Paul Castle Studio: Pengrooms POC

Studio: Paul Castle Studio

Client: Paul Castle
Role: Art Director & Lead Animator
Team: Ilich Gomez (Vis Dev) | Alaina Smith (Animation Assistant)

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Paul Castle, author and illustrator of Pengrooms (Pringle & Finn), reached out to develop a proof of concept exploring how the characters could be animated for their studio. It was an exciting opportunity to incorporate my own style while collaborating with a small team to bring the piece to life. The final result is an 11-second looping animation that highlights the characters’ contrasting personalities and was created to support early pilot development.

Pringle and Finn animation, bicycle, & comp by Mel McCann | Small birds, candles, & flag animation by Alaina Smith | Background by Ilich Gomez

Early Ideation

Above: Early style exploration sketches for the Pengrooms, shared with Paul for review and final selection.

Right: A color sample showing how the Pengrooms integrate into the environment developed by Ilich Gomez.

Below: Following the client’s selection, character ideation began through small vignette studies to explore personality. This led to a final layout sketch outlining the direction of the proof of concept.

Animation

To capture the magic of the illusion of life, I began the rough animation traditionally to achieve that classic “Disney” appeal. From there, I transitioned to digital animation to streamline the tie-down, cleanup, and compositing processes, while using the hand-drawn pencil animation as the foundation for the performance.

Using TVPaint for the tie-down and Toon Boom Harmony for the final line and color. Step by step, the Pengrooms evolve into a more polished and professional finish.