytelling. Using those experiences as a baseline, we take time outside of client work to experiment and watch tutorials etc. to achieve what is in our brain. All of these are just more tools in the shed that we can bust out when we are stuck on a client project or need some inspiration.
LBB> What has been the biggest learning curve for ADVNTR since launching in 2014?
ADVNTR> We’ve learned the importance of loving what you're working on, what you do, and who you choose to work with. The beautiful thing about owning your own studio is that you have total autonomy over what you work on and with what brand, studio, or company. We never want to dread entering a room with a client or hopping on a zoom call. It's so important to just have fun and not be so serious when working on projects. We like to treat our "clients" more like friends and fellow collaborators. If the vibe isn't right or if the project doesn't seem fulfilling to us, we have the power to say "hey, this isn't the one for us." The power of saying no is more than you think. Our overall happiness, mental health and love of life isn't totally dependent on work, but it certainly plays a big part in our life, especially because we're a married couple who works together, so it's important to love our work and enjoy the people we work with.
LBB> Seeing as you're a husband and wife team, let's get a bit mushy for a second! What is it you admire most in your partner? And why?
Jill> Willie is honestly one of the most brilliant and creative people I know – and I'm not just saying that because he's my husband. We went to Parsons School of Design together, and even if we were just classmates or colleagues (and not romantically involved at all), I would look to him for inspiration or advice because I respect his work so much. He is constantly itching to learn a new program or a new technique, a trait that not everyone has. Because of this, his skillset is insanely vast! And on top of that, I feel like he's always ahead of the trend or what's going to be hot before it's popular. He's a cool guy…
Willie> On top of being a remarkably talented designer and illustrator, Jill's dedication to her craft is what inspires me the most. She is always so on top of things and seems to keep the apathy and procrastination at bay which can be tough for me. I look over at her when I have had enough, and she is finding a way to get inspired or be productive which, in turn, inspires me. But don't get me wrong, the girl knows how to relax. Her work-life balance and devotion to friends and family is a thing of beauty. I don't know how she does it all!
LBB> In keeping with the rest of JANE's crew, your creative talents are multi-faceted! Tell me a bit more about Dog Ear and your shared love of making music?
ADVNTR> Like we mentioned earlier, music has always played a huge role in our lives. Willie has always been in a band ever since middle school, and Jill, being Filipino, has karaoke and singing in her blood. Willie plays jazz piano and Jill sings R&B, so Dog Ear is a fun and collaborative passion project where our love of jazz, hip hop and R&B comes together. We made our first Dog Ear album at the end of 2019 and have so much new music coming and in the works. Willie also spins vinyl at listening bars across Brooklyn and Manhattan on the side, and he uploads his sets to the Dog Ear Sessions YouTube channel.
LBB> Do you have a stand-out achievement since joining JANE's ranks?
ADVNTR> We've been able to take on bigger projects since joining JANE because of their resources and network. Sometimes projects come along that are just a bit too much for the two of us alone, so JANE has been such an incredible partner to bring together dream teams based on a project. Thanks to JANE, we've been able to take on new types of projects too. For example, we were able to work on a huge interactive wall due to be installed in the main lobby of a children's hospital which is designed to bring visitors a bit of joy. We had never worked on a project like this before! The JANE team do an amazing job of bringing the right people and talent together which has been immensely helpful and rewarding for us!
LBB> And finally, can you tell us your biggest goal for the coming year? How do you plan to put this into action?
ADVNTR> This coming year is a big one for us. We are expecting our first child in under a week! It'll be an interesting transition becoming parents as well as owners of ADVNTR, and we're not 100% sure what that means right now. We know that design and animation will play a huge part in our little girl's life – we can't wait to show her our favourite animated projects and also share all the animated movies and shows we love. Our biggest goal right now is starting our family and continuing ADVNTR as new parents, which will bring with it all new challenges and sources of inspiration!
