As a big fan of meditation and yoga, I was more than thrilled when BUCK Amsterdam approached and asked me to help out on this animation for Headspace Germany. This was the first time for me in the role as a Lead Animator, and I have to say I've learned so much while working on this project with some of the most talented people in the industry.

Check it out on the Headspace YouTube channel here.

For this project I set out with an ambitious idea: to model, rig and animate a 3D character all within After Effects.

Character was modeled in Element3D, rigged with Elementary and DuIK, and animated in After Effects.

Some insights about this workflow:

Is it easy? No.

Is it frustrating? Yes.

Does it render fast? Yes. Faster than most 2D rigs I've made.

Is it worth it? Maybe. 🤓

A project I started after noticing that I was spending way too much time online. It dawned on me that many of us are often unconsciously seeking "happiness on demand" by tapping on screens and buttons, gathering likes.

Sound by the amazing folks at: QBsound.

In 2017 I set out to make my first short film.

It's about a narcissistic pebble named Mr. Pebbly Rock: "Mr. Pebbly Rock is a pebble who's pretty full of himself. However his presence is not always appreciated."

Sound design by the awesome folks at tigerbearaudio.

My very first showreel back in 2017.

This is a collection of both freelance work and work done while on staff at in60seconds.

I did the animation for all of the shots but didn't do the illustration for most of it. For a complete breakdown you can always shoot me an email.

Lienke illustrated two major pieces used in this reel. Check out her work, it's great!

Song: Tensnake – Freundchen (Original Mix)

Here is some of my work over the last years put together in a reel. I've had the pleasure to work together with a lot of talented people, so please find more details on who did what below.

Song: Neon Indian – Change Of Coast

A "behind the scenes" look into how I created the intro animation inside After Effects. Based on an amazing Photoshop tutorial by Texturelabs. Download the project files here.

🍄👌🏼 A mushroom I made in After Effects.

For this project I set out to further dive into After Effects Layer Styles and find out how far we can push them to achieve a 3D but somewhat graphic look.

Back in 2018 I set out to make my 2nd short film, diving deeper into storyboarding, simple character illustration and animation. The idea was simple: "Follow someone throughout the day while they are never averting their eyes from their phone."

I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could blend several environments together just through the usage of continuous animation of the character. By keeping the character mostly in center and only changing the background elements around him I could use his anticipation and follow through to blend the scenes together.

© Marco van der Vlag

*This video contains really fast flashing images. It may trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy.*

Here is some of my work from 2017-2019. I've had the pleasure to work together with a lot of talented people, so please find a full breakdown below.

Song: Koto – Jabdah (Chinese Mix)