Artist agency gets animated

Auckland-based artist agency International Rescue is now representing animators alongside their photographers and illustrators, having found a niche for clients to collaborate directly with freelance animators.

The addition of 5 animators fills a gap in the market for cost and time-effective outsourced animation that provides an alternative to a production house.

Not only can clients save costs and time by working directly with animators, they also now have a wider range of animation styles to choose from as any of the 17 illustrators work can be animated.

“We are different to animation companies because we are agents; we provide a fold of animators and take our commission from them, not the client,” says co-director Rob Finn. “With technology being so accessible, its now possible to work directly with the animator in their home studio for offline work, which means the client doesn't have to pay for the high overheads of a production company.”

Under this new process pre-production storyboarding and production can be achieved with the animator working from their studio with updates and approvals being finalised via email if desired. Online post-production of sound and final client approvals can be outsourced to any post- production facility according to budget. Furthermore, all production is overseen by experienced producer/agents similar to the service on offer for photography and illustration jobs.

Another notable benefit is that any of their 17 illustrators work can be animated, giving the opportunity to choose from a broad range of visual styles.

“The pool of talent that we have access to is tenfold to anything currently on offer. Any of our illustrators work can also be animated, opening the possibilities for total creative collaboration. We are now in a position to completely tailor according to the brief” says Finn.

“Our illustrators often work with animation companies, collaborating on special briefs that require unique visual styles. Being multi-disciplinary, we're not solely reliant on animators due to our sheer number of diverse illustrators, which means we have the ability to offer more left of centre, avant-garde and incredibly varied art – as well as covering all the basics.”

International Rescue's original fold of photographers and illustrators has now increased to 30 artists with the addition of animators. Between them they cover many facets of 2D animation catering for commercials, TV series, web and online, applications, video clips, title sequences and films. 3D and stop frame animation is in the pipeline.

The animators have been pulled on board for their strong and often diverse commercial and personal styles and for their professional experience. Karl Wills has worked closely with Yukfoo with his solid, varied style and Mukpuddy are the trio of master crafters behind many of New Zealand's children TV series.

Kieran Rynhart animates video clips in a home-grown illustrative style as shown in the Fly My Pretties tour animation, and Mofresh are behind the scenes of New Zealand's most prominent musicians having animated video clips for the likes of Kora, Isaac Aesili, GND, Recloose and The Black Seeds.

Photorealistic animator Mardo El-Noor recently had his film 'Rock Paper Scissors' playing as part of NZ Film Festival and is also represented for his Parisian, Arabesque-style illustration.

“We are a multi-disciplinary agency. We aim to inspire connection and collaboration, so having animators on board adds to that goal. These guys are some of the best animators in Australasia and are certainly world class. They're keen and passionate to collaborate in the commercial realm on projects that are fresh, innovative and exciting. So naturally, we're looking forward to clients realizing their talent too.”