RAVELRY SUNSHINE

Ravelry is an independently run community website and resource for knitters, weavers, crocheters, etc. They average about 1M active users every month with a user base of almost 10M and exponentially growing. All of this achieved by a small team of only 6.

I've worked with the team before on a series of.. hundreds of emoji/icons for the site and community. This time they wanted to roll some illustration and animation into their login page.

Animation

Looping gif for a login page

CLIENT
Ravelry

Whimsical illustration featuring various cartoon-like characters and objects set against two differently colored backgrounds. The characters include a smiling sun, creatures with quirky expressions, plants, musical notes, and geometric shapes. The scene conveys a playful and imaginative atmosphere, with elements seemingly engaged in animated activities.

Ravelry is an independently run community website and resource for knitters, weavers, crocheters, etc. They average about 1M active users every month with a user base of almost 10M and exponentially growing. All of this achieved by a small team of only 6.

We wanted to make sure all community members and crafters felt represented, so we used a wide array of tools from crochet and knitting to bring authentic and technically correct results, while staying fun and light.

Ravelry login page with whimsical knitting-themed illustrations and product images featuring crafting supplies.
Login and sign-up screen for Ravelry, a website for knitters, crocheters, and fiber artists, with two design themes: dark and light. Includes username and password fields.
Three side-by-side panels show a cartoon drawing of a whimsical scene with various quirky characters using ladders, tools, and machines. The left panel is a black-and-white outline, the middle panel is partially colored, and the right panel is fully colored. The background is a warm beige, and elements include a sun with a face, stars, robots, animals, and plants.

I started with a concept of these little tools helping build something larger than them, like any good community does.

Thinking of the mice from Cinderella, and fun stacking blocks on anyone's desk, I thought if they were all ganging up to create sunshine it'd be a lovely result.

Crocheting supplies on a yellow background, including blocking mats, a yarn spool holder, a sun-shaped crochet toy, a tape measure, colorful crochet balls, scissors, yarn being crocheted, stitch markers, and a needle threading yarn through knitted fabric.
Cartoon mummy and pumpkin characters stacked

As always, I never nail an illustration out of the gate, so being able to group and move characters around the composition a million times is a must in Adobe Illustrator.

Cartoon characters resembling balls of yarn with faces, arms, and legs engaged in playful activities, like jumping rope, on a white background.

With the illustration sorted, I took a stab at some frame by frame animation that would keep things simple and not too chaotic. I sketched out roughs in Procreate, tightened them in Photoshop, and composed everything in After Effects.

Got a Project?

Person with purple hair and mustache wearing a black shirt with graphic prints, standing in front of a wall with palm tree artwork.
Abstract art with orange star, green scribble, and white swirl on black lines.

MORE WORK

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MORE WORK ✱

Illustration of a playful character with a peace symbol conducting with drumsticks and a drum.
Billboard advertising a Chase bank branch, featuring a colorful illustration of a cityscape, with the words 'NOW OPEN' and a note about more locations opening soon at Chase.com/Boston.
Animated blue sports car with flames
Cartoonish owl figurine with large eyes and a graduation cap, set against a plain background.
Animated scene featuring a person standing next to a pipe organ on a city street. The background shows a store with colorful signs and a cityscape with tall buildings and trees.