‘Down the Block’ by Down the Street Designs Highlights Diversity in L.A.

The animation and design studio’s 'Down the Block' series continues with this animation to find inspiration in the diverse people and styles of their home base, Los Angeles. Artist Colin Ozawa first conceived of the project as a way of collaborating with his wife, Alexa, who created the looks for each character. 

When Colin Ozawa proposed to his fiancé, Alexa, he probably wasn’t yet imagining the ways the relationship would change his work for Down the Street Designs. But it wasn’t long before he started “trying to find a way to fuse [our] creative abilities together” and soon he’d created the 3D world he calls “Down the Block,” inspired by the people and fashion of LA. Since Alexa works in fashion, Colin designed characters based on looks she put together. Each one began with a pose, a color palette, and an outfit before Colin incrementally built his designs in Adobe Illustrator, Cinema 4D, and Octane.

Although the characters and their environs look like you could reach out and touch them, they’re all digital, for now — Colin is in the process of turning them into physical toys. As for his illustration and animation company, Down the Street, Colin sees this project as both turning point and natural progression (perhaps, if we may, a little like getting married). “I tend to illustrate people and things by fusing shapes together, so this project is essentially a three-dimensional extension of my illustrative style,” he says.