Why did Mickey cross the road? Disney magic and charm is infused into the familiar gameplay of the smash hit, Crossy Road.
The unique challenge with developing the branding art direction of Disney Crossy Road was establishing which conventions we wanted to bring forward from Crossy Road, and which ones showed opportunity for new ideas.
Ultimately, it was decided that, with the strong Disney heritage in story and character, we should bring the viewer closer to the characters, showcasing familiar gameplay in a new way.
Creative Direction: Nick Clements
Art Direction: Neil Hooson
Writing: Deanna Kent
Motion Design: Cory Ransom & Keely Portsmouth
Design: Keely Portsmouth
Animation Direction: Jenny Weightman
Concept Art: Augusto Kapronczai & Neil Hooson
Working with the Tron franchise was very exciting for me, as I had been captivated by the digital world in the original movies way back in the 80's.
As Tron Run/r is an endless runner game, we wanted to focus on the prospect of a potentially never-ending challenge. We also wanted to hint that a omniscient intelligence was playing the puppet-master, reflected in the disembodied voice that can be heard throughout the trailer.
Creative Direction: Nick Clements
Art Direction: Neil Hooson
Writing: Deanna Kent
Motion Design: Cory Ransom & Keely Portsmouth
Design: Keely Portsmouth
Animation Direction: Jenny Weightman
Concept Art: Augusto Kapronczai & Neil Hooson
Trailer Production: Digital Domain
With a shift from a 2D web-based product to a 3D, mobile product, Club Penguin Island lets players express themselves like never before.
In developing the branding for Club Penguin Island, I was fortunate enough to also work with the product team in the early stages of development, exploring updated character designs and visuals.
For the branding, we focused on immersion and story. Deliberately low camera angles bring the viewer into the action. The island itself is considered a character in our treatment, with its uniquely half-snow, half-tropical feature. This divide is also reflected in the logo, designed by Keely Portsmouth.
Creative Direction: Nick Clements
Art Direction: Neil Hooson
Writing: Deanna Kent
Motion Design: Cory Ransom & Keely Portsmouth
Design: Keely Portsmouth
Animation Direction: Jenny Weightman
Concept Art: Augusto Kapronczai & Neil Hooson
Creative Direction: Nick Clements
Art Direction: Neil Hooson
Writing: Deanna Kent
Motion Design: Cory Ransom & Keely Portsmouth
Design: Keely Portsmouth
Animation Direction: Jenny Weightman
Concept Art: Augusto Kapronczai & Neil Hooson
Dazz, Drone Detective is a young audience, animated TV series concept created by Deanna Kent and Neil Hooson.
"10-year old Dazzle Skye is almost as comfortable with a tiara as she is with a toolbelt. Inside her treehouse, her robotic-building set-up rivals Tony Stark’s lab. Even though she’s generally amusing (or annoying) most of the neighbourhood with her elaborate drones, she’s becoming a master at building, customizing, and controlling them. Besides being an ace inventor and drone pilot, Dazz is a dramatic, fact-finding whirlwind. With the help of her fabulous friends, and hand-crafted flying machines, her goal is to get to the bottom of the crazy, mysterious stuff that happens in her city. And in Sparck City, there’s a lot more than meets the eye..."
Underdog Academy is a middle school book series concept developed by Deanna Kent & Neil Hooson
"What do you get when you take an eternal optimist, a fashion designer, a conspiracy theorist, a prankster, a gamer extraordinaire, and a Picasso (who could pass for a semi-truck), and throw them together in a middle school full of secrets, myths, and legends? Well, if you add in a rival school, plus an evil nemesis with an ongoing, villainous plot to sabotage EVERYTHING, you get some hilarious adventures and misadventures. Meet Zack and his mischievous buddies who are finally starting Grade 7. To stay together and prevent the demolition of their school, they’ll test themselves as individuals and also how they work as a dream team—all in the name of school spirit, sports, science, art, friendship, fashion, code classes, perseverance, cafeteria food improvements, and (very, very innovative) detention avoidance. "
In the early 2000's, Neil was commissioned to produce visual development materials for a Comet Guy pitch. Comet Guy was originally a superhero comic character back in the 1940's and 50's, and the aim of this new pitch was to introduce him to a new audience.
Neil produced new character designs for the primary characters, layout design and colours, as well as a mock comic cover.
From 2004-2006, Neil was Senior Motion Designer/Illustrator for Teletoon. Working within the brand framework, Neil was given the opportunity to explore incorporating Flash animation elements into colourful layouts for a wide variety of on-air promotions.
Neil served as the primary concept artist & illustrator in the development of Card-Jitsu Snow for Disney's Club Penguin. The Card-Jitsu sub-brand is one of Neil's favourite elements of the game, and the team was given the opportunity to develop an entirely new battle game, revolving around a new villain, Tusk.
A more serious tone was created for Snow, with a series of in-game cinematics slowly revealing the Tusk character and upping the ante for the player. Tusk's snowmen minions, equipped with a variety of winter sports gear, prove challenging opponents but nothing compared to the final battle with the mighty walrus himself.
