Studio Desk: digital storytelling with a human touch

How did you end up working together? 

Kathrin: We met at Kingston School of Art, where we both specialised in animation. At some point, we were put into a group project together. It was a live brief for Penguin Books. We had to pitch for it, and we worked really well together. From there we just continued working together, so it was something that happened quite organically.

We really got each other in terms of how we wanted to tell a story. 

Emily: We realised that we both had very similar ways of translating things into visual metaphors. We really got each other in terms of how we wanted to tell a story. Both of us were very interested in taking research or complicated information from the real world and communicating it in a beautiful and poetic way.  

When we came to the end of our masters at the Royal College, we had this vision of setting up a studio together. So we started a bit of a passion project - a documentary about women in animation. From there, we properly set ourselves up and managed to get some work.

What makes your dynamic work so well, and what's the benefit of working as a duo?

E:  We have lots of qualities that complement each other. Katherine has always had a really strong sense of character, so that's helped me grow in being confident in my character drawing. And likewise, I was more into the sound and editing. So we both had a similar vision, but we were able to bring different things to the table.

K: Emily was always more experimental in her approach, and I was more narrative driven. We've definitely learned a lot from each other. But also on the business side, we have different skills as well. Emily thinks things through more, and I'm more risky. I would think we can do it all, but Emily's more realistic. 

We're not the same person, we’re still different creatives with different visual languages, but yeah, because we use the same brushes and textures and colours, it works really well.

E: Yeah, that was one of the benefits as well - time sharing - because I have a part time job doing animation and illustration for a company in-house. And Katherin was teaching as well. So we were able to have the steady income as well as putting everything into our studio. 

What does your creative process look like? Do you both take on specific roles?

K: So we both direct, design, and come up with the concepts and the storyboards. We usually divide the story into sections and work on each part individually, then we come together and give each other feedback. We’ve managed to merge both of our visual languages, so that's why it works and we can both design. 

It was very interesting to learn about the science and sustainability behind the objects, but they also had these rich human stories behind them too.

E: I think you can't really tell who designs what, but Katherin says she can. We're not the same person, we’re still different creatives with different visual languages, but yeah, because we use the same brushes and textures and colours, it works really well. And because we both work on all aspects of the project, we can leave the other person to do anything if one of us needs to step away. 

Above: Emily and Kathrin working on storyboards

What has been your favourite commercial work so far? 

E: One of our favourite projects was for the V&A Museum. It was a three part series, where they asked us to look at these specific objects in the museum, and tell the story about why they were created, what they did, and how they changed that community. There was the chair made from recycled plastics, the MittiCool fridge - which was a fridge that didn't need electricity that transformed rural Indian communities- and then the last one was cutlery that was designed for people with Parkinson's disease, to help them eat.  

If I try to storyboard straight on digital, it's so much easier to just control-Z and go back. The initial instinctive response to the script or to the idea is always more interesting hand drawn.

It was very interesting to learn about the science and sustainability behind the objects, but they also had these rich human stories behind them too. That project just targeted all of our interests. And with the three films, we were able to explore different visual languages as well, to communicate that particular topic. 

K: Our close second favourite is the one we're doing at the moment for the New York Times. It's a series of gifs and illustrations, but again, it's very scientific. We're both very interested in science. It's about mental health, and young people, lots of real world, interesting topics. The client allowed us to explore this in a very metaphorical way and create a whole new world to demonstrate this abstract idea. 

Your films are very gestural and painterly - how much of your work is created digitally vs by hand?

K: We're not working on any projects that are fully hand drawn anymore, because companies don't have that much budget. But we usually start storyboarding on paper, and I  still do my characters on paper first too. I don't know what it is, but I can't create the same characters on my graphic tablet. Then I scan it, and digitalise the characters with the background. 

 I think that is something that happens the longer you work together - the more your styles merge, it becomes more difficult to tell, okay, what is my own visual language, and what is Studio Desk? 

E: I think if I try to storyboard straight on digital, it's so much easier to just control-Z and go back. I get much more interesting results if I’m being less precious about it. Obviously, you can then neaten it up or improve it, but the initial instinctive response to the script or to the idea is always more interesting hand drawn. 

All of our projects we've worked on digitally, but we always use textured brushes so you can still feel the human element to it, even incorporating those rough lines that you can still create digitally. We’d take any opportunity to work on hand drawn projects, but I guess with commercial work, it's harder, and if the client wants changes it's a longer process. If they were willing to pay for that, we’d love to do that. But we’ll still always start with drawing by hand.

How would you describe your style?

E: Poetic, emotive - I want to say something like painterly, but then obviously, it's not paint! So, organic.

What inspires your style?

E: We use the same colour palette and textures, we love depicting nature and landscapes, and we have similar tastes in what colours and the perspectives we want to use. So we have a very similar eye, and we’re both very keen on a visual metaphor. 

Oftentimes, as animation directors, you only show the final product. And we were very much interested in showing the process. 

Do you find that your own visual styles merge the longer you work together?

K: Emily does more work of her own at the moment than I do, as I had a baby in April, but I think our personal styles still look different, definitely. Both of our work has always had an organic, textural, human touch, but the colours and characters are different. And thematically, even though we have similar interests, we also have different interests. But I think that is something that happens the longer you work together - the more your styles merge, it becomes more difficult to tell, okay, what is my own visual language, and what is Studio Desk? 

Where did the name Studio Desk come from? 

E: Initially, we had this big idea of starting a studio, where we wanted to have an open studio where we can show the research we were doing, because we were very interested in animated documentaries. And obviously, in documentary animations, you have to start with research. So that was a big idea. Oftentimes, as animation directors, you only show the final product. And we were very much interested in showing the process. 

So we were thinking, could we show this to the public, how everything works, how everything starts at the desk? We also just realised, once we'd picked the name, that DESK happens to be our initials combined as well - Downe, Emily, Steinbacher, Katherin.