Trends fade.
Stories endure.
Hand-drawn worlds. Cinematic movement. Unmistakable character.
For brands building a legacy, we create original illustration and animation that feels less like an ad—and more like a story worth keeping.
Drawn from experience.
Original illustrations, editorial features, and visual stories rooted in the outdoors.
Montana Rivers Map
Montana Fly Fishing Magazine / Illustrated map
Fishing with Dad
Outside Bozeman Magazine / Madison River illustration
Following the Footsteps
Outside Bozeman / Feature illustration
Skiing Mammoth Terraces
Outside Bozeman / Feature illustration detail
Crosscut Illustration
Cross Country Skier Magazine / Nordic skiing
The American Alpine Club
Original illustration / Outdoor storytelling
Snow Sintering
Outside Magazine Online / Video
The illusion
of life.
Animation has always done something extraordinary: made drawings feel alive.
In the golden age of hand-drawn animation, artists created entire worlds one image at a time. Multiplane cameras gave flat paintings the illusion of depth, allowing foregrounds, characters, and distant landscapes to move independently. The result was more than technical ingenuity. It was wonder.
Today, SINTR brings that same visual thinking into a digital workspace: hand-drawn artwork, layered environments, nuanced camera movement, and modern compositing. The tools have evolved. The magic still begins with an artist's hand.
A look at the craft behind layered illustration and animation. Watch the reel on Instagram.
Drawn from life.
Made unforgettable.
Some of the most expressive animation begins with real movement.
Rotoscoping uses filmed action as a reference for drawing, frame by frame. The technique preserves the subtle rhythm of human movement while transforming it into a distinctly illustrated world.
One of its most iconic expressions is a-ha's 1985 music video Take On Me. Seeing original production drawings in an exhibition at Seattle's Experience Music Project made the craft feel tangible: a remarkable visual experience built from individual marks on paper.
That combination of observation, illustration, and motion continues to inform SINTR's approach—creating animation that feels human, expressive, and timeless rather than interchangeable with the latest visual trend.
Watch Drawing a line — a SINTR rotoscoping example. Open video on Vimeo.
Historical inspiration and technique reference; SINTR's work is independently created and not affiliated with a-ha or the original music video.
Wonder is
good business.
When everyone can photograph a beautiful landscape, a distinctive visual world becomes a competitive advantage.
Travel Oregon's earlier 7 Wonders of Oregon campaign celebrated iconic destinations through photography and film. As similar approaches appeared in other states' tourism advertising, Travel Oregon looked for a new way to stand apart.
Wieden+Kennedy Portland, the agency known for helping build Nike's global identity, developed a dramatically different approach: three 90-second animated spots, created with Psyop and Sun Creature. The campaign drew on the imaginative spirit of hand-drawn fantasy animation, with an original score by Emmy-winning composer Jim Dooley performed by the Oregon Symphony.
The reported $5 million series transformed familiar landscapes into dreamlike destinations—offering a sense of discovery that conventional destination photography couldn't replicate.
Attributed to Wieden+Kennedy art director Nick Stokes in reporting on the campaign.
Broader marketing impact / 2023 accountability study
These results are not all measures of the animated films. The $237 and $11 returns reflect Travel Oregon's broader marketing activities in the 2023 Ad Accountability Study, not a calculated return on the $5 million animation series. The 2018 campaign-specific viewing and booking figures are also distinct from the later statewide study.
The lesson: originality creates recognition. When a brand develops a visual world people can't mistake for anyone else's, its storytelling can become a lasting asset—not just another ad.
Sources and context: Travel Oregon 2023 Ad Accountability Study, as reported by the Statesman Journal; campaign details and performance figures supplied for this case study. Verify primary reporting before treating figures as audited or causal claims. Campaign creative: Wieden+Kennedy, Psyop and Sun Creature. Background: Cape Kiwanda, Oregon.
Music that
moves us.
A compelling story can help a community see what is worth investing in.
For the Bozeman Symphony, SINTR® developed a cinematic fundraising campaign that brought the power of live music beyond the concert hall. Creative direction, live-action filmmaking, original illustration, hand-drawn animation, and post-production came together to tell a human story about music and belonging.
The Symphony reached 95% of its $300,000 annual goal. These organization-wide results reflect the full development effort; SINTR's campaign was one contributing element, not the sole cause of the increase.
Watch Keep the Music Moving — Bozeman Symphony 2024. Open video on Vimeo.
From statewide tourism to a hometown symphony, the principle holds: investing in distinctive storytelling can build emotional connection and support meaningful business and community goals.
Explore the full Bozeman Symphony case studyA world of
our own making.
An authentic visual language can't be downloaded. It has to be lived, observed, and drawn.
Over two decades, Bryan Schaeffer has brought complex ideas to life through motion graphics and branded films for organizations including Microsoft, the U.S. Department of Defense, and Genentech. Across hundreds of motion projects, he developed a layered 2D-in-3D-space approach inspired by the depth and movement of early multiplane animation.
Then two creative worlds came together: professional motion design and years of drawing Montana's trails, rivers, wildlife, and mountain landscapes. Animated sequences for The Last Best Trails grew into a more ambitious illustrated language, culminating in The Snow Day—an original film built from more than 3,000 hand-drawn illustrations.
That same perspective informs original artwork for Outside Bozeman, Montana fishing publications, the Bozeman Symphony, and Yellowstone Club. The result is a recognizable visual voice rooted in time spent on the trails, rivers, lakes, and peaks of the Northern Rockies.
A hand-drawn cinematic world inspired by the mountains, wildlife, and wonder of Greater Yellowstone.
Handcrafted illustration and layered motion celebrating the rivers and landscapes of Montana.
Original trail illustrations brought to life with dimensional camera movement and cinematic storytelling.
A sense of place. A sense of wonder. A style worth remembering.
Make something
that lasts.
Begin with an original illustration. Build a world around it.
From a single commissioned image to cinematic animation and immersive branded environments, SINTR® creates artwork designed to live beyond one campaign—on screens, in print, and in the places people gather.
Original Illustration
Distinctive, hand-crafted artwork that gives your story an unmistakable sense of place and character.
- Creative consultation and visual direction
- One original custom illustration
- High-resolution, print-ready artwork
- Digital and print deliverables for agreed uses
- Ideal for editorial stories, signature gifts, and branded keepsakes
Examples: Outside Bozeman story illustrations and Bozeman Symphony Christmas ornament artwork.
Commission an illustrationIllustration in Motion
Bring original artwork to life through dimensional 2.5D animation, cinematic movement, and sound.
- Creative concept and custom illustrated scene
- 2.5D layered animation and compositing
- Sound design and audio finishing
- One short web-ready video clip
- Social-friendly video deliverables in agreed formats
- Print-quality artwork for additional applications
Immersive Brand Worlds
A cohesive visual world expressed through large-format physical artwork and cinematic animated storytelling.
- Custom illustration and environmental art direction
- Murals, wall graphics, and printed canvas artwork
- Cinematic animated content for screens and events
- Coordinated print and digital production assets
- Project-specific creative development and production planning
Starting prices are planning guides. Final estimates depend on creative scope, complexity, duration, production, installation, licensing, and agreed deliverables. Printing and installation may be quoted separately. Confirm the inquiry email address before publishing.