This week our Moho Featured Artist is the animation & motion design studio SMOG @smogtv ! 🔥 SMOG is based in Santiago de Chile and they use Moho as their main 2D animation software ✨ 

Tell us about Smog

SMOG was born by the end of 2006, when Pablo and Moisés (partners at the Design School) decided to work together after wandering a while through different production companies in Santiago de Chile and literally had pitched against each other to get diverse projects. Slowly they were creating a team of talented designers, animators and illustrators to give birth to what is now a small family that enjoys doing its job. Even if this family has been changing its permanent staff, they are all still part of it. SMOG’s name comes from Santiago Motion Graphics.

 

Where do you get inspiration?

From psychotropic substances of course!... LOL, well, actually and even if it is a cliché, everything is inspiration: music, books, art, cinema, nature… a great conversation with a beer in your hand. It’s common to think that the main references that inspire you come from the same professional field, and of course we’re always paying attention and being amazed by the work our colleagues around the world are doing, but when we start creating ideas and giving them some shape, inspiration comes from our own daily experiences and personal interests.

How long has Smog been animating with Moho?

I remember that Moho came onto our radar by chance. Little by little the projects we were working on were requiring more and more character design. At start, we used the basic tools of After Effects, separating characters in layers, animating them as puppets or with Pins from the Puppet tool. One day, we realized our colleagues from Fluorfilms (whom we admired and love), used Moho for their character animation projects. So, we tested the software, started to incorporate it gradually and from that point there was no turning back.

 

What’s your hardware setup?

Nothing too complex actually. We’ve always prioritized solving the projects with basic equipment. We work mainly with iMacs and PCs with Adobe Suite and Moho… Especially after this pandemic moment, it became more evident to us that we can solve problems with the very basics without huge investments.

 

What do you like about Moho?

My answer is quite simple: Moho has the perfect balance between a relatively simple tool with the capacity of delivering powerful results. It’s quite versatile, and once all its secrets are unlocked, it’s unstoppable.

 

How has Moho helped Smog in the creative process?

A big part of our projects require the presence of characters, and many times these ones are the ones that lead the narrative of the animation. In our creative process, we usually try to find the look of the characters in an early stage, so then we can start working on a full rig parallelly to the art development and even storyboard! This time optimization allows us to bring the characters to the scene when they are required to and “act” freely. This means that our animators can solve any request from the Director, considering the characters are fully set to do anything that can be demanded. Having this control over the characters permits our creative process to be more free and without restrictions in this scope.

 

What’s your favorite project made with Moho?

One of my favorites is a sort of folk tale made for a telecommunication company.

Here, the three characters were quite different from each other, with very particular features that were solved in a unique way thanks to Moho! A little child (with a hanging purse and dynamic braids), a pudú (a quadruped deer) and a fire monster (yes! A monster made of fire).

Even though I have many favorite projects, this one in particular left me really satisfied in the way Moho allowed us to solve and ease the whole process.


Would you like to promote a recent project?

Unfortunately we have a huge amount of projects hidden because we can’t publish due to NDAs with our clients, but I can say we’ve pushed Moho to its limits. When we get to combine in the same character Moho and cel animation, the result is fantastic!

Would you consider Moho an industry tool?

Absolutely! In fact, I don’t understand why it is not even more popular than what it already is. For us is one of the main pillars of our production process.

Where can we follow your work?

Our most updated (relatively updated actually...) portfolio can be found in www.smog.tv and you can also follow us at Instagram as @smogtv, where we share some extra content.