Toucan Sam Follows His Nose to a New Dimension with the Help of Nathan Love

In the latest campaign for Kellogg’s® Froot Loops®, the iconic Toucan Sam has transitioned into an all new 3D world, courtesy of the partnership between Kellogg’s®, Leo Burnett USA, and animation studio Nathan Love. The spot brings the character into a vivid new dimension following a 50-year tenure in the 2D flatlands of the animated world.

Nathan Love worked closely with Leo Burnett to ensure that Toucan Sam would have a smooth flight into his new home. “As the original creators of the Toucan Sam character, Leo Burnett made an ideal partner to help bring him into the next dimension of his journey,” stated company Director, Founder and ECD Joe Burrascano.

Nathan Love used Leo Burnett’s script to create a remarkably vivid and detailed CG wonderland in Carl the King Crab, which pits Toucan Sam and his adventurous nephews against a grumpy pirate crab guarding tropical island of Froot Loops booty. Everything, from the piles of gold coins to the bowls of Froot Loops cereal, comes across as remarkably touchable and real – a result of Nathan Love’s extensive toolbox that includes V-Ray for rendering, RealFlow to simulate the coins, and Joe Alter’s Shave and a Haircut to detail Carl the King Crab’s goatee and moustache, among the studio’s many software solutions.

“We pride ourselves in developing rich, detailed characters and creating fantastic but believable worlds,” notes Nathan Love EP James Braddock. “A lot of people have said that CG is generally colder than stop-motion, but we’ve always believed that you can add the same amount of warmth with the right amount of love.”

Downloads:

Credits:

Client: Kellogg North America Company
Spot Title: Carl the King Crab
Airdate: April 29, 2013

Agency: Leo Burnett USA
Creative Director: Craig Barnard
Copywriter: Michael Franklin
Art Director: Brad Mamo
Producer: Andrea Friedrich

Production Company: Nathan Love
Executive Producer: James Braddock
Head of Production: Derrick Huang
Associate Producer: Dennis Samatulski
Creative Directors: Joe Burrascano and Anca Risca
Director: Joe Burrascano
Character and Environment Design: Sigmund Lambrento
Additional Design: Jim McKenzie
Storyboards: Matt Haber
Animatic: Jim McKenzie
Character Modeling: Pedro Conti, James Chan
Character Texturing: Pedro Conti, Christina Ku
Rigging Lead: Lukas Wadya
Additional Rigging: Tyler Hurd
Lead Technical Director: Ylli Orana
Animation Supervisor: Tyler Hurd
Animation Leads: Tony Travieso and Doug Litos
Animator: MinSeok Jeon
Environment Modeling, Texturing and Layout: Paul Liaw, James Chan, Ylli Orana, Triston Huang
Props Modeling and Texturing: Danielle Charles, Eric Xu, Triston Huang
Lighting and Rendering Lead: Natasha Saenko
Lighting and Rendering: Ylli Orana, Eric Xu, Triston Huang
Compositing Lead: Herculano Fernandes
Matte Painting: Jim McKenzie, Sigmund Lambrento
2D FX: Kristjan Zaklynsky

About Nathan Love:

Nathan Love is an innovative animation, design, and development studio located in NYC. Driven by a passion to tell great stories and connect with audiences around the globe, Nathan Love develops memorable characters, imaginative worlds, and engaging narratives for television, film, Web, books and video games. Clients and collaborators include Kellogg’s Froot Loops, McGraw-Hill Education, Chips Ahoy, NBCUniversal, and Nickelodeon Studios.