The recent World Cup Downhill race at Val di Sole reminded me of an animation that I made with Greg Minnaar. Greg had won the World Champtionships at the 2021 Val di Sole race but at the 2022 Val di Sole race he had a bad crash resulting in a broken neck. I interviewed him while he was recovering and animated the story he told. I didn’t know Greg before this project and the way it all came together was pretty cool. 

Before meeting Greg I listened to a podcast that had him as a guest. I’d recently started watching World Cup Downhill racing and was only beginning to learn about his amazing career as the greatest downhill racer of all time. On the the podcast he told a story of a giraffe chasing him while he was riding near his home in South Africa. Something about the way he told the story clicked for me and with the podcast still playing I drew a cartoon of the event. Greg liked the drawing on social media and we started chatting. 

I pitched the idea of an animation project to him without any idea what the subject matter might be. Around this time his Val di Sole crash happened. There wasn’t much information about his condition other than that he had broken his neck and like many fans around the world I was worried. When Greg and I met for a video chat he told me the story of the crash. It was obviously a very serious injury (I could see him uncomfortably talking while in a neck brace) but the way he told the story, and the series of comical things that happened had us both laughing. 

As childish and clunky as my animation style can look it takes many hours of work. I started by cutting down the interviews I’d conducted into manageable sizes. Then I drew some rudimentary pencil sketch storyboards. Editing the audio together with the storyboards helps me mentally visualize how the animation might look and time out. When it was kind of flowing I started drawing and animating. I had originally considered trying to drum up some sponsors to help pay for the project but in the end it seemed better to just tackle it all myself. It was nice to do the project simply for my own enjoyment and the only person who I needed to sign off on the work was Greg himself (and Greg was very easy going and fun to work with). 

watch on YouTube