Welcome to Artist Spotlight #003.

⁠Get up close and personal with the Golden Wolf crew. From the projects that defined them to the chaos that inspires them, we’re diving into the minds behind the magic to see what makes ‘em tick.
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⁠Next up, we have our Animation Director, Stephanie Mercier. 

If you’ve loved Golden Wolf’s biggest 2D animation tracks over the last 8 years, you’ve got Stephanie to thank. With an immaculate eye for detail and over 14 years of experience across features, series, and commercials, she’s the powerhouse leading our teams through the wildest, most complex narrative projects. From Nike to Disney to Genshin and Overwatch, there’s no project too wild or too complicated for her animation appetite. 

Where It All Began

"I’ve always loved animation but only realised in my 20s that this was an actual job that actual people had. It seemed like too much of a dream job to be real! And you know what, it still is. ⁠I grew up as a massive comic book/graphic novel enthusiast and always had a passion for visual storytelling. I was unfortunately cursed with a brain naturally good at mathematics which meant no one around me - parents, teachers - was very keen to let me follow an artistic career. But randomly, one day in an optional class, I discovered animation. It was there that I found out that the two sides of my brain - the artistic one who wants to draw stories, and the mathematical one that likes structure and logic - could happily meet. And I never looked back!

Describe Your Directing Style

I try to be clear and straightforward, and trust the talent involved in the project. I try to keep an overview of what the project is about, what the message is… and the way we get there is always up to the team. The project is never “mine”, it’s all about teamwork and bringing up everyone involved. I’ve been told my style tends to be ‘cute with an edge’. I’ll take it!

Inspo & Ambitions

My muses are Michel Gondry, Satoshi Kon, Brad Bird. Gondry and Satoshi Kon for their incredible weirdness, Brad Bird because he’s a fantastic storyteller. As Animation Director, my goal is to bring the creative director’s vision to life, no matter how ambitious the ask is. I like a good visual challenge, and I like when the final product looks like the original static sketch has seamlessly come to life. I enjoy when standards and expectations are high. 
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Working with the Wolves 

Golden Wolf projects always have a bit of grit to them. I’ve loved how as a studio we’ve managed to push style to go beyond what traditional animation is expected to look like. We often don’t go for the smoothest or tamest look, our trademark is more bold and edgy animation.

Because I’m an animator and I work with motion, the project comes alive when the first animatic is crafted. Even if the drawings are really rough, you get a sense of pace, tone, and movement really quickly. 

The Art of the Deadline

In my role as an animation director, the greatest challenge is balancing the drive for perfection with the practical constraints of production. While animators (and directors) would gladly keep fiddling with a shot until they’re happy, this isn't a sustainable approach within the industry. At some point, someone must decide when a piece is complete, and that person is usually me. Not easy, but necessary!
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Favourite Project

⁠Moonbirds was a wonderful project to be on - it was a perfect storm of great creative drive from a handful of mega talented people, and a lot of freedom from the client which allowed us to craft something we really wanted to do. It has a more cinematic feel than most projects. It’s not often that the stars align - the perfect team, the perfect client, the perfect schedule, but this one was all of it. I think it looks incredible and it gave us a hunger for more story-driven and world building projects. 

Creative Side-Hustle

⁠I’m a hobbyist comic artist, and there’s a ton of crossover with animation. It’s all visual storytelling at its core, even if the medium itself is different, it’s still about conveying a story through drawings. Doing this in my free time forces me to focus on getting things done rather than obsessing over perfection, mostly because I have absolutely zero time to polish! Plus, posting these comics publicly is a great way to see if an audience connects with the story, which helps me get comfortable being vulnerable with my art. You can't be everyone’s cup of tea, and you’ve got to be okay with that.

Industry POV 

I think animation is as popular as ever, and I love that in the past 15 years it finally got its recognition as an adult audience medium too. There are more and more interesting animated productions in the works, and that is incredibly exciting. Animated content has so many possibilities - caricature, stylising reality, world building - all that at the tip of the pen. 
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There was a time when the industry thought the public wanted everything to be realistic and has since turned back, because there’s actually a lot of appeal in something simpler. The power of a drawing is the power of imagination, as it’s open to interpretation for each and every individual. I genuinely think animation has a magic of its own that will never fade.
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A lot of people find animation incredibly time consuming, but it’s a shame they don’t see the joy of the process - bringing drawings to life is an amazing feeling and an amazing craft to master, and you’d be missing out if you try to get straight to the end result. 
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Quick Fire Round

Dream Brand: Nike, Disney
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Best creative advice you’ve ever received: Don’t fear progress being slow, fear being stagnant.
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⁠A frame from my work I’ll never forget: I made a screenshot to request a fix on a frame and I accidentally made it my desktop background because it was delivery day and I was so tired. It’s been my background for over 2 years now".

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Contributors:
Stephanie Mercier, Animation Director
⁠Pixie Barnes, Marketing Manager

Contact Us:
⁠Golden Wolf | hello@goldenwolf.tv