• by Larissa Faw , December 8, 2017

Nickelodeon sought inspiration from holiday classics like “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman" for the network's "Winter Refresh" promotional campaign.

The network selected animation studio Aardman Nathan Love (ANL) to develop Nick's entire winter ID package, consisting of 20 original IDs that feature characters from its most important shows. This labor-intensive project took months to develop since ANL typically animates on every frame, from blocking to polishing, says Lead Animator Thomas Shek.

But because Nick wanted a stop-motion aesthetic, “timing, spacing, and posing was treated differently, because I had to animate on 2's – that is, every two frames." Animators also explored different materials for the characters and their wardrobes, and studied their performances to translate these onto the stop-motion stage.

The clips show characters such as SpongeBob and Patrick from “SpongeBob SquarePants" playing on a frozen pond. Also, Lincoln Loud and Clyde McBride from “The Loud House” get tangled up in holiday lights and tumble off a roof.

Each promo ends with a holiday-themed typographic representation of the Nick logo, sculpted to appear as though rendered in clay animation.

Nick gave the studio an opportunity to add original characters to the mix, including elves and a crew of snowballs.