Freelance 3D artist, Steph Ramplin, mixes 2D & 3D in a whimsical and modern way, with her work being a playful combination of illustration and traditional 3D. Cute characters, aesthetic outfits, with a real joy and sense of humour to her designs.
I found Steph’s work after the Motion North Manchester 50th event show. Not only did I love the talk, but found a new appreciation for 2.5D. I’ve been inspired by so much in my design journey, but Steph’s work felt so fresh and vibrant it was hard not to be interested in it! Her work, both personal and commercial, uses sensational characters to express mood creativity. It’s clear that the passion for her design personality is so strong, and it’s great to see a creative who has such a passion for their style. She’s worked with Apple, Costa, Amazon and most recently worked at ManVsMachine — so it’s clear it’s not just me who likes her work!
Image - https://stephramplin.com/
Why does she inspire me?
Steph is a designer that I wouldn’t be traditionally looking at. I actively avoided illustration in university, partly because I wasn’t any good at it, and partly because I didn’t really find the ‘illustration’ that I liked. Little did I know, I did like illustration, just not the ones my tutors were showing me (and the ones I hastily researched!). A lot of the 2.5D work I was shown was quite commercial, clean and clinical. It’s a reason I don’t use dribble all that often (a lot of it there!). But Steph’s work, is so satisfying to look at. The way she blends 2D and 3D really does make you go, ‘how on earth has she done that?’. Being able to impress your peers is one thing, but being able to totally confuse them is quite another!
I love the way her work expresses mood and emotion. My favourite has got to be the Dog Day Afternoon work (the full project is well worth look at on her website). It’s a fantastic example of her skillset, with a mixture of digital characters all with their own movements, expressions and personality. I think that’s why I love Steph’s work, it just oozes personality.
The animations on the bottom of the website page are just so cute and entertaining. I’d absolutely love to see the behind the scenes for a project like this, and I imagine it’s quite simple when you know how, the work looks so complex! It’s very impressive, and clearly clients and studios agree because she’s always busy!
I think her Instagram is a great place for inspiration too. It’s great to see an Instagram with a clear progression on it. It’s a bit of a pet peeve, but I'm not a huge fan of people starting their Instagram over from nothing. It’s so nice to see where people were, and where are they are now. Seeing that progression gives you an idea of what the person was interested in, and how good they’ve got in such a short space of time!
The Interview part
I was lucky enough to be able to ask Steph some questions about herself and her career.
I hope this’ll give you a little bit of an insight into her life, personal and commercial as well as her design process.
It’s not every day you get to interview an idol!
1. Who are you, and how did
you start your journey into the
world of design?
I would describe my journey into design as slightly unconventional. I went to a music school when I was younger and then went on to study academic music and university. After graduating, I worked in Arts Admin for a good few years but I knew I really wanted to be a creative. I think my journey into illustration and animation grew quite organically — I started off just doing very small freelance projects for charities and friends alongside my job, and this slowly developed into me becoming a full-time freelance artist over time.
2. Could you give some insight into your creative process?
I am a 3D artist but I think my process is quite manual. I always start with a 2D sketch, which I use as a reference to model on the computer. I model everything myself, and if I’m animating, I mostly do frame animation. I’ve actually been enjoying doing more 2D animation recently, and I love combining this with my 3D style.
This is definitely an area I would like to develop in my work!
3. I was introduced to your work at Motion North 2025, what made you pursue this mix of
3D & Illustration?
I think it was quite instinctive for me. I’ve always loved drawing and specifically, drawing people. I’m quite a shy person so I often think my illustrations and animations are part of the way I communicate with people. I’m also a big animation fan myself, I grew up in Bristol so definitely a big Aardman fan. I also love Pingu, I just love how silly and irreverent the animation style is, and hopefully that comes across in my own work too!
Charlie here! I think all of us designers In the UK grew up with Aardman’s films on our tv screens. It’s hard not to be inspired by artists than put so much effort into their work, and you can clearly see the influence in Steph’s!
4. Where do you get your inspiration for projects? Who inspires you!
I love Martin Parr, Wallace and Gromit, Pingu, David Lynch, John Waters. Quite a strange list, I tend to like anything kitschy or irreverent that celebrates everyday life.
Also a big fan of Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights.
I love musicals and dance, so I think there’s quite a theatrical over-the-top-ness to the way I animate.
5. I know you’ve worked on some amazing projects!
Got any favourites?
I’ve got a project coming up that I’m really excited about so look out for that on my socials! Probably my most-beloved project to date is my Dog Day Afternoon animation — this was a self-initiated project and so much fun to make.
6. What are some of the largest challenges you had to overcome during your artmaking process?
I think some of the biggest challenges as an artist are often around navigating software!
My process is quite manual and I definitely found the concept of rendering things quite daunting and technical.
Thankfully there are loads of good tutorials out there and I’ve also been working with ManvsMachine over the past few years, so I’ve learnt loads from the team there.
7. Do you have any big designs/projects in the
works or anything that excites
you about the future of your career?
I’ve got some projects that will be coming out over the next couple of months that are really fun. I also love making personal work, so looking forward to having more time to dedicate to that.
8. Do you have any passions beside Animation/CGI work? I’m guessing you like drawing!
I love drawing although I guess this classes as my job now! I like a bit of going to the gym and have dabbled in climbing. My partner has really gotten me into watching football and rugby, so I’ve been enjoying that recently. Would love to work on a project that involves sports!
9. I was really impressed with your work for MAF (Manchester Animation Fest). What was it like creating graphics for an event?
I had such a good time working on the visuals for MAF, the team were really great to work with and gave me a lot of creative freedom. I went to uni in Manchester so it felt really nice to be able to do a project centred around the city I grew up in.
Charlie here! Well worth taking a look at Steph’s website at the full project, it’s really fantastic!
10. Any advice for students trying to get into the world of 3D and Digital Design?
Make work the you like and that makes you happy.
I think it’s quite easy to get caught up in what we think other people want to see in our portfolios. For me, the pieces of work that have had the furthest reach for me, as the self-initiated projects that I just had fun making. I think that really comes across to people when they look at the work.
11. I know you’ve been freelancing for quite a while now, any good lessons you’ve learnt whilst on this journey of your career?
As a freelancer, it can be really hard to switch off from work, you can feel like you need to be constantly on. It’s taken me a while to learn this — it’s really important to take time for yourself to enjoy doing non-creative things. Down time is really important!
12. Thank you for taking part in this for me Steph!
It’s been great having the chance to talk to you and learn more
about you and your process! What are your social media links
for people to follow your future work?
Thanks Charlie! Great to chat about my experience as a designer!
My links are below!
Insta: @stephramplin
Website: stephramplin.com
