3D / Characters

Sopo Short Film

SOPO — CONNECT

Some dreams are too loud to silence.

In a world where books come first and music is seen as a distraction, a young, playful boy hears a different calling. A rhythm he can't ignore. A passion he can't put aside. And a dream that doesn't quite fit the future his parents have imagined for him.

Caught between expectation and expression, his journey becomes something bigger than music.

SOPO, meaning Connect, is an African animated short that tells its story without a single spoken word. Through expressive characters, movement, music, and sound, it explores the delicate space between generations, the courage to embrace one's gifts, and the invisible threads that bring us together.

Because sometimes, the most powerful stories aren't spoken.

They're felt.

DisciplineLead Character Artist · 2025

Role & creditsLead Character Artist and Lookdev Artist

TagsFilm · Characters · Props

Watch Sopo

Sopo 01 — Early concepts of some characters of SOPO

01 — THE VISION

Bringing an African story to life.

SOPO began with an ambition to create an African animated film that could entertain, inspire, and connect with audiences beyond language. With no spoken dialogue to rely on, every expression, movement, and interaction had to communicate something meaningful. The characters couldn't simply look appealing; they needed to carry emotion, personality, and the weight of the story through their performances. The creative journey began with concept development, followed by 3D scoping and previsualization, setting the foundation for a stylized world where storytelling and visual identity would work hand in hand.

Sopo 02 — Early Lookdev for Oyejo as a toddler

02 — CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Giving personality a form.

As Lead Character Artist, my responsibility was to guide the development of SOPO's characters, from interpreting the initial concepts to approving their final visual execution. I directed the character art team, onboarded and supervised an assistant character artist, and oversaw the decisions that shaped each character's proportions, features, and personality. The goal was to create characters that felt distinctive, expressive, and unmistakably part of the same world. Every sculpt, refinement, and creative decision had to serve both the story and the artistic direction we were building.

Sopo 03 — Discovery the Creele signature

03 — FINDING OUR VISUAL IDENTITY

Creating a look of our own.

One of the biggest creative challenges was establishing a recognizable visual style unique to the studio. We explored stylized forms, skin tones, materials, facial features, and shape language to develop characters that felt cohesive while retaining their individual personalities. Grooming was another important part of that process. I worked on the characters' hairstyles and grooming execution, balancing the visual richness we wanted with the technical limitations of our production environment. Every detail needed to feel intentional—from the smallest facial feature to the overall silhouette.

04 — BUILT FOR PERFORMANCE

Where artistic ambition meets production reality.

Creating beautiful characters was only one part of the challenge. They also needed to move, express emotion, and perform reliably throughout production. Working closely with the concept, rigging, and animation teams, I helped bridge the gap between character design and technical execution. This meant making informed decisions about polygon counts, grooming complexity, and character construction while considering the needs of rigging, blend shapes, animation, and rendering. Knowing the studio's technical capacity was essential. The challenge was to preserve the quality and personality of each character while keeping the assets practical for the pipeline. The result was a character workflow shaped by both artistic direction and production efficiency.

05 — FROM STUDIO TO SCREEN

The moment it all came together.

After the countless iterations, creative decisions, and collaborative efforts across departments, SOPO finally made its way to the big screen. The animated short premiered at Ebony Life Cinemas in Victoria Island, Lagos, bringing the world we had spent so much time creating to a live audience. Seeing those characters come alive as part of a finished film was a rewarding moment—a reminder that every sculpt, material, expression, and technical decision had contributed to something much bigger. SOPO continues to reach audiences on YouTube, carrying forward the very idea behind its name. A story about connection, brought to life by a team connected through creativity.

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