Ruby Gloom
Director; Nelvana (Corus Entertainment)
Winner; 2008 Elan Awards; Best Direction in an Animated Television Series
Winner; 2008 Gemini Awards; Best Animated Program or Series; Best Direction in a Children's Series
Nominated; 2007 Gemini Awards; Best Animated Program or Series
The bright side of the dark side!
Ruby Gloom started out as a line of t-shirts with a "gothic Hello Kitty" theme. Our visual development process focused on adapting various artistic styles into a single, unified look that would work as a 2D animated series. We married two opposites in our storytelling: Goth Drama, and Kids' Comedy.
We created an atmosphere of darkness, with a Victorian feel. This served to contrast nicely with our brightly-coloured, positive characters who lived within this world. To add drama, I took a theatrical approach to the art direction. I wanted the characters to really "pop" from the background, as though they were actors on a darkened stage, taking a step into the spotlight. We used saturated colours, punchy lighting, and slightly surreal angles, all of which ultimately served the series' underlying message: "being different is just being normal!"
We had loads of great music for this series — including coming up with an entire musical episode — which earned our composers a Gemini award for "Best Original Musical Score for an Animated Program or Series" ...wow, that category title is a mouthful!
