Izzy Burton, a concept artist at Blue Zoo Animation in London, captures the wonder and emotion of a poem by UK writer Rachel Cladingbowl with a series of striking environments marking moments in one man’s lifetime.

Izzy Burton: “When I feel overwhelmed with life, the world around me provides some type of healing.

“I love to go stand by the river in London or at the end of my garden at my family home and take in how beautiful the world is and how lucky I am to be a part of it, and it truly makes me so happy.
 

 
“My work has always been described as whimsical and poetic, and I think that’s why I ended up finding a poem to narrate the story.

“I wanted my love for environment painting to assist the story, and see how we could tell an emotional tale using such small characters with no facial expressions.

“It was a great challenge and I hope we’ve managed to make a film that evokes some emotion in the viewer.”
 

 
Rachel Cladingbowl: “For me, it is a poem about the complexities of the human journey; a path both rocky and smooth with unforeseen obstacles to overcome.

“Indeed, some obstacles can seem so huge that we think we will never cope at all, yet somehow we can still come out the other side, smiling again.”
 

Production: Blue Zoo Animation
Director: Izzy Burton
Producer: Tom Box
Production Manager: Chantal Baldwin
Character Animation: Phil Brooks, Anthony Delliste, Dane Winn
2D Animation and Compositing: Izzy Burton
Environments: Izzy Burton
Modeling: Chris Rais, Pietro Licini
SFX: John Paul Sutherland
Rendering and Shading: Dane Winn
Rigging: Anthony Delliste

Music: Vince Webb
Narrator: Harry Ditson

Poem: Rachel Cladingbowl

Special Thanks: Jérémy Cissé, Nathan Wilkes