Friends of Grand Rapids: Parks in Motion
Friends of Grand Rapids Parks wanted their homepage to feel like a walk outside. I made "Parks in Motion" – an illustrated scene that loops at the top of their site. It's built around five themes: care, collaboration, growth, welcoming and play. The tagline says it plainly: You belong out here.
Process
I started with the story. The scene moves from a neighborhood street to a pollinator garden to a natural surface trail. Along the way you see a dog walk, a tree planting, a BBQ, neighbors gardening, bikers heading into the woods, a wave, birds and butterflies. All of it had to fit into 10–15 seconds and loop cleanly. Next I explored styles: flat, gradient and noise, organic textures, pen and color, and cutout collage. I sketched the full scene and built a cast of characters, plants and props. Then I blocked out an animatic to lock in the timing. The animation is procedural. The walk cycles run on expressions and Limber IK, and sine-based motion keeps the trees and clouds drifting. Loop math makes sure everything lands back where it started, and the dog leashes are drawn live so they stretch and slack as the dogs move. I put it on the site with Elementor and custom CSS, so it anchors to the bottom of the frame and holds up at every screen size.
Front-End Development
Nick Wright
