Hubot 2.0

Mission

Until 2014, GitHub hadn’t animated “Mona” (the octocat) in a cinematic style. We had created some short cycles but nothing that placed her in her native octocat universe. However, João and I (the GitHub animation team) knew the value of the characters in the GitHub brand. Entertaining character stories enabled us to engage with fans and tell GitHub-flavored narratives. So we created this proof of concept to pitch to the company.

Story

“Built from cutting edge. hardware and software, this precise, powerful and fully customizable robot comes to life as Mona's latest invention.”

We kept the story simple by focusing on one thing - introducing the characters.

Mona represents the GitHub developers, and our devs use the chatbot, Hubot. Hubot is customizable and is used to improve efficiency and workflow. Since Hubot was created internally, we thought Mona should build him in her lab.

The Lab

Mona is a tinkerer, and every tinkerer needs a workspace. We wanted it to be partially underground, grand in scale, and utilize as many GitHub products/features as possible.

Atom is an open-source code editor, which we thought was emblematic of a power source for devs, so we symbolized the tool in the form of energy. Looking closely, you can find other product easter eggs in the short.

Characters

This short was particularly challenging, considering we had no foundational elements to use - no backstory, character sheets, color palettes, environments, etc. Up until this point, we leaned toward pop culture references when illustrating Mona. This time we wanted to create our own character IP.

Mona - Expressions

This was an animated short, so our main character needed to move, walk and emote. In addition, Mona needed expression sheets to help develop her personality and visual characteristics.

Mona - Locomotion

She also needed to walk. Mona is a 5-legged "Pentaped," so getting these tentacles to work in unison was an interesting hurdle. I designed this neutral walk cycle to exemplify her weight and strength.

Hubot

We kept Hubot immobile for a couple of reasons. One, we wanted to focus on Mona for most of the short. And two, we didn't have the production resources to dive into the 3D world.

That said, we did create some concepts to illustrate his utility and customization capabilities.

Production

Production was challenging in the best way. Hand-drawn animation and hand-painted background environments took time, and we had a team of only two artists. But we couldn't sacrifice quality. High-quality design was always at the company's core, and this short had to reflect that standard.

Animated by Joao Ribeiro and Tony Jaramillo

ShipIT

I presented our short at our company summit in Whistler, Canada. The response was crazy, employees were ecstatic to see Mona come to life. This short was the springboard for future animations and illustrations.

My Roles

Co-Director
Co-Writer
Animator