The rolling mill
MENU DESIGN // ILLUSTRATION // Frame-by-Frame ANIMATION // WEB DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
The work displayed here was produced during my employment at Famous Wolf. It is featured in this portfolio with express permission. All rights, including copyright, are held by © 2026 Famous Wolf Group Ltd. All rights reserved.
*BAR* HUMBUG
The Rolling Mill, a charming restaurant in Birmingham, provides a unique dining experience with its delicious British and European cuisine and historic industrial atmosphere. They needed a unique and memorable Christmas campaign…
The Rolling Mill aimed for a unique Christmas campaign by developing an immersive, Scrooge-themed experience. This involved crafting a beautifully illustrated Christmas menu that retold the classic Dickens story. To further enhance engagement, a charming 15-second hand-drawn animation was produced, bringing the narrative to life visually. To showcase the campaign, a dedicated landing page was created, and the main website received a festive redesign. These digital platforms featured the illustrated menu and animation, effectively inviting diners to explore the Scrooge-inspired culinary adventure and facilitating online bookings for festive meals. Complementing the digital campaign, bespoke illustrations were designed for large-scale printing and placement within the restaurant. This physical element aimed to immerse diners in the Scrooge-themed atmosphere during the festive period, creating a cohesive and memorable brand experience.
Final Animation (Click for Visual Description)
Visual Description: The camera pans from right to left, down a diorama style illustrated street. Snow is blowing, and the faint glow of lights pulsate. Snow clouds move overhead. As the camera pans it follows an own in flight. As it moves down the street a horse drawn carriage moves up from a street into frame momentarily before moving in the opposite direction to the camera. The camera still locked to the owl, flies past houses and buildings such as ‘Bab & Co.’, a nod to the Birmingham roots. Eventually the owl moves past frame and we arrive at a building named the Rolling Mill. To the left is a blue/black horse drawn carriage, with a rider and a female entering, an owl sits above. To the right is a gas lamp, a snowman and a small Christmas tree. A man enters from the left who we know to be Scrooge. He stops outside the door which sparkles a bright white light. The camera fades to white and fades back to a front profile of Scrooge. He wears a top-hat and a red scarf. It dances in the wind. Another fade to white reveals a pan of the Pub full with people, it features a smoky atmosphere and a Christmas tree. The last shot is a POV view of Scrooge pulling a chair up with the menu on the table.
Establishing
a style
I explored three unique art styles during pre-production. This included a graphic paper cut-out style to evoke a clean, handcrafted aesthetic, as well as a more traditional, detailed hand-drawn illustrative style. I also looked into an 1800s-inspired cross-hatched illustration for a sophisticated, period-accurate feel. The client ultimately favoured the hand-drawn yet expressive style, finding its balance of whimsy and charm, graphic and hand-drawn – perfectly suiting the energy they aimed to convey.
Establishing a style (Click for Visual Description)
Visual Description: 3 images from left to right showcase explorations of style before commiting to full production.
IMG 1: A hand-drawn fineliner illustration of Scrooge interacting with the Jacob Marley Door Knocker. This style evokes the etchings popular of the time with cross hatching to imply the contrast between light and dark.
IMG 2: A digital graphic, flat- illustrative style that evokes paper cut collage illustrations. Here scrooge stands central in the composition. To the left is a blue horse drawn carriage, an owl flies above. To the right is a gas lamp, a snowman and a small Christmas tree.
IMG 3: A blend of hand-drawn illustration paired with digital painting, using colour to imply the difference of light and dark rather than with the use of cross-hatching or other textural work. Here scrooge stands central in the composition. To the left is a blue horse drawn carriage, an owl flies above. To the right is a gas lamp, a snowman and a small Christmas tree. The style evokes a blend of watercolour and cel shade with the use of glare/bloom on light sources.
Pre - production
Pre-Production (Click for Visual Description)
Visual Description: This shows the process of the animation.
IMG1: A storyboard.
IMG2: A still presenting a pre-comp to the client in early development.
IMG3: A full pre-comp of the animation, featuring disused shots.
IMG4: Frame by Frame Animation of Scrooge walking.
IMG 5: Early development of a fully animated bar scene, later discarded for time on the project and also the time of the final animation being too long.
WRAPPING UP
In addition to the animation, we created an illustrated print menu that shared the same visual framework. The animation played a crucial role in the online campaign, serving as a pre-video introduction to the Christmas menu landing page. This implementation posed a considerable challenge for me, as it needed careful planning for the animation’s flow into the final scene. Furthermore, I had to redevelop a mobile-specific version of the animation with a more vertical orientation. I also needed to adapt the clients main live site to fit into the rest of the campaign.
