Hailing from Copenhagen, Anna Degnbol is an illustrator whose work has appeared in projects both large and small. To be honest, I’d never heard of flunkie until I saw Degnbol’s animated music video for her song “Collapse // Rebuild.” Nonetheless, I was in complete awe as I sat through the short video, mesmerized by both the track and the animation. I’ve truly never seen anything like it.
Dengbol’s illustrations are colorful and surreal, focusing on themes of nature, dreams and identity. Though she mainly works with colored pencils, her work can be found in a variety of mediums. I’ve been following her on Instagram for a while now, but I only stumbled across the “Collapse Rebuild” video recently.
In an interview with creative blog “It’s Nice That,” Degnbol points out that her “lack of knowledge about animation [contributed] to some cool things.” She was given complete creative freedom by flunkie for the video, leading her to use her hand-drawn style to her advantage. The animation is done frame-by-frame, giving it a rudimentary yet organic impression. Even though there’s not much animation technically happening, watching the video makes you feel like everything is humming.
What’s so interesting to me about this video is how beautifully simple it is. It’s a short narrative, following a dreamlike sequence of different objects falling apart and reforming. Plants wilt and grow, candles melt and reshape. It all seems to be happening inside a girl’s dream, where she also meets a sun-like figure. It’s clear that her background in comic art shows through how the video is directed. She reflects the feeling of the song perfectly by balancing detailed closeups and airy landscapes.
It’s honestly so relaxing to watch and ridiculously beautiful. Degnbol’s animations really highlight how calm and lush “Collapse // Rebuild” is. Give it a watch!
– DJ Butter
