Do Outono is an animated music video created for Caru, a Brazilian MPB artist known for her warm, melancholic sound. During my freelance period, she approached me with a simple, open brief: visually interpret her new song through animation. With no strict guidelines and only a release deadline to meet, I led the full creative process, from concept and storyboard to design, animation, and delivery.

The video blends abstract storytelling, seasonal symbolism, and a handcrafted visual style. Over the course of 2–3 weeks, I built a unique visual language that reflects the song’s emotional landscape and aims to make the audience’s connection to the lyrics deeper.

With full creative freedom came a different kind of challenge: creating a narrative that was emotional, expressive, and experimental, while still avoiding repetition and ensuring the visuals meaningfully supported the music.

The song’s imagery centers on autumn light reflecting off her lover's brown eyes. I needed to translate that poetic concept into visual form without becoming too literal, and without overwhelming the viewer. Balancing texture, color shifts, rhythm, and symbolism became the foundation of the piece.

This project was entirely solo-driven.
I handled:

• Creative direction
• Concept development
• Storyboarding
• Illustration & design
• Animation
• Texture treatment
• Final compositing
• Social media deliverables (covers, posts & GIFs)

Caru reviewed and approved major stages (storyboard, design, animation), but otherwise trusted my direction fully.

The lyrics describe how the light in the fall season illuminates a subject's brown eyes. This imagery informed the whole visual system:

• A warm, melancholic palette inspired by fall
• Constant motion to mimic wind, drifting dust, and falling leaves
• Silhouettes and masked lighting effects to highlight how “light” interacts with forms
• Abstract shapes punctuated by recurring motifs like leaves and close-up eyes

I wanted the viewer to feel the season, its softness, nostalgia, and warmth, through color and movement alone.

Hand-drawn storyboard

• Defined pacing, visual beats, and transitions tied to the music.

Illustrator designs

• Cleaned up the storyboard and applied the full color palette.
• Delivered to the artist for approval before animation.

After Effects animation

• Timing synced closely to the beat.
• Textures added using layered, subtle noise to evoke wind-blown dust (not static).
• Light used as a color-shifting mask across key scenes.

Because the creative direction was open, feedback centered on clarity and emotional tone rather than revisions. The main iteration challenges were:

• Ensuring scenes felt fresh and non-repetitive
• Balancing texture so it felt “alive” but never distracting
• Keeping transitions rhythmic and tied to the beat
• Communicating the lyrics without becoming too literal

The final animation evolved through careful pacing and refinement, not dramatic structural changes.

The final video is an expressive, poetic interpretation of Do Outono, a blend of warm seasonal tones, flowing textures, and gentle rhythmic animation. Light becomes a storytelling device, shifting colors and silhouettes as it moves through scenes.

Every element, from falling leaves to drifting dust, reinforces the mood and emotional atmosphere of the song.

The result is an animation that feels handcrafted, immersive, and deeply connected to the music’s lyrical world.