CHARACTER SERIES & ANIMATED SHORT · 2023–2025
Sporty Cool
Nine hand-drawn characters developed into digital illustrations,
animated figures and supporting characters inside an Unreal Engine
short film.
9 original designs
Drawing, digital and animation
Unreal Engine short
2nd Place · UAF 2025
A crowd developed one character at a time
Sporty Cool began in 2023 as a series of nine hand-drawn
characters. Each figure was designed as an individual
personality, using exaggerated anatomy, clothing and posture
to create a varied but recognisable visual family.
The project gradually expanded beyond illustration. The drawings
were recreated digitally, animated in Adobe Premiere Pro and
later introduced into a three-dimensional environment as
secondary characters in the Sporty Cool animated short.
Nine characters, one visual population
The characters are presented in their original sequence,
following the order established in the VDC23 series.
From static drawing to moving character
The same graphic structure was preserved throughout every stage
of production. Strong black contours, flat colours and
exaggerated silhouettes allowed the characters to remain
recognisable while moving from paper to digital media.
Animation introduced rhythm and personality without turning the
figures into conventional three-dimensional characters. Their
deliberately flat appearance became a visual contrast to the
illuminated 3D environment of the final film.
Movement studies
Building the world of Sporty Cool
The character series later became part of Sporty Cool, an
animated short created in Unreal Engine. The film follows an
anthropomorphic rooster arriving at a nightclub surrounded by
photographers, spectators and eccentric secondary characters.
The illustrated figures populate the environment as a repeated
crowd. Instead of remaining separate portfolio pieces, the
entire series became part of the visual identity and
world-building of the film.
RECOGNITION · UNREAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL 2025
Second Place
Sporty Cool received Second Place at the
Unreal Animation Festival 2025, held at the Nuovo Cinema
Aquila in Rome.
The festival concluded the Unreal Animation programme organized
by Associazione Culturale Prometeo Lab, with the support of the
Italian Ministry of Culture and SIAE through the
Per Chi Crea programme, and with the patronage of
Municipio Roma V.
MINISTRY OF CULTURE
SIAE · PER CHI CREA
MUNICIPIO ROMA V
A series that became part of a larger world
Sporty Cool demonstrates how a collection of independent
drawings can grow into a connected production system.
Illustration, graphic design, animation and real-time 3D
development become different stages of the same project.
The nine characters gain meaning through accumulation: together
they create the crowd, context and atmosphere surrounding the
central story.