Gus the Gecko

I was stoked when Healing Waves approached me to create an animation.
The pitch… “We want an animated, talking Gecko to help us explain what a typical Healing Waves session looks like to our clients before they ever hit the beach!”
Perfect! I’ve loved what Healing Waves do since their conception and what better way to help them spread the word than with a surfing Lizard!
Although he may be called Gus the Gecko, Gus is closer in appearance to the green lizards found around the coasts of Jersey.
Once we’d settled on a design for this tubular lizard, I passed my designs onto the talented illustrator Kayleigh Webster, who quickly created a whole slew of secondary characters and backgrounds.
Whilst she fleshed out the cartoon version of La Braye beach, I set to work creating the character rig for Gus. As he was the main character he needed to have a flexible rig that would allow for a wide range of motions, costume changes, and expressions!
Gus’ was brought to life in Moho, with additional background elements and compositing done in After Effects.

Healing Waves is a charity focused on enabling individuals despite their condition and/or disability to access the ocean in a safe way. To find out more about what they do, go check out their site!