Dear Cristiano — a short animated film
What I’ve learned after a 9-month independent project about Cristiano Ronaldo.
How everything started
In 2017, I decided to learn more about animation and do something with sports. A perfect combination for another failed side project. Well, spoiler alert: it wasn’t!
I started looking for references and animation styles. Richard Swarbrick popped with the term rotoscoping. My first project was Maradona’s “hand of God” and “Century Goal” against England.
The first one is always the worst one, but I am proud of it because it helped me grow and learn in many ways, such as improving my production skills, style, and quality. The second project, called Sketch Goal, focuses on creating animated historical moments that fans will never forget. It has been and continues to be a place for me to continue learning and growing.
Dear Cristiano — the making of
A bit more than 30 short videos and illustrations later, I was bored doing very short videos (around 6s). I wanted something that would raise my own bar. I watched uncountable minutes of Cristiano Ronaldo playing football. I drew almost 1000 frames. For nine months I felt I was in a relationship with CR7.
More than drawing, what I learned
Drawing and animating require skill and patience. Of all the things I am proud of in this project, I am most proud of my discipline and ability to stick with it.
Vacations? I took my time to draw. Lunch? Draw. Brought my daughter to sleep? Draw. Free time in the evening? Draw (ok, Call of Duty got much attention here too, I won’t lie).
I learned that my closest friends and the Reddit community are the nicest when it comes to discoverability, incentive, and feedback — erre futebol, Obrigado :)
Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most — Abraham Lincoln