ARH301 Animated Intro
A 30-second animated course intro that walks you through a gallery and is cheeky on the way out.
- Categories
- Year
TL;DR
- Role
- Design STA — concept, animation, art direction
- Timeline
- July 7 – August 10, 2026
- Team
- Solo animator with feedback from LAITS
- Tools
- After Effects, Photoshop, Adobe Stock
Thirty seconds of art history, with a wink
ARH 301 needed a 30-second animated intro. The brief asked for three things that don’t naturally sit together: scholarly, clever, and wacky. I pitched three concepts, animated two as rough tests, and shipped a gallery walk through the course’s own artwork that ends with the professor’s eyes winking at the camera from inside a Greek statue.
My first project after training. It shipped for Fall 2026.
Background
Giving the course its own personality
ARH 301 already had an established visual style, but it needed a new intro.
The previous course intro felt more serious than the personality of the new professor, Dr. Cushing. I was given a lot of creative freedom to develop something that better matched both him and the course.
Problem
Scholarly, but not too serious
The goal was to create something inspired by the polished feel of Masterpiece Theatre, while adding enough humor to keep it from feeling overly formal.
I used artwork from Dr. Cushing’s course materials and his interest in Greek and Roman sculpture as my starting point.
How could I make the intro feel like an art gallery while still adding some personality?
Process
01 — Exploring concepts
I developed three directions and reviewed them with my design mentor. Two stood out, so I created rough animations in After Effects to see how each concept worked in motion.
- Zoom out from a bookcase, the camera flying past floating artwork before pushing into a final painting to reveal the course abbreviation, name, and professor.
- Fade into a white gallery hall with the David statue at its center. As the camera looks around the art, the statue follows it with human eyes — and when the camera catches it looking, it closes them, the screen blinks shut with it, and the course title appears.
- Make the art pieces letters. A spotlight follows the outline of the course abbreviation, then the camera pulls back to reveal the full course name and professor on a closed hardcover book, the artwork framed and hung around it.
02 — Testing the first idea
The first concept featured the course title on an aged book cover, with artwork moving inside the letters.
It worked visually, but once animated, the movement felt repetitive. Testing it early helped me realize the concept worked better as a static design than as motion.
03 — Building the gallery
The second concept placed the viewer inside an art gallery.
I used artwork directly from the course and placed historical pieces in ornate gold frames, while modern works used simpler black frames. The camera moves through the room before returning to a statue in the center.
This direction felt more immersive and gave me more opportunities to use motion intentionally.
04 — Refining the animation
The project went through several rounds of feedback and refinement.
I replaced Michelangelo’s David with the Berlin Kore, a sculpture already featured in the course. I also adjusted the wall textures, made the camera movement feel more natural, and refined the ending.
For the final transition, the camera passes the statue and moves through an archway into another gallery room, suggesting that the course is just beginning.
Final product
The wink
The final detail became the personality of the intro.
I placed Dr. Cushing’s eyes onto the Greek statue at the center of the gallery. When the camera returns to it, the statue briefly winks before the viewer moves into the next room.
The gallery keeps the intro scholarly, while the unexpected wink adds the humor the brief called for.
Other details included:
- Course artwork displayed throughout the gallery
- Gold frames for historical works and simpler frames for modern pieces
- An archway that leads the viewer into the “next” room
Impact
The final 30-second intro shipped for ARH 301 in Fall 2026.
I completed the animation on August 10, and the LAITS post-production team added the final audio before delivery on August 25.
- final runtime
- 30 sec
- concepts developed
- 3
- concepts animated
- 2
- project after LAITS training
- 1st
Reflection
Test motion early
My first concept looked promising as a still image, but animating it quickly showed its weaknesses. Rough motion tests helped me make decisions before spending time polishing the wrong direction.
Feedback made the piece stronger
Small changes to the statue, camera movement, walls, and ending made a noticeable difference. The project taught me how useful fresh feedback can be when I’ve been looking at the same animation for too long.
Constraints can improve an idea
Replacing David initially felt like a limitation, but the Berlin Kore ultimately worked better with the course content and gave me more room to make the wink readable.