well rounded
• animator •
director
shana myara
editor
winston xin
composer,sound
sam davidson
director of photography
nico stagias
synopsis
“well-rounded starts from the understanding that being fat is ok. blending gorgeous interviews with dreamy animation by me, director shana myara assembles personal stories from a diverse, captivating cast whose horrors, triumphs and commitment to dreaming large offer big inspiration -- especially for those who don't often see our bipoc, lgb2tq+, disabled and/or fat selves celebrated on screen.”
process/concept
shana had chosen me because she trusted that i will render the subject with sensitivity and care, and also create loveable, fun illustrations for the story of well-rounded. she pushed me to explore the different representations of each interviewee's characters and stories, and challenged me to analyse in what way and why i chose to draw characters in the first place. eventually, by the time we got to the final character designs, it felt like i already know these ladies, even though we'd never met in real life. drawing their stories made me live it through with them, and so it was very important for me that their characters show exactly how beautiful each of these ladies are.
i loved everyone's colour palette - originally, i drew ivory closer to what she looks like today, however, i really wanted her old dream of becoming a ballerina to be represented in her illustrated story as well. i loved how ivory's ballerina bun and skirt could enhance her movements and the subtle way i could show off her scars, giving a respectful nod to the difficulties she went through in her personal life.
i also loved joane's long hair, which she kept playing with in the live-action footage, so it had to become one of the main characteristics of her animated character, too.
for lydia, fashion is very important and i truly adored her style, and had a great time drawing her big flowy jacket.
i was astonished by the confidence that candy radiated, and it was with the same confidence that she refused my first attempts at creating an animated character of her, which resulted in the especially fun challenge of creating more abstract ways of storytelling with the support of shana’s in-depth research on anti-fat culture.