VICE
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
these are promotional animations for Vice's Tales From the Territories, a series that took a deep-dive into regional wrestling in the U.S.
the team provided a script to base the animations off of, in which i delivered storyboards with unique characters & humorous narratives that eventually came to be the below.
art direction: Eric Bubas, motion direction: Assaf Clements
published: October 2022, aired on t.v. & instagram
HOW TO MAINTAIN YOUR WRESTLING PERSONA
based off the script, i thought it would be most impactful to do a major transformation of the character from the start to who he becomes.
he begins as a scrawny dude with a head too big for his body, it doesn’t seem he could garner much of a fanbase due to his lack of personality, then it is revealed his true wrestling persona is that of a gargantuan, metalhead, stupidly-tattooed character.
i had a particularly fun time drawing the crying child at the grocery store.
HOW TO WRESTLE BACK IN THE DAY
here, we follow the Afro Assassin’s journey in wrestling in her territory.
due to copyright issues, it was important not have any of the characters based-off actual wrestlers. thus, the challenge was to create believable wrestlers with distinct personalities that were fully invented in this short animation.