Chris Homa is a freelance animator and video editor. He is based in New York and Philadelphia. He draws and colors all of his frames by hand.
Some of the most fun I've had animating has been doing shorts for State Bicycle Co. They have a content marketing series where an interviewer bikes long distance next to a pro bicyclist, asking them about riding and life along the way. The pro riders have some great stories, and State asked me to animate some of these segments to better illustrate them.
The stories are always fun and lend themselves naturally to a silly cartoon style. But still, it was a real challenge to figure out the best way to show these stories. The producers were helpful and gave feedback each step of the way, but besides that, it was up to me to storyboard everything and come up with the shots.
Some animators try to do things as cheap as possible, as if you should avoid anything difficult. But I think the final product really suffers with that kind of mentality! Difficult shots don't have to be expensive, they don't have to take a lot of time. Things like lip sync, special effects, complex action, and inbetweening add a richness that I think is worth figuring out.