Frank Boucher: lead environment designer

It was a chance encounter that brought Frank Boucher to the animated short Where Rabbits Come From. After years of working part-time in the field, he had just updated his portfolio and moved into full-time freelance work when a contact told him about Studio Niloc’s project. “The timing was perfect!” he says.

Frank Boucher has followed an eclectic path. A former athlete, he began his artistic career in his late twenties. “I explored several applications of illustration before focusing on animation,” he explains. Although he has often worked on characters, on Where Rabbits Come Fromhe took on the environments.

“The project took me about four months of full-time work. It was quite intensive,” recalls Frank, who completed his final background in February 2022.

What exactly does a background designer do? “Before a scene reaches its final form, there’s a lot of work to do. You refine a sketch and add colour. When it’s done well, the environments look so simple to draw. But they take the work of several people!”

The background provides a foundation for the film’s storytelling. Even a still drawing can carry many elements of the narrative. The background is part of the action.

A single line can say so much about a film’s atmosphere!

Frank Boucher, on designing the film’s environments.

The world of Where Rabbits Come From is a world within a world, shaped by magic, family and nostalgia. “The film has a slightly sad tone, so I used many broken lines to suggest darker emotions. The trees are stunted, for example,” Frank explains, careful not to reveal too much.

While waiting for the film to be completed, Frank is working as a concept artist on his first 3D animated feature, alongside other smaller projects.

Frank Boucher: a name we’ll be seeing in many more credits!