The Totem Triad

For this design challenge, I was inspired by the prompt 'so many colours, so many shapes, so many flavours,' and created a short animation featuring vibrant totem masks floating through a appealing world. The prompt immediately led me to focus on the three primary colours—Red, Green, and Blue—as the foundation of the scene. From there, I decided to create totems, a design element I've always admired for their use of diverse shapes.

In the animation, the three totem masks serve as ancient judges, each assessing a mortal who has climbed to the top of the mountain for an inner judgment. Each mask represents a distinct emotional force: the blue mask symbolizes disgust, the green mask embodies morality, and the red mask signifies hatred.

I began by designing the masks in Adobe Illustrator, focusing on facial expressions to guide the colour choices. Then, I brought the designs into Blender, where I applied a cel-shaded material to give the scene a vibrant, cartoon-like aesthetic that enhances the colourful and playful tone of the animation.