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EVA CREMERS

A STILL FROM ONE OF SEVEN LOOPING ANIMATIONS I CREATED FOR FACEBOOK AS PART OF A COMMISSION TO ILLUSTRATE SEVEN DIFFERENT MONETIZABLE ACTIONS INTEGRATED INTO INSTAGRAM. EACH ANIMATION FEATURES A DIFFERENT ANIMAL TO CONVEY THE STORY AND HELP CREATORS VISUALIZE HOW EACH MONETIZING ACTION CAN BENEFIT THEM.

EVA CREMERS

IT'S JUST ABOUT THE SMILES

3D CAN BE QUITE TECHNICAL, DID YOU STUDY VFX (VISUAL EFFECTS)?

Actually, I studied international business first of all. Very different from what I do now. But, after two or three years, I decided to make a 180, and went to the Art Academy. That was very interesting, because it wasn't really something people would assume I would go to. I'm not really a classic creative type person. I'm very down to earth and just not very 'artsy'.

THAT MUST HAVE BEEN A BIT OF A CULTURE SHOCK.

It was completely different from International Business Studies, where all the people try to be the same, right down to wearing the same clothes. At the Art Academy everyone tries to be different. It was fun. And in the end, I have positioned myself somewhere in the middle.

WHAT CAUSED YOU TO CHANGE FROM BUSINESS TO THE ARTS?

I realized halfway through the course that I couldn't really see myself doing what I was studying. Consultancy, or whatever. My sister followed that path, so I could almost see my own future unfolding. But, while studying International Business, I was making summaries of these big books, but in a really creative, beautiful, graphic way. Making perfect arrows and graphic elements so that the summary looked really appealing. And it made me wonder if maybe there was something in design that I could do. I've always been interested in that kind of things, so I just decided to do it. My parents weren't very happy, they were worried about my future. And so was I!

HAS THIS EXPERIENCE MADE YOU A MORE NUANCED CREATIVE WHO HAS SEEN THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE?

I think this is part of why I've been successful. I can see both sides of the work, I am not only wearing the creative glasses. I'm very down to earth, commercially driven. I always ask, how can I add value for a client? So I do think it's a strength, in a way.

DO YOU FEEL LIKE THERE'S DIFFERENT PARTS OF YOUR BRAIN, EACH TAKING A TURN TO LOOK AT THE PROBLEM?

For me, I think it's very much using that combination through everything I do. I try to be super creative with projects, but also keep in mind that other side and not go completely overboard. It's important to listen to a client. And even when you do passion projects, try to think, 'Okay, this looks really interesting, but is it interesting for a commercial client, can they see their product in this world, or am I just making it for me?' I always keep this question in the back of my mind.

For any project you have a mix. You've got an audience, you've got clients, and you've got whatever it is that you like, personally. It's about finding some space there that works.

I WAS COMMISSIONED THREE TIMES BY AMAZON MUSIC IN THEIR ONGOING MONTHLY SERIES TO HIGHLIGHT UPCOMING MUSICAL ARTISTS. ELLICE AND BLUMENGARTEN WERE THE GERMAN ARTISTS TO CELEBRATE IN THIS MONTH. TRYING TO VISUALIZE THEIR MUSIC WHILE HAVING A CREATIVE CARTE BLANCHE WAS GREAT! THE BEST PART OF THESE COMMISSIONS IS THAT WHEN DONE, AMAZING PAINTERS FROM "OVERALL MURALS" WOULD PAINT IT HYPER-REALISTICALLY ON A MASSIVE WALL IN NEW YORK CITY.

FUN CREATEDCAMPAIGN FOR L'OREAL'S MICELLAR WATER. WE CREATED ANIMATIONS WITH MIXED MEDIA, IT WAS SO FUN SEEING MY WORK COMBINED WITH BEAUTY VIDEO. I CREATED A MICELLE CHARACTER THAT WOULD INTERACT WITH THE SKIN AS WELL AS LIVE IN DIFFERENT FUN WORLDS –ALL TO TELL THE STORY OF WHAT MICELLAR WATER DOES!

HOW DID YOU GET FROM ART SCHOOL TO WHAT YOU'RE DOING TODAY?

I studied graphic design, and after I finished, I realized I didn't really see myself as a graphic designer either. Once again, my parents were not very pleased!

I think I had just some sort of fear that I would end up in a tiny studio doing really boring graphic design stuff.

That was my fear. I just don't think I would be great working for a boss, where sometimes, the creative director would tell you what to work on, rather than coming up with ideas on your own. I always had the ambition to create something for myself, but I had no idea what, to be honest. Then, around 2017, I got an email from the design agency ManvsMachine.

They're a massive name in their field. They do a lot of big campaigns and ads. A lot of it is built in CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) but they also shoot live action. The art director there had seen my Instagram. This is still something I don't really understand, because I only had about 500 followers, just some graphic work, not really super interesting, or so I thought.

Anyway, he saw it and he asked me to come do an art director internship. I just thought, "Wow!" I was super honored that they asked me. Plus I had zero plans, and no idea what to do with my life. So, I replied with a huge, "Yes!"

Prior to the start of the internship, I had three months and he asked if I could learn some basics in 3D, so I could understand a little bit of what they do and how it works. I just said "Yeah, sure." Very casual. Then for three months I was sat, day and night, trying to learn as much as I could. Because I wanted to be prepared.

WHAT WAS THE 3D APPLICATION YOU LEARNED?

Cinema 4d, that's what they used. That's what I still use. I just watched all the tutorials that I could find. But I never recreated the exact same thing as they did in the video. I always gave it my own spin or twist. This is a great way to start learning things while exploring your own style.

And then, at some point I started to love it. You can actually create your own world, or you can create your own characters. It's so cool.

I did the internship, and it was really fun. But at night, after work, I would continue to learn 3D and post things on my Instagram. It was just a blob with eyes, making shapes and just having fun with it. And I had no expectation from it, no pressure or thinking that this would be something I could do for a living. Then all of a sudden, I got an email from the New York Times!

THAT MUST HAVE BEEN A HEART STOPPING MOMENT

I didn't sleep that night. I was so excited. They said something like "I love the balloon shapes. Can you create this balloon shape for an article that we wrote?" I just thought, "This is insane!" In the end, I worked way too many hours for the money that they gave me, but it did really help me get started as an illustrator. It also gave me a little bit of confidence.

I still wasn't sure I could make a living, but maybe, if I do this for a couple of years, it might turn into something. So I just kept posting things online, learning more and more all the time.

HOW DID THINGS GO AFTER THE INTERNSHIP?

It actually happened fairly fast that small projects came in. Editorial things for newspapers and so on. That kept growing, kept snowballing in a way. So yeah, that was quite a weird turn of events.

AT WHAT POINT DID YOU REALIZE YOU HAD CREATED A STYLE THAT PEOPLE LOVE?

For a lot of people who started out once Instagram was already a big thing, I think the style they have is at least partly based on what works online.

I'm not sure if that's good, but it helped me. I got known for these fluffy characters with big eyeballs and things like that. It worked really well because it was so adorable, so cute.

People's response to these characters made me lean into that. My graphic work has always been playful too. So my style developed half organically, half through being cheered on by people online.

ARTWORKS FOR APPLE. THE PLAYFUL CAR IS USED AS A KID'S PLAYLIST ARTWORK WITH SONGS FOR TODDLERS, EXPLORING BASIC SHAPES, DIFFERENT TEXTURES AND CREATIVITY. IT'S A LOOPING ANIMATION, DRIVING ON THE SOFT GRASS – MY SON LOVES IT! THE OTHER PIECE IS A COVER ILLUSTRATION FOR 'CREATE ON AN INFINITE CANVAS', A COLLECTION OF APPS IN THE APP STORE WHERE YOU CAN EXPLORE CREATING WITH THE APPLE VISION PRO.

FOR CHILDREN'S DAY 2025, MCDONALD'S CHINA COMMISSIONED ME TO PUT MY OWN SPIN ON THE MCDONALD'S UNIVERSE TO ENABLE MCDONALD'S CUSTOMERS YOUNG AND OLD TO TAP INTO THEIR OWN "INNER CHILD". THE CAMPAIGN CENTRED AROUND THE CHICKEN NUGGET, ONE OF MCDONALD'S

MOST ICONIC MENU ITEMS, AND ONE THAT'S HUGELY POPULAR WITH CHILDREN AND ADULTS ALIKE.

THE BRIEF WAS TO HERO THE NUGGETS BUT ALSO SHOWCASE THE EXISTING MCDONALD'S CHARACTERS IN A WAY THAT APPEALED TO GEN Z AND GEN ALPHA FAMILIES. WE CREATED A 360 CAMPAIGN, INCLUDING A FULL BESPOKE PACKAGING COLLECTION, POP-UP THEME PARKS, UNIQUE TOYS, FULLY WRAPPED METROS AND A SUPER PLAYFUL TV COMMERCIAL.

WAS THERE A POINT WHERE YOU BEGAN TO MASTER 3D AND FELT READY FOR MORE 'DIFFICULT' ASSIGNMENTS?

In the beginning I was working with very simple shapes and materials, but I also understood that I needed to make it more complex, to work on my lighting skills and things like that.

It looks like it's all easy-peasy, creating a character. Boom, there it is. But there were so many times I was screaming at my computer, ready to throw it out the window. There's definitely been a lot of trial and error.

You have to love figuring things out. I really love to get stuck in to it. I cannot rest before I know, why is it exploding on the screen? Why doesn't it work the way I want it to? Once it works, it's very rewarding.

I've been doing a lot of testing things out, watching tutorials, and I think that helped me in the background creating more complex things, or paying more attention to materials or lighting and things like that. Just trying to learn something new almost every day. And I still do that, because I still know probably only a small percentage of the whole program.

HAS THE TECHNOLOGY IMPROVED TO THE POINT THAT THINGS ARE EASIER NOW?

I wouldn't say it's easier to use a 3D program now. There are more and more learning resources, though.

And of course, with the AI thing now, it's easier for some people to type in a prompt than learning the full program. I'm curious to see what will happen there, if there will be a lot of new designers in the future, or if people will get really lazy and just prompt things. I hope this will benefit me in some way. That doing 3D remains a true skill, even though in the future we might all use AI as a tool within 3D.

HOW HAS YOUR STYLE EVOLVED OVER TIME?

The challenge of having projects is that quite often, a client would say "Hey, we like your style, but we actually need something else."

For example, in my beginning years I sometimes had GIF-like animations of my characters. But a client would get in touch and ask for a 30 second video with multiple characters and a full storyline. I would do my magical 'stupidly confident' trick and say yes, while freaking out inside.

These kind of challenges happened repeatedly and I learned so much in the process. For me this is the best and most fun way of learning: just say yes and figure things out along the way!

ARE YOUR CHARACTERS, AND THEIR WORLDS NATURALLY MORE COMPLEX NOW? OR DOES THIS VARY BY CLIENT?

A bit of both. It’s definitely also part of the client’s ask. I've always tried to look at my work from a distance. I started out with these cute characters. But after a few years, I realized, it's really great, and it got me a lot of interesting jobs. But if I keep doing this, I am going to sit in this kid's corner and I might only get asked to work on kids projects.

So I realized I needed to create work that feels more mature. But how can I find this way of adding the playfulness, maybe these eyeballs, in a more adult way? In a way that would appeal to other brands, like a perfume brand, or a car brand.

So I've been working on that, doing little personal projects, images, photographs and so on. I would even grab perfume bottle images and create flowers around it, and things like that. This actually did help, because now I see this trend of more, not really kids, brands coming to me for characters, or for worlds.

It's been super fun and interesting and rewarding to see that work out. It also helps me to create a more complex world. A world that's less blobby shapes and heavy colors, that can appeal to people like you or me. , , GETTING PIGEON-HOLED. THAT IS A FEAR ISN'T IT?

I've always been very aware of that. It's important to keep your playfulness, but also be able to push the borders in every direction. I recently did a project for a nail polish brand. This was completely different. Keeping the playfulness, but without adding any eyeballs or characters. I am super grateful that the client trusted me with this, even though I don't have a lot of work yet like it.

It's so interesting to see that happening. I can't wait for it to be out, because maybe it will lead to more of this type of work.

DO YOU THINK OF ALL THE VARIOUS CHARACTERS AND CREATIONS AS COMING FROM THE SAME WORLD?

They should all come from my world. I want people to think, "Ah! Maybe Eva created this." But I don't like to repeat myself too much. The true challenge always is how to create something new, something I have not done before, but still keep my signature in!

SOME STILLS FROM A 30” ANIMATION FOR MAXON, THE BUILDER OF THE 3D PROGRAM CINEMA 4D. THEY GAVE ME CREATIVE FREEDOM, AND FOR ME THIS WAS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE SOMETHING THAT FEELS MORE POLISHED AND PLAYFUL IN A MORE MATURE WAY.

RECENT EXPLORATIONS IN AI, WHERE I TRAINED A PRIVATE MODEL BASED ON SOLELY MY OWN WORK, CREATED SHAPES AND NEW CHARACTERS WITH IT AND PLACED THEM IN PHOTOGRAPHS THAT I TOOK IN FRANCE.

WHAT IS IT LIKE WORKING FOR MEGA CORPORATIONS LIKE META AND MCDONALD'S?

A lot of big brands are more open to anything. You have brand guidelines, but very often they just say "We like what you do. You do your thing." These bigger companies, especially now with AI, they really want to work together with an artist, and then shout about it. So I think that's a positive thing. Usually they are quite open to what I have in mind.

The McDonald's project was particularly challenging because it was for McDonald's China. So, firstly, there was a massive language barrier. And then there were so many people involved. So many agencies had to sign it off all the time. I think it was more work to talk about things and email about things than actually creating.

That's the downside of a big company, right? They work with their brand guidelines, and yeah, I try to push it, to create something extremely silly, but there's all sorts of extra constraints, like the character cannot have sunglasses because of this and this... They have these crazy rules that you need to work around. Even so, I'm super happy with the end result. It's quite crazy for such a big brand, still quite playful.

MAYBE BIGGER BRANDS JUST HAVE THE CONFIDENCE TO TAKE THE RISKS?

Yeah, Apple also is very, very easy to work with. Sometimes you have to only use certain colors. And, of course, you have a massive legal team ready to say, "you cannot do that." But they do really respect your creative vision. Which is super cool.

YOUR ANIMATED PIECES FOR FACEBOOK WERE REALLY NICE TOO. DID THEY TAKE A LONG TIME TO CREATE?

Not really, actually. They were very open to a creative approach as well. The whole story was about monetizing what you're doing online. For example if you go live with a video, if someone really loves the content, they can give you a gift for it. They wanted to visualize all these new features.

I came up with what animal would be perfect for each feature, and what it would be doing, all in a very silly way. They liked the idea from the start, so I started sketching. It was a very easy process. That's why it didn't really take too long. It was a nice project to work on.

DO YOUR PROJECTS USUALLY FLOW THAT EASILY?

It's not all happy rainbows! A lot of projects are super challenging. Although the outcome often looks great on Instagram, very often, behind the curtains, things can be really tricky.

Clients can go for a direction that you personally don't prefer or insist on changing things you don't agree with but eventually have to move forward with. It can make an artist lose enthusiasm for a project, but I do really like this challenging process too.

How can I convince the client of a certain choice? How can we show them an answer that they didn't give us the question to? It's a constant dance I think, and I love to show them my moves!

IS THAT YOUR USUAL PROCESS? YOU START WITH THE DRAWING?

Most of the time, yes. I start with a very loose pencil sketch. I wouldn't say I'm the best drawer, but I learned that doesn't really matter. As long as you can get the idea across. So usually I do a pencil sketch and maybe a few words with it. Then sometimes we do an updated version of it, if there's feedback.

But usually I like to jump into 3D early, because moving from a pencil sketch to 3D, things will look very different. So I prefer to take the feedback and bring it into the 3D.

SOME

OF THE CHARACTERS YOU'VE CREATED LOOK LIKE THEY COME FROM UNDER A MICROSCOPE, IS THAT INTENTIONAL?

I always love these little micro organisms, like sea creatures. We are aware of what a dog and a cat looks like, but some animals are just bizarre. They have this weird organic shape and strange tentacles coming out of them. That's something I found really fun. And I do think a lot of my work is like very organic, blobby shapes that could be maybe these weird sea creatures, I don't know. So, yeah, I do think it has that little world in there.

BIG ARTWORK FOR MINI CARS THAT THEY HAVE USED AS ROOFSTICKERS TO CELEBRATE THEIR NEW MINI COOPER SERIES. WHEN BUYING A NEW COOPER, YOU COULD CHOOSE A ROOF STICKER — INCLUDING THIS ONE! YOU WOULD DEFINITELY NEVER LOSE YOUR CAR IN THE PARKING LOT AGAIN!

WONDERFUL COLLABORATION WITH HANINA STUDIO, A LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER FROM LONDON. WE MIXED BOLD PUFFY TYPOGRAPHY WITH Y2K PHOTOGRAPHY.

WHEN YOU'RE EXPERIMENTING, PLAYING WITH 3D, WHAT'S GOING ON IN YOUR HEAD?

If I'm working on a project, normally I have a sketch, or a visual in my head. But if I'm playing, doing 3D is like picking a pencil up for me. I start with a gray nothing, and I build from there.

It seems like in 3D you have to know exactly what you're doing, because it can be complex. But at the same time, it feels very intuitive. I can just throw in some shapes and see what works, look at the composition and just play with it.

So, for me, the work grows in my screen, almost like it starts with nothing, and then it just happens while I'm working.

THE WORLD SEEMS LIKE IT'S GOING THROUGH A BIT OF A SERIOUS PHASE AT THE MOMENT. ARE YOU TRYING TO HELP LIGHTEN THE MOOD JUST A LITTLE WITH YOUR WORK?

Things are so serious, and my work is so not serious. Plus, it's my business, but I'm not overly serious about it. Let's be honest, I'm not saving lives. What I do is quite silly, so I try to keep it light and sometimes make fun of what I do.

What I really love is that the work doesn't have an opinion. It doesn't stand for something. That's not to say that I don't stand for something. I'm an opinionated person in real life. But I just really like that it's just there, bringing happy vibes.

I think that's also what brands really like about my work. It's just about the smiles.

PE'L SCHLECHTER Graphic Design 2017

38 TIM JOHN & MARTIN SCHMITZ Scenography Design 2017

39 BROSMIND Illustration Design 2017

40 ARMANDO MILANI Graphic Design 2017

41 LAURA STRAßER Product Design 2017

42 PHOENIX DESIGN Industrial Design 2018

43 UWE R. BRÜCKNER Scenography Design 2018

44 BROUSSE & RUDDIGKEIT Design Code 2018

45 ISABELLE CHAPUIS Photography Design 2018

46 PATRICIA URQUIOLA Product Design 2018

47 SARAH-GRACE MANKARIOUS Art Direction 2018 48 STUDIO FEIXEN Visual Concepts 2019 49 FRANK RAUSCH Interface Design 2019 50 DENNIS LÜCK Designing Creativity 2019 51 IAN ANDERSON Graphic Design 2019 52 FOLCH STUDIO Strategic Narrative Design 2019 53 MARC TAMSCHICK Spatial Media Design 2020

54 TYPEJOCKEYS Type Design 2020

55 MOTH Animation Design 2021

56 JONAS LINDSTRÖM Photography 2021

57 VERONICA FUERTE Graphic Design 2021

58 CHRISTOPHE DE LA FONTAINE Product Design 2021

59 DAVID KAMP

FUENTES

66 SUPER TERRAIN Graphic Design 2022

EIKE KÖNIG Art Design 2023 68 CHRISTOPHER NOELLE Light Design 2023

69 DENNIS HINZE Sport Fashion Design 2023

70 KLASIEN VAN DE ZANDSCHULP

72 GERMANS ERMICS Sculptural Design 2023

73 MADE BY JAMES Type & Logo Design 2024

74 SNASK Branding & Video 2024

75 CRAFTING PLASTICS! STUDIO Design Research 2024 76 STUDIO BRUCH Graphic Design 2024

77 GEMMA O'BRIEN Graphics & Lettering 2024 78 MARLOTA Fashion Design 2024 79 RONAN BOUROULLEC Product Design 2025 80 FRANCESCO FRANCHI

83 MIKE MEIRÉ Design as Cultural Editing 2025

Design Friends would like to thank all their members and partners for their support.

COLOPHON

PUBLISHER Design Friends

COORDINATION Guido Kröger

LAYOUT Guido Kröger

INTERVIEW Mark Penfold

PRINT Imprimerie Schlimé

PRINT RUN 250 (Limited edition)

ISBN 978-2-919829-13-2

PRICE 5 €

DESIGN FRIENDS

Association sans but lucratif (Luxembourg)

BOARDMEMBERS

Anabel Witry (President)

Guido Kröger (Treasurer)

Heike Fries (Secretary)

Hyunggyu Kim (Member)

COUNSELORS

Vera Heliodoro, Hyder Razvi, Olga Silva, Silvano Vidale

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This catalogue is published for the lecture of Eva Cremers "Designing Fun." at Rotondes on November 26th, 2025 organised by Design Friends.