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Here' you'll find blog posts about freelancing, motion design, animation, and after effects

  • A book about freelancing

    I’ve been a freelancer for 13 years or so now, initially working as a web designer and then, for the past 10 years or so, as a freelance motion designer.

    Like so many other freelancers before me, I made the leap into freelancing without truly knowing what would be... Read more →

  • How to create a tilt shift blur effect in After Effects

    If you’re wondering how to create tilt shift blur in After Effects then you’re not alone, it’s a lovely effect that can bring a really cool aesthetic to your projects.

    In this post I’ll show you how to create a tilt shift effect manually, and then we’ll take a look... Read more →

  • Business Processes for Motion Designers

    My latest project for Loop is an online course to help motion designers with the business side of motion design.

    The new course: business processes for motion designers, is basically everything I’ve learned over the past 14 years or so of freelance life, and it’s everything I wish I’d... Read more →

  • Freelance project proposal template

    freelance project proposal template

    As part of my freelance motion design business, I often have to create proposals for prospective clients. Over the years I’ve tried to perfect the proposal process, and I’ve found that a simple professional approach often works best when trying to win... Read more →

  • Custom logo animation

    Creating a custom logo animation for your business is a great way to enhance your brand image and make your logo more memorable, especially when it’s being used in video content, and on your website.

    Take this custom animation for Dropkick Jonnys, it now serves as a great animated... Read more →

  • Every motion design project needs a statement of work

    Before starting a new motion design project you should absolutely be putting together a statement of work: a simple document that puts down in writing exactly what is going to be done throughout the project and the deliverables to be produced along the way.

    Having a written log of... Read more →

  • How much does it cost to animate a logo?

    Animating your logo is a great way to present your company online and in film. When done correctly, logo animation can actually enhance your logo, adding interest and intrigue through motion.

    animated logo

    So, how much does it cost to animate a logo? Well, to answer that... Read more →

  • A Radial Repeater for After Effects

    I’ve just launched my latest project for made by loop called Spoke! It’s a radial layer repeater script for After Effects that provides a quick and simple way to repeat any layer, not just shaper layers, around a circle in After Effects.

    Let’s say you wanted 10 copies of... Read more →

  • Create your own animation

    As a professional motion designer it’s my job to create wonderful animations for my clients and help them get their message out to their audience. It’s a job I love doing, and it’s a job that takes time to get right.

    Sometimes though, time is of the essence and budgets... Read more →

  • Creating a glitch effect in After Effects with the Fragment script

    Creating a glitch transition or adding some digital distortion in After Effects can take time to get right, there’s multiple layers and effects involved and even with something like the glitch presets for After Effects I made for Loop, it can be a bit of an effort to... Read more →

  • New voiceover work website

    A few years ago a client of mine needed a voiceover for a motion design project we’d been working on. With a limited timeframe and budget to play with, I decided to invest in a home studio setup and record the voiceover myself, which I’m happy to say, the... Read more →

  • How much does an animation cost?

    I’d love to be able to give a single figure answer to the this question, but the truth is; costs vary from project to project depending on client needs and style considerations.

    As a very rough ballpark figure, projects tend to start from around £3000. This sort of budget allows... Read more →

  • Creating a number counter in After Effects just got a lot easier

    Update: The Numero Script has now been updated to include a Beta version which includes the ability to add commas and decimals!

    The first version of the Numero script was designed to take a lot of the legwork out of creating a... Read more →

  • The benefits of having a freelance contract in place

    * Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer and this post is not legal advice. This post is advisory, please do your homework and consult an actual lawyer before making legal decisions. *

    I’ve made a new addition to the Freelance checklist, an item which should... Read more →

  • Comparing your work to others

    On the last day of my week long takeover of the Motion Hatch podcast Instagram account, I had an idea to post my latest motion design reel alongside the first ever reel/promo I did… all the way back from 2010!

    For those of you that weren’t following here... Read more →

  • Guest appearance on the motion hatch podcast

    A couple of weeks ago, Hayley Akins from the motion hatch podcast got in touch to see if I’d be a guest on the show and I just had to jump at the opportunity.

    For those of you who haven’t heard it before, the motion hatch... Read more →

  • Animating paragraph text in After Effects

    Throughout my motion design work I’ve animated a fair few paragraphs for explainer and social media videos - much like the example you see here for trivago:

    motion design for trivago

    Although simple on the surface, the technique to... Read more →

  • Creating a sliding number counter in After Effects

    UPDATE: The script has now been updated to make it easier than ever to create a sliding number counter in After Effects

    My latest project for Loop is a brand new script for creating odometers or sliding number counters in After Effects like the one below:

    odometer sliding...
            <a class=Read more →

  • Motion Design Reel

    Yep, it’s that time again! I’ve managed to put together a brand new motion design showreel for 2018, featuring projects from the past year and beyond.

    Take a look:

    I really enjoyed putting this reel together, it really made me stop and... Read more →

  • Freelance Motion Design Update

    2017 was a great year, I’ve been lucky enough to work on some wonderful projects with some ace clients and agencies, if 2018 is as good then I’ll be a happy motion designer!

    As it was a busy one, I’ve only now had the chance to update my portfolio with... Read more →

  • Let's plant some trees!

    tree animation

    Spurred on by some eye-opening documentaries like: Chasing Ice, Chasing Coral, and A Plastic Ocean (all of which I cannot recommend highly enough) I’ve been looking at ways I can change my daily habits to help reduce the impact I... Read more →

  • The freelance checklist

    I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading recently, first up was: Thinking, fast and slow; a wonderful insight into how people think, and how humans make decisions in everyday life. The second was: The checklist manifesto - a fascinating read about the power of the humble checklist... Read more →

  • Creating an animated explainer video for your business

    According to the Internet Advertising Bureau UK, Video was the fastest growing format in 2016, Up 56% on a like-for-like basis since 2015. With statistics like that it’s not hard to see why companies are turning to motion design and animation to... Read more →

  • Creating Chronos - a futuristic interface kit for After Effects

    I’ve always loved sci-fi, it’s my favourite genre by far. The world building, the rules, the foresight, just the wonderful creativity involved in creating something out of this world is what fascinates me the most.

    As a motion designer, I’ve always wanted to have a go at creating a futuristic... Read more →

  • Glitch effect presets for After Effects

    Fragment is the latest project I’ve made for Loop - a set of 15 glitchy transitions and presets for After Effects.

    Had a lot of fun making the promo for this one too:

    Making the... Read more →

  • Skylights Pro - Vintage filters for After Effects

    Following on from the ever popular Instagram style Skylights filters I made a while back, I decided to make a pro version - 30 brand new filters, plus an additional 15 noise and grain overlays to... Read more →

  • Microphone setup for voice over work

    Following on from my post about starting voice over work as part of my motion design projects I thought I’d do a quick run down of the setup I use:

    voiceover work mircophone setup

    Before I started I did quite a bit of... Read more →

  • Nomadhouse - freelancing from Budapest

    After trying out freelancing from Berlin and Lisbon, I was searching for a new place to explore and freelance from. Then a couple of months ago, in one of those strange serendipitous moments life throws up every now and then: I discovered NomadHouse.

    The... Read more →

  • Handicons icon pack

    Throughout a lot of my motion design work I find myself needing different hand icons; perhaps a hand pointing to something, or swiping on a phone screen.

    That’s why I’ve made Handicons! A set of 30 different hand icons, perfect for all sorts of projects.

    Here’s a quick look at... Read more →

  • Voiceover work

    If you take a look at a couple of my most recent motion design projects, you may notice the voice is actually the same:

    Exhibit A:

    Exhibit B:

    It... Read more →

  • Quick freelancing update

    Following on from my freelance adventure in Berlin I decided to check out Lisbon back at the beginning of May, again taking a week and working from out there while exploring the city.

    I decided to repeat what I’d done in Berlin and get an Airbnb, at the... Read more →

  • Freelancing from Berlin

    As a freelancer I’m always saying to people I can theoretically work from anywhere; all I need is a decent internet connection and I’m sorted.

    Up until now I’d never properly tried it though, so I decided to book a trip to Berlin and give it a try. A bit... Read more →

  • Finishing a freelance job early

    Update:
    I now operate on the following basis: in order to confirm a booking the client agrees to pay for the specified number of days in full.

    Confirming a booking means potentially turning other work down, as a result that time should be paid for in full.

    </strong>

    My... Read more →

  • A new website design

    Well it’s more of a design refresh than anything else! If you haven’t visited the site for a while you may notice some slight design changes here and there, I thought I’d write a quick post to run through the changes.

    Let’s start with the portfolio design - there’s... Read more →

  • Motion design at The Guardian

    Over the past couple of weeks I swapped Manchester for a freelance motion design contract at The Guardian in London.

    I had a great time working there, as you can imagine the projects are pretty varied. In the first week I worked on this from the 99 seconds series:

    Read more →
  • More motion design for The Guardian

    Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been down in London working freelance on some more motion design projects at The Guardian.

    This time I worked on a couple of different projects, the first of which was a video detailing what the Ebola virus is, how it’s transferred, and what... Read more →

  • Keep vectors sharp in After Effects

    Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on a new motion graphics promotional video for my own website (something similar to my old motion graphics promo).

    In this new promo I’ve used plenty of shape layers, halfway through animating I ran into a slight problem though: I’d... Read more →

  • Freelance Tip #2 - Office Space

    Following on from freelance tip #1 - here’s the second tip I thought I’d share:

    Consider getting some office space

    When I first started freelancing I did what most freelancers do: I worked from home. It was great at first, no more commuting! I could jump into work straight... Read more →

  • Freelance Tip #1 - Side Projects

    I’ve been freelancing full-time for a couple of years now (I freelanced part-time while at Uni so I’ve actually been doing it for quite a while!) and in that time there’s been a fair few ups and downs. As a result I’ve decided to put together a couple of blog... Read more →

  • Creating a 3D blueprint in Cinema 4D

    Ever since Adobe added Cinema 4D to After Effects I’ve been trying to use it more and more in my motion graphics work. Every now and then I’ll discover something cool & I just can’t help experimenting with it!

    The most recent thing I’ve found is the ‘Cel Render’ effect... Read more →

  • A motion graphics business card

    I had a random idea the other day while I was looking at my current business card design - why not create a business card with a bit of a difference? Something which showcases the motion graphics work I do, something which could act as a little introduction to... Read more →

  • A motion graphics design gif!

    After creating a few different motion design gif experiments, I decided to incorporate one into my site to help advertise what I do.

    This is the result:

    motion graphics design gif

    It’s now helping to liven up the services page, I think it... Read more →

  • Texture experiments in Cinema 4D Lite

    With Cinema 4D Lite now included in After Effects I’ve been getting back into producing more 3D motion graphics work. As a little side experiment I wanted to test out some texturing within Cinema 4D to see what is and isn’t possible.

    I created the text and textures in cinema... Read more →

  • Another motion graphics gif experiment

    Following on from my previous motion graphics gif project I decided to create a new experiment, this time with shape layers!

    trim paths after effects

    trim paths swirling lines gif

    motion graphics gif using trim pathsRead more →

  • Tutorial for the Computer Arts Photoshop magazine

    I was recently asked to create a short tutorial for the new Computer Arts Photoshop Studio Training magazine.

    video timeline tutorial

    The tutorial aims to provide a basic overview of the video timeline feature in Photoshop. As well as covering how to import and work with video... Read more →

  • Infinite floor not working in After Effects & Cinema 4D Lite

    I recently upgraded to the Adobe Creative Cloud & one feature I was really looking forward to trying out was the Cinema 4D Lite package within After Effects. I’ve experimented with Cinema 4D before, mainly just creating a couple of random objects here and there, but only ever with the... Read more →

  • Skylights Deluxe - 25 After Effects Filter Presets

    Update: The Deluxe pack is now no longer available, however, a new version: Skylights Pro is now available from Made by Loop

    Introducing Skylights Deluxe! A set of 25 new filter presets for After Effects.

    Following on from the original Skylights filters I created, I’ve decided to put... Read more →

  • Tracking link clicks with Google Analytics

    When I released Skylights a few months ago, I wanted to track how many people actually clicked the download link to give me a rough idea of how many people were trying them out.

    Luckily, Google Analytics lets you track particular interactions on your site using ‘Events’. Setting up... Read more →

  • Animating a still photograph in After Effects

    I was looking through some of the pictures on my phone from last summer and decided to have a go at creating a short animation from a still photograph. Here’s the result:

    Here’s the original photograph:

    speckled wood butterfly for...
            <a class=Read more →

  • Skylights: 15 Instagram style filters for After Effects

    instagram style filters in after effects

    I wanted to create an Instagram style filter using the standard tools within After Effects to help liven up some old footage I was working with. After creating a few different styles I ended up... Read more →

  • Motion graphics project: gifs

    I’ve been working on a motion graphics project recently that involved creating an animated gif version of a client logo in After Effects.

    Before taking on the project, I decided to experiment slightly and put some trial animations together to help get a feel for the gif making process:

    Read more →

  • Removing unwanted CSS files from a Drupal theme

    If you’ve ever developed your own Drupal theme then you may have noticed that Drupal & other contrib modules provide their own stylesheets for you to contend with. Of course you could just override the CSS rules with your own, however the files are still being included on every single... Read more →

  • Website bookmark icons for different iOS devices

    A couple of years ago I wrote a short post on how to create an iPhone bookmark icon for your website which would appear if someone were to add your site to their homescreen. That post is getting on a bit now (the screenshot alone shows just how... Read more →

  • Creating different shape masks in After Effects

    I’ve always loved watching video tutorials on the web, I find having someone talk you through how to do something and being able to watch them do it is far more engaging than simply following a blog post with some screenshots.

    So I’ve decided to have a go myself! I’ve... Read more →

  • BBC Olympic trailer - 'Stadium UK'

    The BBC revealed the ‘Stadium UK’ trailer/ident for their coverage of the Olympic games during the Euro 2012 final last night - if you haven’t already seen it, take a look:

    Personally I think it’s a great concept and... Read more →

  • After Effects motion tracking experiment

    Another short motion graphics test, this time experimenting with motion tracking in After Effects to ‘parent’ some visuals to the movement of my eye:

    I’m pretty pleased with the results, using motion tracking like this can be a great way... Read more →

  • Shapes - animation

    Another little motion graphics piece I’ve created, this time to experiment with a couple of different techniques when animating 2D shapes in After Effects.

    The music was again created by Andy Hudson and the full track ‘Fear Of’ is... Read more →

  • Assassin's creed logo animation

    I wanted to have a go at animating the futuristic Assassin’s creed logo in After Effects:

    Whenever I see an animation I like, I’m always curious as to how it’s actually done and what techniques have been used to create... Read more →

  • Motion graphics promotional video

    To go along with my website redesign I thought it was time for a brand new promotional video as well. Here’s the finished video:

    Once again the music was provided by my good friend Andy - http://andyhudsonmusic.com

    When I... Read more →

  • Motion graphics experiment: 'Annotation'

    As a little experiment into mixing live action footage with motion graphics I created the short sample videos below. The process involved tracking the motion of the video in After Effects and linking the position of the graphics to the tracked keyframes - this basically helps to keep the titles... Read more →

  • JavaScript-less social share links

    Social sharing widgets are everywhere these days and on a growing number of sites they even follow you down the page just so you’re blatantly aware of where they are at all times.

    As well as just being visual pollution on a webpage, these widgets are resource heavy too, chocked... Read more →

  • Introducing: Block - a simple tumblr theme

    Today I submitted my first Tumblr theme: ‘Block’ for review. (I named it ‘block’ because the main navigation is quite block-like as is the general structure of the overall theme.)

    The theme has now been accepted into the theme garden - and should be available to install... Read more →

  • Who's tweeting the most?

    In an effort to learn a bit more about the Twitter API I decided to set myself a little weekend project to try and create something with the data available.

    I’m used to working with PHP and found this pretty solid PHP library which gave me a good base... Read more →

  • Tweet archive: Google calendar

    A few weeks ago I blogged about archiving tweets by sending them to another web service using ifttt. In my case that web service was Google Calendar since I never really use it.

    I just thought I would share a weekly snapshot of my tweets in calendar format:

    ... Read more →
  • GrammarTime JavaScript word clock

    As a little side project I decided it might be pretty cool to create an online word clock which shows the time as you might speak it.

    So, I created: GrammarTime.

    I’m pretty pleased with the result, looks pretty nice in full screen mode too.

    ... Read more →
  • A photo of the Moon taken from my iPhone

    I took the photograph below by lining up my iPhone to the eyepiece of a telescope. It was slightly tricky to get lined up but I think the end result was pretty great:

    The Moon taken from an iPhone by Thomas Davis

    Pretty cool huh?

    I’m still... Read more →

  • Let there be lightsabers

    Another design I thought would make a pretty cool poster, although that could just be because I’m a pretty big fan of Star Wars.

    This one was created for the ‘light’ brief over on GotBrief and started out as just a design of a lightsaber which then turned into... Read more →

  • Using ifttt to archive your tweets

    UPDATE: unfortunately due to recent changes in the Twitter API it seems IFTTT has to remove the Twitter triggers which means the following technique will no longer work. Thanks Twitter.

    I’ve been seeing quite a few tweets about not being able to search back through your own tweets, with some... Read more →

  • The apostrophaces strike back

    That’s right they’re back!

    As I was sifting through my old blog posts I found the apostrophaces design I did just over a year ago and decided it was high time for a comeback!

    The collection:

    Apostrophaces posters

    Font: Chiller

    chiller apostrophace

    Font:... Read more →

  • My new website design

    This post talks about the latest iteration of my site design and the steps I took in order to produce it. It’s not really about the code I used to create the theme but more the rationale behind the various decisions made, the thoughts running through my head and some... Read more →

  • Moving Brands & their creative process

    Mat Heinl gave a great talk at the Northern Digitals BLAB event yesterday in which he showcased some of the various projects Moving Brands have worked on recently.

    Refreshingly, Mat talked about the creative processes behind the projects rather than showing the finished projects themselves. This approach... Read more →

  • Wilson Miner - Build 2011

    Back in November I attended Build 2011.

    Without a doubt the talk which stood out the most to me (and I’m sure a lot of others at the conference too) was this one by @WilsonMiner:

    I was filled with inspiration... Read more →

  • Planning a project pie chart

    Today I have yet again been faced with this:

    Planning a project pie chart

    Personally, I think something needs to change with regards to domain name registrations. Perhaps if a domain isn’t put to good use within 6 months it should be put up for sale again?

    ... Read more →
  • GotBrief - a site to fuel your creativity.

    Over the past couple of months I’ve been working on a self initiated project: GotBrief.

    After attending Build 2011 I was inspired, truly inspired by the various talks and events which took place over the course of the conference. So inspired infact I decided to actually go out... Read more →

  • The new twitter design

    Twitter has today launched a major new design of their apps across the board.

    Interestingly the announcement on http://fly.twitter.com came with a call to download the official mobile apps in order to get access to the new design on your computer, was this to reinforce a mobile first approach?

    Perhaps... Read more →

  • The bowler

    Two blog posts in one day? Surely not!

    I’ve been hard at work finishing some designs off and thought I would post both today. Much like the Level Up design I posted earlier today, I think the following design would make a pretty cool poster:

    the bowler...
            <a class=Read more →

  • DrupalCon London 2011

    DrupalCon London is almost over, the sessions have all been wrapped up and all that remains tomorrow is the code sprints to try and put some of the awesome ideas from the week straight into action. This was actually my first ever DrupalCon, unfortunately I could only attend one... Read more →

  • Wunderlist: the fantastic task management app

    If you’re trying to find a decent to-do list app then you really need to checkout the task management tool: Wunderlist. As well as a web app, wunderlist is also available for a wide variety of devices and perhaps the best thing about it: it’s absolutely free. Incredible really... Read more →

  • How to detect the width of a web browser using jQuery

    Detecting the width of a browser window can be very useful when designing a website, it allows you to create a more responsive design which is suited to the current browser dimensions.

    Using the small chunk of jQuery below, you can easily detect the current width of a web browser... Read more →

  • Quickly resize a lot of images in Photoshop

    Over the weekend I needed to resize an entire folder full of photos from my brothers graduation so I could upload them to the web without it taking 100 years to complete. I could have simply opened up each image in Photoshop, resized & re-saved them however that would have... Read more →

  • Fading chances

    A little design piece I’ve been working on today, it’s called ‘fading chances’.

    fading chances designed by thomas

    I don’t think it’s quite there yet & perhaps needs something else but I thought I would post it anyway. I find it’s quite good to just stop... Read more →

  • Apostrophace design - bauhaus

    I thought I would share one of my favourite apostrophaces. I found it makes a pretty good background or wallpaper so feel free to save it & try it for yourself!

    bauhaus apostrophace designed by thomas

    If you would like to alter/re-post this image... Read more →

  • Website overhaul: new design and development

    Last week I released the latest version of designedbythomas.co.uk. If you ever visited the old site then you will see there has been quite a drastic change to the overall theme and structure.

    I decided the time had come to upgrade from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 and as... Read more →

  • What is Drupal.settings all about in Drupal?

    I’ve recently been using the Views nivo slider module for a Drupal project which needed a nice neat javascript slider. After installing the module & getting the slider in place I suddenly came up against a slight problem in that I needed to dynamically change the starting slide... Read more →

  • Social media campaign tools.

    The only tools you’ll need for a social media campaign:

    Social media campaign tools

    You don’t have to look too far to see that the major social networking sites are littered with these so called ‘campaigns’.

    If you are planning a social media... Read more →

  • Microsoft urges you to stop using Internet Explorer 6.

    On Saturday I, like many other web designers and developers, woke up to some rather pleasing news: Microsoft has started a campaign to finally say goodbye to Internet Explorer 6 (IE6).

    The campaign site: ie6countdown.com shows a worldwide map and statistics of the current usage count IE6 is... Read more →

  • The lone vagabond

    I’ve been playing about with the idea of a design involving the outline of a person, much like the style of the Mad Men opening titles, however I have been a bit too busy lately to actually design anything!

    I managed to play around with some of the ideas today... Read more →

  • The new HTML5 logo

    The World Wide Web consortium (W3C) unveiled their new logo for HTML5 on Tuesday, along with a rather fancy website & a clear brand message on what HTML5 represents.

    Along with the main logo, the website also provides a set of icons which showcase a list of features that are... Read more →

  • Wandering through the Forrst!

    Recently, I was lucky enough to receive a Forrst invite from Jim Ramsden of designfridge.co.uk and over the past couple of months I have been actively contributing to the site whenever I get chance.

    For those of you who aren’t familiar with Forrst: it is an online... Read more →

  • Qwiki: the information experience

    A couple of months ago I discovered Qwiki.com, a site which aims to transform the way in which people consume information on web by offering ‘information experiences’. The site aims to do this by allowing users to search for information on a particular topic, much like conventional sites although;... Read more →

  • Apostrophaces!

    A few months back I discovered the brilliant fontstache/typestache poster which seems to show the personality of each font used through the style of the curly bracket.

    Inspired by this I had a bit of fun putting together some ‘apostrophaces’ - by using the apostrophe of a font... Read more →

  • 2010 - A year to remember

    Captains log, star date December 31st 2010.

    I find myself writing a blog post looking back on the year that has seemingly flown by and I can’t help but smile.

    At the start of 2010 I was heading into the second term of my final year at Lancaster University and... Read more →

  • Using CSS3: box-shadow to create a photo vignette.

    The CSS3 property: box-shadow allows you to create simple drop-shadows on block level elements within a webpage. The box below shows this effect in action:

    .selector{ box-shadow: x-direction y-direction blur-amount colour; }

    The box-shadow property also allows you to place the shadow within the element using the inset... Read more →

  • Motion graphics: kinetic titles.

    With the phase 1 changes to my site now live, I finally had the chance to work on some motion design work.

    To get back into the swing of using After Effects I created the video below, it showcases some ‘kinetic titles’ as well as some other cool visuals,... Read more →

  • Phase 1 complete

    A few weeks ago I decided my website content pages needed a bit of a spruce up, less of a ‘redesign’ more of a ‘refactoring’ really.

    Whilst designing the new content pages I also decided to make some changes to the backend too; moving away from the ZEN base theme... Read more →

  • My time at Lancaster University draws to a close.

    On the 22nd June 2010 : I received the results of my four year degree. I am absolutely delighted to reveal: I achieved a first class Msci degree in I.T & Media Communications and as an added bonus I have also been nominated by the board of examiners to receive... Read more →

  • Incorrect password error using GMail on the iPhone

    Whenever an ‘enter password’ message box pops up on my iPhone I immediately enter my iTunes password, it’s pretty much a an immediate action and I don’t tend to look at what the message is saying once I see the word: ‘Password’ I just zone out and enter it.

    So... Read more →

  • 5 Second Project: Countdown

    A couple of months ago I came across Greyscale Gorilla - a blog dedicated to all manner of motion graphics and 3D design.

    Whilst traversing the wealth of posts over there I found out about the ‘5 second projects’ - basically they provide you with a theme and... Read more →

  • My New Business Card Design

    Over the past couple of months I’ve been busy working on my final year project & dissertation and as a result the blog has suffered slightly!

    Fear not my faithful reader(s), I am back!

    As an initial post I would like to showcase my new business card designs I had... Read more →

  • designedbythomas - the new URL.

    Just a quick note, I have now added a new domain to my site: http://designedbythomas.co.uk - you will see exactly the same thing as if you were visiting the site from: http://thomasedavis.co.uk so there is no massive change going on with the working of the site.

    designedbythomas.co.uk provides a slightly... Read more →

  • Website design inspiration: designfridge.co.uk

    I think we all need a bit of inspiration once in a while, regardless of the field you work in! It is always useful to find a consistent source of inspiration which you can admire whenever a creative block forms over your head.

    Not long ago I came across Read more →

  • Website design project finished: Andy Hudson Music

    I am very pleased to announce a brand new website design project: andyhudsonmusic.com has just gone live!

    The website is part of a complete redesign & rebranding project which aims to increase Andys online presence as well as giving him a more professional and refined brand image to... Read more →

  • Motion graphics: textured title fade

    I recently wrote about the visual design within games and how I am inspired by the visual aesthetics of certain game environments & landscapes.

    Following the post, I decided to have a play around with some of the aesthetic elements seen in one of the games I mentioned: Read more →

  • The end of a few busy weeks...

    Phew! The past couple of weeks have been properly busy for me; finishing various projects, revising for exams and finishing coursework. Today however: I am finished. At precisely 11.19am today I finished the last exam of my Msc and quite possibly the last exam of my academic career!

    If you... Read more →

  • My new Behance profile

    I recently came across the site: behance.net - the site showcases creative portfolios and work from various people all over the world.

    At the moment you cannot simply signup to the site, I am not sure whether or not this will change in the future but at the moment... Read more →

  • [Rebrand]New Logo: Andy Hudson

    I am very pleased to reveal the new logo for my client: Mr. Andy Hudson.

    The new logo is part of a larger rebrand project for Andys professional portfolio.

    Andy is currently working as a freelance music producer and did some fantastic work for me on my promotional... Read more →

  • How to: create a website bookmark icon for the iPhone

    For those of you who follow me on twitter - you may have read that I recently became the owner of an Apple iPhone. I must admit that it was quite a hard decision, the lack of a camera above 3 megapixels being the main reason I didn’t really... Read more →

  • New: Motion Graphics Promotional Video

    I recently completed a new promotional motion graphics piece to advertise my services in a fun and exciting way. The music used in the video was produced by my good friend Andy Hudson.

    The video makes use of the new Video Copilot Sure Target 2 plugin.

    The video... Read more →

  • The real beauty of the Apple iPad

    After months of speculation and a plethora of ‘is this the new Apple Tablet?’ images, Apple finally revealed to the world: The iPad.

    The anticipation behind the iPad release was monumental, something which is now common place with all Apple announcements; day after day there was another blog post... Read more →

  • Is this is it for Internet Explorer?

    In my previous blog post on website design & cross-browser support , I brought up the issue of cross-browser support and the main challenges for website designers trying to acheive the same site in all browsers - most notable Internet Explorer 6. Now, it seems that problem may... Read more →

  • A useful tool for website development & cross-browser support

    A major aspect of website design & development is cross-browser support: making sure your website looks and feels ‘roughly’ the same in different web browsers running on different operating systems.

    At the moment there are 7 main browsers in popular use: Internet Explorer versions 6, 7 & 8; Firefox; Chrome;... Read more →

  • Visualization of RFID

    In my blog post on the nabaztags, I talked about the RFID rabbits known as nano:ztags bringing a relatively new and emerging technology to the public in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

    I then remembered a site which I had come across a couple of months ago: nearfield.org... Read more →

  • Nabaztag: the wireless rabbit

    OK, now you may look at the title of this post and think that I have lost it but keep with me!

    I am infact talking about this little critter:

    He is the afore mentioned Nabaztag and is a very cool little device created by Violet.... Read more →

  • Looking to the future: 2010

    As 2009 draws to a close I find myself looking ahead to the future, making plans and setting myself personal and professional goals.

    2009 brought many changes to my website; the most notable change is the design of the site, the new design fit into the new direction of... Read more →

  • Real-time search from Google

    Google have just released a video of their real-time search function.

    So what does this mean? Well, if someone was searching for an article on the new realtime search function in Google at around 8pm on the 7th of December 2009 then my blog post and all the related... Read more →

  • Visually stunning: Gorey Castle besieged by projection

    Now this is how you attack a castle in the 21st Century!

    The effect was achieved by mapping out the castle and then creating the various animations to fit the map - it was then projected onto the castle using a very high intensity projecter: the Christie 25K projector.

    The... Read more →

  • URL Change: Blog

    Just a quick announcement: I recently changed the base URL for my blog from ‘blogs’ to ‘blog’ - this shouldn’t really affect anything too much but if you have come across a page not found error when trying to reach the blog from an external link then this is why.

    ... Read more →
  • Finished: The Lancaster Award

    I finally handed over the Lancaster Award site last week just in time for freshers week.

    The whole project has been a really good experience right from the word go! The Lancaster Award team were a really friendly bunch of people to work with and I would gladly work... Read more →

  • Graphic design portfolio section

    Yes I have now increased my portfolio section to include my previous graphic design work.

    This section will contain all graphics work (not website design) and will be updated very soon with all my previous work.

    Anyway, I hope you enjoy checking out the: awesome new graphic design portfolio

    ... Read more →
  • Student? Jobless? Enter: Student Gems

    I have had a such a good experience with this site that I thought it deserved a blog post:

    About a year ago I was introduced to a wonderful site: studentgems.com - a brilliant site for all students looking for part time work.

    The site is so good because... Read more →

  • 'Where Am I Based?'

    As a freelancer I am currently not fixed in any one location for work.

    For the past 3 years I have been primarily working in Lancaster as I worked towards my degree.

    (I recently received my results for the third year and was very very pleased to have acheived a... Read more →

  • Zen Sub-theme Error

    The great thing about Drupal is that it comes with a variety of themes available to download. If, like me however, you want to carve out your own theme then there is an incredibly useful way of doing this: the Zen theme.

    Zen is a perfect starting point for... Read more →

  • Completely New Site

    Welcome to the new site design!

    I recently updated my site from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6 and to go with it I created the new theme you see before you.

    Instead of upgrading from D5 to D6 I decided to make a fresh start. My old site had... Read more →

Rewilding the planet with freelance animation and motion design

We've only got one planet, and right now it needs all the help it can get. Climate change and biodiversity loss are massive challenges that we need to tackle head on.

That's why, for every freelance animation project over £1000 a donation of 1% of the total budget will be made to the World Land Trust, on your behalf.

The money will go towards WLT's "buy an acre" programme; buying up and protecting vital habitats around the world, and helping fight against climate change.

Any motion design projects under £1000 will have a tree planted on your behalf.

Acres saved so far:

Thanks to my wonderful clients and the animations we've produced, enough money has been donated to save around:

17.5 Acres of vital habitats around the world.

Just think, your animated explainer video or logo animation could also be helping fight the climate crisis!

If you're interested in some freelance animation work and saving the planet, get in touch and let's chat!