Motionographer (pronounced like “oceanographer”) seeks to be a source of inspiration for filmmakers, animators and designers by sharing:

• outstanding work from studios, freelancers and students
• feature stories that give readers a closer look at influential studios and individuals
• commentary that sparks discussion or introspection about the creative process
• miscellaneous items that Motionographer contributors find interesting

Motionographer isn’t just about motion graphics. Inspiration can come from anywhere, and the Motionographer contributors hope to provide you with interesting material regardless of the medium in which it was created.

About the Cream O’ the Crop

The Cream O’ the Crop is our list of the best of the best. It’s not an exhaustive directory; it’s our opinion of who’s on top right now. That’s why it’s so short.

Obviously a list like that is pretty subjective. We don’t pretend to know the work of every studio/individual out there. The Cream is merely our effort to present the best work that we’ve discovered on the web. There are a good many studios that produce excellent work but don’t post it on the web. These studios will unfortunately not be in the Cream. The whole point of Motionographer is to be inspired by great work, and you can’t be inspired by work that you can’t see.

“Please add my company to the Cream O’ the Crop. Thanks.”

Um… it doesn’t really work that way. We’ll definitely check out your site, but getting on the Cream isn’t easy. Submit your link to submit@motionographer.com and we’ll consider it. But we can’t make any promises, even if you ask nicely and send us free stuff.

What’s under the hood?

Motionographer is proudly hosted by Media Temple’s Grid-Server technology. Media Temple’s Grid-Server is a completely new hosting platform that replaces yesterday’s obsolete shared server technology. They’ve eliminated roadblocks and single points of failure by using hundreds of servers working in tandem. The Grid’s on-demand scalability means Motionographer will always be ready for intense bursts of traffic. And it’s much cheaper than competing services.

In terms of software, Motionographer runs on the most excellent blogging software on the planet, WordPress.

A word about our tone

It’s tempting to take this stuff seriously. After all, this isn’t just a weekend hobby for Motionographer contributors, it’s a way of life. But it’s important that we remember to keep things light. When we take things too seriously, it sucks the fun right out of it. And when the fun leaves, the inspiration isn’t far behind.

We encourage readers to post comments and think critically about the work featured on Motionographer, but ultimately we should remember that none of this stuff really matters all that much. We keep it positive and light, and we hope you will, too.

So who are we?

Generally speaking, Motionographer is comprised of design and filmmaking enthusiasts. We are students and teachers; designers and thinkers; hard-working professionals and downright slackers. More specifically, we are (in alphabetical order):

Onur Aksoy, Contributor

Onur’s Motionographer Posts

Babe Elliott Baker, Contributor and Designer

Babe’s multidisciplinary approach to illustration and design has led him into the world of motion. His goal of someday becoming a “real” motion designer started shifting into gear after Tweening it up and partnering with the man himself, Justin Cone.
Babe’s Motionographer Posts
Babe’s website

Marcos “Boca” Ceravolo, Contributor

Boca (aka Marcos Ceravolo) discovered the world of Motion Graphics when he was still a Graphic Design student in São Paulo, Brazil. He instantly fell in love with it and decided to pursue a career as a Motion Designer. Armed with a BFA in Graphic Design and a Digital Design degree from Vancouver Film School, Boca now lives in beautiful Copenhagen, Denmark.

Boca enjoys surfing (although he is still searching for the perfect wave in Denmark), making people laugh and is always caught with a pen in his hand doodling.
Boca’s Motionographer Posts
Boca’s website

Justin Cone, Editor

Justin has taken the long route to motion graphics. He earned his undergraduate degree in Creative Writing before discovering his love of design. After working for five years as an interactive designer in Austin, he decided to head off to the Savannah College of Art and Design to get a MFA in Motion Graphics. Through Motionographer, Justin’s able to combine his two passions. That makes him happy.
Justin’s Motionographer Posts
Justin’s website

John Cranston, Contributor

John’s Motionographer Posts
John’s website

Bran Dougherty-Johnson, Contributor

Bran’s Motionographer Posts
Bran’s website

Eric Edwards, Contributor

Eric’s Motionographer Posts
Eric’s website

Ted Gore, Contributor

After spending 5 years in engineering school, spending no time entertaining his creative side, a lucky little opportunity to make a short film sprung up, the passion set in, and the rest is history. After attending design school and teaching himself animation, Ted set off to New York to find work and currently freelances there.
Ted’s Motionographer Posts
Ted’s website

Jon Gorman, Contributor

Jon’s Motionographer Posts

Yotam Hadar, Contributor

A graphic designer based in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Graduated in 2006 from the Visual Communication dept. in the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.
Yotam’s Motionographer Posts
Yotam’s website

Daniel Oeffinger, Contributor

Daniel’s Motionographer Posts
Daniel’s website

Chris Palazzo, Contributor

After grabbing a degree in graphic arts and teaching himself motion graphics, Christopher moved to New York city to pursue a career and a few women. He works as a freelance designer / animator and enjoys chili recipes.
Chris’ Motionographer Posts
Chris’ website

Simon Robson, Contributor

Simon’s Motionographer Posts
Simon’s website

Jon Saunders, Contributor

Jon attended the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design from 2001-2005, spending three and a half years learning how to draw and paint. His creative life changed the day his brother sent him Brand New School’s 2004 reel. Jon taught himself what he could in the little time he had left at RISD and was lucky enough to get hired by Stardust out of school. After spending two years working and learning the trade at Stardust, Jon hit the streets of New York to freelance.
Jon’s Motionographer Posts
Jon’s website

Igor Sordokhonov, Contributor

Originally from the deepest parts of Siberia, Igor is now located in Moscow, working as a freelance designer/animator with a great team of designers at MTV Russia.
Igor’s Motionographer Posts
Igor’s website

James Wignall, Contributor

Raised in northern England, James now works as a freelance director/designer/animator type person in Central London under the guise of Mutandhands. In between working for lovely people like MTV, VH1, Nike, he also joins in on collaborative projects such as Psst! Pass it On, is a regular contributer to Computer Arts magazine and has talked at events such as BD4D.
James’ website

Drop us a line

If you have ideas/comments/suggestions/rants/raves/etc that’d you’d like to share with Motionographer, head over to the Contact page for a fine selection of communication options.