#008 — Saverio Wielkens

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Hello Saverio! It’s time for the Blauw Films audience to get to know you! Could you introduce yourself first? 

Hey, thanks for having me! I’m Saverio Wielkens. I'm a character designer and art director based in Utrecht. I’ve studied Animation Design at ArtEZ and graduated in 2018. And like many in the Netherlands, I took the leap and started freelancing from 2019 and have worked on many different projects ever since. From animated short-films, music videos, series and advertising. Some of the studios I worked with are: Nexus Studios, Submarine, Woodwork, Studio HARI, and more.

Oh, and I also do teaching every now and then.

In my work I like to explore the personality of my characters, trying to make them feel likable in a way. I’m always looking for that connection, that can either be through their expression, posing or sometimes just their colors. My personal philosophy is trying to keep my work as fun as possible even when it’s not always a given.

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Your art is easily recognized by strong colours and shape language, did this style develop naturally over the years or is it something you specifically trained for? 

Good question! I think it would be a combination of studying and just living life haha. To elaborate, I think I’ve always liked working with vibrant colours. As a young teenager I used to do graffiti with my cousin, and to make your work standout you had to pick the bright colours. And so I became obsessed with mixing and matching colours, till it became second nature to me. As for the shape language, I think this stems back from the videogames that I used to (and still) like as a kid, Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker and Darksiders. Both of these game had sharp edges and clear silhouettes in a lot of their designs, and I’ve always found that visually appealing to me. So that’s something that I tried to push within my own work as well. But if I phrase it like this it almost sounds as if I forced a specific way of drawing. But it doesn’t work like that fortunately haha. I still do a lot of different styles and ways of approaching art, I like the fact that I can be versatile in my work. That’s how I try to keep it interesting for myself and how I try to expand my taste. And this taste translates to the art that I like to create.

So TLDR; I just turned out this way by accident.

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You and Joey Pool have an animation production studio together! Could you introduce ColorBandits to us? 

Yes! My good friend Joey Pool and I started an art collective called COLORBANDITS.

I’m big on collaboration and being surrounded by other creatives or like minded individuals. So when Joey moved to Utrecht we joked around about the idea of having a shared space where we could work together. And so we did! Plus, what’s a creative space without a name? As for the name, since Joey and I both like using vibrant colors I was thinking of a funny name, so I came up with ‘Kleurboeven’.

But since it’s a Dutch name and it sounds silly I translated it to ‘COLORBANDITS’ as it is now!

The power is in numbers, so working together and sharing a name can help attract different kind of projects and have us build a collective portfolio, which is super nice! For now we mostly focus on illustration and design, but with our network and friends we could also provide full 2D frame by frame animations.

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Our audience should know that you always have a project ready to pitch. What project can you pitch right now? Can we get a sneak peak?

Haha you’ve put me on the spot! But yes I do have something I could pitch! I am actually in the process of something new, it’s about a bounty-hunter-type-guy trying to collect cans in a dystopian world hoping to become rich someday, but he does this in a very counterproductive way and lacks long term thinking. It’s supposed to not be that serious, it’s mostly humorous in a bizarre way haha. It’s called ‘SKEER’ for all my Dutchies!

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I have to say; your way of picking a storyline that’s simple, universally relatable and very human-centric has always amazed me. Can’t say that I cry very often at a pitch haha. What are your ways of finding these stories and emotions?  

I take that as a big compliment! Whilst the pitch was mostly meant to be funny I’m also working on a much more personal project as you know. And I like the question. I used to think that great emotional stories were just well written stories written by people that know how to write emotional stories. This might still be true in some cases, but what I’ve learned is that stories that resonate with us the most are stories that are based on actual experiences. And I don’t mean it in a literal sense, but using past experiences and translating these into story elements. I think it’s hard to talk about a life that we haven’t lived so talking about things that we do know or have seen can sometimes be such a great source for emotional and convincing storytelling.

Plus, I met Albert ‘t Hooft back in late 2021 and he has been like a mentor to me, such a great and fun person and he keeps reminding me about the importance of story. Also that good design should be based on a good story, if we talk animation. And ever since all of his preaching I seem to look slightly different at storytelling and what it means to me.

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As with Blauw Films, you are working on The Monk and The Dragon! Could you share a bit about your role in the film? What has the process been like up until now? 

It’s always fun to have back and forths with Leo about ideas! So I remember him talking to me about this particular story, The Monk and The Dragon, and we both came to the conclusion that this could work really well as an animated short film.

So my role on this film is Character Designer and together with Joey I also do some of the art direction for this project. We started very open and freely by doing a couple of 1-hour concept art pieces to try ideas, this helped all of us (Leo, Joey and me) to get a clearer and better vision of what the look and tone should be.

Based on these first sketches I made a first version of the main character’s design and Joey and I made a style frame that we liked. At this moment we have a nice foundation to build on and do some more visual R&D for this project.

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You first met Leo at THU 2021! Shout out to The Dutch Gang! You go to quite a few events right? Where can people most likely find you? What are, in your opinion, the benefits of going to such events? 

I miss THU (Trojan Horse was a Unicorn), too bad I couldn’t go this year! But art events, great way to meet people!

Yes, I love to go to these kinds of events because it gives a sense of community. Because abstract words like ‘industry’ or ‘art-scene’ feel like something that does exist but not something you can actually see everyday. So events like this makes you feel like you are a part of an industry or a community because you actually see the people which you normally or mostly encounter online. And what’s more fun than geeking about the stuff that you like with like minded people!

You can find me at most Playgrounds events here in the Netherlands, Pictoplasma 2025, probably Annecy next year and hopefully also THU!

For me the biggest reason to go to these event is to make new friends, meet existing ones and maybe get inspired haha.

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I know you’re always curious to see everyone’s portfolio, and I believe you give great feedback. What are your best portfolio tips? 

Okay I’ll give three tips!

• Let the work speak for itself. If you present yourself as a Character designer, make sure your portfolio does the same. Because I’ve met a lot people that don’t know what they ‘are’ thus don’t know how to present themselves.
• Only put your very best work. This should also speak for itself, but sometimes people see a portfolio as a numbers game. But don’t forget, it’s always about the quality.
• Make stuff that you actually like, because if you get hired based on the work that you show, you better make sure it’s something you like to do haha.

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As for the closing question: what are your good recommendations for the reader? Places to visit, movies to see, habits to pick up, hobbies to try, artists to follow? 

Definitely give THU a go, it’s such a great event with lovely people. And maybe try to do an art challenge or a collaborative project with a fellow artist, it’s hard to explain why, but it’s definitely worth it!

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