When Pigs Fly
In the University of Central Florida Emerging Media: Character Animation track, our class all started the semester brainstorming individual pitches to then present and vote on which films our cohort would be working on until 2027. My original individual pitch was called “When Pigs Fly.” It is a story about two siblings, Lotte and Milo, that herd flying pigs in the sky. This pitch then got selected to be one of the films for our cohort, and now belongs to our team of 16. A lot of the work has been group based from then on. As such, the story and style continues to go through revisions. It has been an awesome experience to work with everyone on the team.
Here is the original story, research, concept art and exploration I made to start When Pigs Fly as well as my individual contributions to the idea as it developed from September through November, 2025. All the artworks were made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq.
When Pigs Fly Poster, 2025. Made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. This poster was designed as a tentative movie poster for midterm.
Send Off - Beatboard 1, 2025. Made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. One of the protagonists, Lotte, is in a colorful field of tulips sending off the first wave of flying pigs.
Storm - Beatboard 2, 2025. Made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. A bright green storm rolls in and shows the cuckoo clock tower on the island.
Giant Pig Returns- Beatboard 1, 2025. Made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. The story has changed and this is no longer relevant to the story. Lotte thinks her brother Milo has fallen off the island, but a giant pig from ancient legends resurfaces to show he is safe.
Final Lotte Character Turn Around, 2025. Made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. Lotte has a bright and bubbly personality, but is often overbearing. She overshadows her brother Milo because of her natural talent with the pigs.
Lotte Expression Sheet, 2025. Made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. When making maquettes for the characters in When Pigs Fly, I selected Lotte to continue working on. Included with that process was drawing three poses and three expressions.
Style Exploration, 2025. Made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. To make a style guide for our team after the pitch originally got selected, I made various drawings to decide on what proportions and faces our characters would have for the film.
Style Exploration continued, 2025. Made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. To make a style guide for our team after the pitch originally got selected, I made various drawings to decide on what proportions and faces our characters would have for the film.
Island Exploration, 2025. Made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. This island render was an exploration of what the island may look like if it were inspired by Scotland instead of Germany.
Island Exploration Background, 2025. Made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. This is the background from the Island Exploration, which was then used in a future presentation.
Original Milo Character Turn Around, 2025. Made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. The original character design for one of the protagonists, Milo. Another member of the team later became the lead on his design.
Original Lotte Character Turn Around, 2025. Made in Adobe Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. The original character design for one of the protagonists, Lotte. Her design did not have much revision.
When Pigs Fly Logo 1, 2025. Made in Adobe Illustrator. This logo was made for the tentative movie poster, and was used again later in the powerpoint for our midterm presentation.
When Pigs Fly Logo 2, 2025. Made in Adobe Illustrator. This logo was made for the tentative movie poster, and was used again later the powerpoint for our midterm presentation.
Style Guide Video
Individual Pitch
Prior to becoming one of our class’ films, this is the powerpoint from my original pitch. This gives more insight into the original inspirations and concepts for When Pigs Fly without causing confusion as the project became collaborative. As such, I made all of the story, artwork, backgrounds, and research in this pdf.
“When Pigs Fly” initially was 1 of 5 pitches that went forward. We moved into a team of six in order to refine the story and style elements before pitching again and having any final films be decided.
When deliberating style, the team wanted to stay close to the style I proposed in my individual pitch. I was initially inspired by Astro Boy and Pinocchio. We worked together as a team to decide on refined version of the original style. After that, to help streamline the process, I made a few drawings of Lotte and Milo’s base proportions to help break down their shapes and face spacing for our team. I did this in an OBS recording that I uploaded to YouTube as an unlisted video. This also helped us pitch the two characters as potentially sharing a rig.
As previously stated, some of the designs and the story have undergone several revisions since the original pitch. The project went from my individual pitch, to a team of 6, to a team of 16. Due to the collaborative nature of the project as it has gone through this process, I have only shared the PDF presentation from my individual presentation. I also only shared the artwork I individually worked on.
I did not upload any work done by other team members to avoid confusion however everyone on the team has done amazing work. I look forward to being able to share more in the future as well as seeing what our team creates over the next two years for When Pigs Fly.
It has been an awesome experience to collaborate with everyone.