The National Gallery approached Sentio Space to create a series of animations that represent the 14 key projects that make up NG200 – a celebration in 2024 of the Gallery’s bicentenary. The animations will be used to announce the Gallery’s plans for NG200, and needed to represent the National Gallery’s purpose of bringing people and paintings together.
We produced one scripted animation explaining NG200 (watch above), alongside fourteen short and sweet two second looping gifs.
As the purpose of the animations was to illustrate future plans for 2024, for which we didn’t yet have any real-world imagery, we decided to use a mixed media approach, combining photographic imagery of art works and the gallery itself with illustration to fill in the blanks.
Inspired by Picasso’s elegant and simplified line drawings, we created a series of playful and humorous animations, in which the simple black on white line work allows the contrasting photographic images to pop.
Each frame for the loops were hand drawn by the artists Max Golding Wilkens, Noah Mauchly and Tom Bates, giving the animations a hand-crafted and personable feel. Studio Desk expertly animated the explainer video. And the visual style was created and directed by Angelica Lena.
The simple nature of the linework allows the imagination to fill in the gaps – perfect for a a project about future plans, for an organisation who hold “imagination” as one of their key values.
The animations effectively communicate in a visually enjoyable and ingenious way the National Gallery’s plans for their bicentenary year, including travelling shows, events in Trafalgar Square to create a flourishing of creativity outside the gallery walls, VR experiences to enhance interaction with the work, and the unveiling of improvements to the gallery buildings.
Client | The National Gallery
Angelica Lena | Director
Studio Desk | 2D Animation
Martha Halliday | 2D Animation
Max Golding Wilkens | 2D Animation
Noah Mauchly | 2D Animation
Tom Bates | 2D Animation
We have worked with some of the most prestigious galleries in the world. The commissions have ranged from animated trailers for exhibitions, educational content for online audiences, artistic explainer videos, as well as animated installations for exhibitions.
Exhibition trailer for the National Gallery's Autumn blockbuster
Go to storyCreating an animation and fourteen short gifs to mark the National Gallery's bicentenary
Go to storyIntroducing an online audience to Leonardo Da Vinci
Go to storyThe first time Tate Britain uses animation to tell stories about artists in its collection.
Go to storyAnimated educational installation for a major exhibition
Go to story