Open Pixel Studios

07/17/2025

Animation is a vital approach to climate communications, and today we get to share a success story from our local community! 😄

Alongside Samantha Hamilton, the Director of Coalition Building & Community Engagement at the Public Health Institute of Western MA and the team at Live Well Springfield, we were able to contribute to their communications strategies, resulting in the city council unanimously pushing a motion forward to switch to a green energy solution for Springfield.

Give it a listen, and see how your jobs could impact the planet for the better. 💚

Special thanks to Louisa Henry for her time and dedication to sharing stories like there! She is a terrific podcast host and talented executive coach!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9EyFLGk2N4&ab_channel=AnyJobCanBeAClimateJob

How one animated video helped Springfield pass clean-energy policy—and what it teaches us about moving people and systems.Guests: Kathryn Taccone (Open Pixel...

03/31/2025

Here's one example of how partnerships are formed by building great relationships!

While attending a local cross-group networking night between The American Marketing Association Boston and Another Age Productions, we had the pleasure of chatting with Anne-Marie from ConnectPay Payroll Services. We got to learn from her about the ins and outs of payroll management (it's more complicated than we thought: hence why you should get a professional to do it!), in addition to laughing about all the little ways our jobs overlapped.

After the panelist's talks, we got to chat more with Tyler McWilliams from Another Age Production, who has truly been a grounding force in supporting our local community. Be sure to follow him and the entire Another Age team!

But wait, there's more!!!

It's also where we got to meet Tim Bradley in person for the first time, after realizing we were all Camp MoGraph buddies!

More than a year has passed since that one night of connection, but we can say we've had the absolute pleasure of working with both Another Age Productions and Connect Pay on different projects. It's a joy to support local organizations that care about building community and are just fun to be around.

We hope this story gets you to that next networking event. You never know where one meeting can lead in the future!

03/22/2025

Get back, give back! 💜

This week we had the pleasure of returning to CU Denver to give another talk about our journey and careers in animation. The students were so engaged that we went WAY over the planned time, but it was so worth it to share as many insights as we possibly could.

We couldn't be more grateful to Jeremy Brown for the invitation to speak!

If you want us to come through to your university on our trip across the US, let us know and we'll do our best to be there.

For students, we have weekly portfolio reviews! Sign up anytime here: https://calendly.com/openpixel/student-office-hours

Until next time, CU later! 😄

03/07/2025

A reminder of why funding storytelling is important for nonprofits.

We've partnered for many years with the American Canoe Association to bring awareness to the risks and best practices for paddling safely in different waters across the US.

Through grant funding, we worked at Anzovin Studio to share real stories of neath death experiences and dangerous situations to help people know what to look for and be prepared for.

If you support the arts and the impact of storytelling, continue to support nonprofits through donations or sponsorships so they can grow their causes and make the world a safer place for all.

You can see the full animated piece here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbfsxVdW7KY&ab_channel=AmericanCanoeAssociation

Credits:
Raf Anzovin, Animation Director
Kathryn Taccone, Character Animator
Will Colon, Lighting & Compositing

The ACA partnered with Anzovin Studio and the US Coast Guard to create an animated memoir-style video that urges paddlers to take personal responsibility for...

03/05/2025

There are climate communities everywhere you look. 🌎

While in Japan, Kathryn and Will had the pleasure of connecting with Green Drinks Kansai, a newly formed group led by Nithin C., which provides a place for individuals to find community around sustainability issues in the Kansai region.

This was an opportunity for the team to identify any similarities across climate communications globally. The discussion also led Kathryn to sign up for Terra.do to help make a deeper impact in her knowledge on climate!

If you're planning to visit Kyoto or Osaka on your Japan travels, be sure to connect and follow their gatherings on Peatix: https://greendrinkskansai.peatix.com/

We'd like to thank everyone who attended for opening up our minds to understand how animation is part of the solution to your continued meaningful work. Shoutout to Dalelan Anderson and Alexander Farrell for the wonderful conversations!! Here's to many more to come!

03/04/2025

The Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts has been a staple of our community for many years. 💜

So we have been honored to collaborate with their team and the UMass Center for Research on Families to share the importance of their collective work to end economic disparities for women across Western Massachusetts. You can learn more about their recent work at data.mywomensfund.org

This was a true team effort, so we'd like to shoutout everyone who helped to bring this thoughtful animation to life:
Kelley Bryant, Director of Research and Advocacy at the Women's Fund of Western MA
Lorraine Cordeiro, Ph.D., M.P.H., Director at the Center for Research on Families

The Open Pixel Team:
Robynne Orr, Voiceover Artist
Will Colón, Creative Director & Motion Graphics Artist
Kathryn Taccone, Co-Script Writer & Graphic Designer

Additional brand support for the Women's Fund was provided by Transit Authority Figures, who made a few of the beautiful icons you see in the video! 😍

Supporting local action is more important than ever, so make sure to follow their work or donate to help further their mission. https://www.mywomensfund.org/

There is more work to be done, so we as creatives will continue pushing for equality through animation. Thank you to the Women's Fund of Western MA for the opportunity to make deeper impact in the place we call home.

09/28/2024

Animation is a great resource for those "hard to film" moments.

Alex Terrill, a fantastic videographer and owner of Terrill Productions, gave us a perfect example of knowing when animation could be most effective for the type of message you're trying to send to your audience.

Our full conversation with Alex is available now: https://www.openpixelstudios.com/behindthepixel

We're always open to brainstorming with you, so please reach out with any animation questions you've been pondering!

09/25/2024

Designing characters is so much fun! 😄

From people to probiotics to donuts, we love animating characters of all kinds over here. Characters can drive messages through historical recreations, explaining products and services, and so much more.

Which in this lineup is your favorite design?

09/19/2024

"This is all supposed to be fun." - Kelsey Bracewell

We agree! The outcome and process of making an animated video should be an enjoyable, informative, and creative time.

So how do you achieve that, especially when working on topics that can have more serious undertones?

We sat down with our amazing partner Kelsey Bracewell from the American Canoe Association to talk about how she thinks about animation projects that are all about safety in the water. 🛶

Listen in wherever you get your podcasts: https://share.transistor.fm/s/8f8f4db7

09/16/2024

Transparency in projects is key for both partners involved! 🗝️

We love Alex Salberg's insights on situations where transparency could have made a project run smoother.

You can listen to our full interview with our friend Alex from PokeGravy Studios wherever you get your podcasts 🎙️: https://share.transistor.fm/s/a5f5ac8a

09/07/2024

Congratulations to our friends over at the Entrepreneurial & Business Collaborative (E&BC)! 💜

We were grateful to partner with Amy Scott of Wilde Apple Design Group to build a brand logo that represented the foundational work they are providing to small businesses in our community.

You can learn more about the organization and their amazing team (shoutout to Ron Molina-Brantley!), on their brand new site: https://www.eandbcollaborative.com/

This was truly a collaborative effort! If you're curious about how we got to the final look of the logo, check out our breakdown:
https://www.canva.com/design/DAF8nOOlQMA/4iN_OsoEABLQqdfVUqEYwA/view?utm_content=DAF8nOOlQMA&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=editor

Check out this Presentation designed by Kathryn Taccone.

09/05/2024

Film festivals are so great at inspiring you to start creating!

The Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation & Technology had a fantastic collection of shorts and documentaries from all over the globe.

It was especially awesome to be there to celebrate screenings from friends like Andy Camou and Alex Salsberg! 💜

If you're feeling down about the industry, go to a screening. Support your local creatives who are pursuing their storytelling dreams. Go work on that next film that people will see at a fest.

Who knows, maybe you'll see something from Open Pixel Studios someday, too. ☺️

Huge shoutout to the team behind the fest for getting a bunch of animation nerds together in one place for an incredible week.