Thumbnail painting: Sjan Weijers
Welcome to the studio!
Murrell Imagination is a Minnesota-based brand that produces character-based and narrative-driven animation for Christian and family-friendly markets. Animation’s power lies in enchanting the ordinary, so whether it’s exploring ancient histories or creating something anew, Murrell Imagination believes in presenting worlds with wonder.
Mothers of the Christ | In this limited coming-of-age series about an Egyptian girl called Safiya, explore the histories of the five women mentioned in Jesus' genealogy (Ruth, Rahab, Bathsheba, Tamar, Mary) through the eyes of a little girl.
|| Credits: Writer/director—Wes Murrell | Voice talent—Sherine Elwakil
DL Moody Center—Humble Beginnings | This is a collaboration with MattiBurns Studio (project producer) for the D.L. Moody Center. Learn the humble beginnings of evangelist D.L. Moody!
|| Credits: Producer—R.C. Nelson | Writer—Tyler Curtis | Director—Wes Murrell | Animation—Josh York, Wes Murrell | Backgrounds—Selena Zhang | Audio—Dane Dickmann
Safariomi: Animal Rescue | Travel into the jungle with your friendly guide, Safari Naomi ("Safariomi"), as she teaches us how to care for tigers when they need us most.
|| Credits: Writer—Naomi Murrell, Wes Murrell | Director/animator— Wes Murrell | Backgrounds— Mickey Nuspl | Voice talent—Sofia Vega, Wes Murrell | Audio—Dane Dickmann
Scottish & Farfray: Heroes for Hire | In this fantasy adventure short chronicling the road to the Edge of the World, the little knight called "Scottish" and his sidekick fox, Farfray, encounter a mysterious Riddle-Maker guarding an ancient Wishing Well. But as they linger, they'll discover that riddles aren't the only mysteries kept here!
|| Credits: Creator/Producer—Wes Murrell | Writer/director—Wes Murrell | Animation—Josh York, Wes Murrell | Backgrounds—Sjan Weijers | Voice talent—Peter Boumgarden, Mike Rohlfing, Wes Murrell | Audio—Dane Dickmann
Rowan | This project was created in 4 days. We created the character rigs and a couple of backgrounds within 2 days; tasked FX animator with effects for 3 days, and had background designs for 2 days. By overlapping the production pipeline, we were able to produce the short within the 4-day time frame.
|| Credits: Creator/producer—Mike Rohlfing | Writer/director—Wes Murrell | Animation—Josh York, Doug Meloche, Wes Murrell | Backgrounds—Mickey Nuspl | Voice talent—Bill Parmentier, Shawn T. Bell, Tarja Murrell | Audio: Dane Dickmann
Faithful Sunrise | In this collaboration with Child Evangelism Fellowship, the staff at CEF approached us with a completed script for animation. We worked with CEF throughout the storyboard, design, and animation phases to produce this finished piece.
|| Credits: Writer—Mark Shaw | Director—Wes Murrell | Animation—Josh York, Wes Murrell | Backgrounds—Mickey Nuspl | Voice talent—CEF Staff | Audio— Dane Dickmann
Am I the Bad Guy? | In this collaboration with Child Evangelism Fellowship, the staff at CEF prepared a completed script, storyboard, animatic, and voice tracks. From there, Murrell Imagination handled character design, layouts, animation and audio post production collaboration.
|| Credits: Writer/story art/animatics/voice talent—CEF Staff | Director/Animation—Wes Murrell | Audio—Dane Dickmann
A Tale of Two Wombats | This project was a 48hr Film Project collaboration to see what we could accomplish within the span of two days.
|| Credits: Writers—Wes Murrell, Philip Neves, Cory Mitchell | Animation—Wes Murrell | Voice talent—Sam Murrell, Wes Murrell, Tarja Murrell | Audio—Dane Dickmann
Before Murrell Imagination, the crew did work with Coolfire Studios in the Midwest. Same crew, different brand.
Build-A-Bear presents: “The Workshop” with Lindsay and Erynn | It's time for a crazy storytime! Lindsey and Erynn have a sleepover storytime in #theworkshop! The stories are silly, they're scary, and they're true.
|| Credits: Live action editor/Director of animation—Wes Murrell | Art direction—Mickey Nuspl | Animation— Mickey Nuspl, Wes Murrell
This animation was an unpublished concept piece for Coolfire Studios back in the day.
Brown & Crouppen Law Firm presents: “Terry’s Safety Squad,” Ep. 1 | Do you know what to do when it comes to dog safety? Terry Crouppen's Safety Squad does!
|| Credits: Creator/producer—Jeremy Corray | Writer—Cory Mitchell | Director—Wes Murrell | Animation—Josh York, Wes Murrell | Voice talent—Terry Crouppen, Ed Herman, Ricky Barnes, Ayla Eren, Sofia Vega, Jessie Oats, Andy Crouppen, Wes Murrell | Audio—Dane Dickmann
Brown & Crouppen Law Firm presents: “Terry’s Safety Squad,” Ep. 1 | Terry's Safety Squad is BACK! And unfortunately, so is the Bad Idea Bandit. Do you know what to do when it comes to street safety?
|| Credits: Creator/producer—Jeremy Corray | Writer—Cory Mitchell | Director—Wes Murrell | Animation—Josh York, Wes Murrell | Voice talent—Terry Crouppen, Ed Herman, Ricky Barnes, Sofia Vega, Maxx Piper, Jessie Oats, Andy Crouppen, Wes Murrell | Audio—Dane Dickmann
Brown & Crouppen Law Firm presents: “Terry’s Safety Squad,” Ep. 1 | Someone let the Bad Idea Bandit into the mall, but luckily for us, Terry's Safety Squad is here to stop him from creating total Mad Mall Mayhem!
|| Credits: Creator/producer—Jeremy Corray | Writer—Cory Mitchell | Director—Wes Murrell | Animation—Josh York, Wes Murrell | Voice talent—Terry Crouppen, Ed Herman, Ricky Barnes, Titus Murrell, Sofia Vega, Jessie Oats, Andy Crouppen, Wes Murrell | Audio—Dane Dickmann
Brown & Crouppen Law Firm presents: “Terry’s Safety Squad,” Ep. 1 | Uh oh, the Bad Idea Bandit is practicing poor stranger safety! It's a good thing we have Terry's Safety Squad to show us the right way to handle interacting with strangers.
|| Credits: Creator/producer—Jeremy Corray | Writer—Cory Mitchell | Director—Wes Murrell | Original song—Brent Johnson | Animation—Josh York, Wes Murrell, Mickey Nuspl | Backgrounds—Mickey Nuspl, Wes Murrell | Voice talent—Terry Crouppen, Ed Herman, Ricky Barnes, Sofia Vega, Jessie Oats, Andy Crouppen, Wes Murrell | Audio—Brent Johnson
Model sheets for Scottish & Farfray: Heroes for Hire
Compositing the 48hr Film Project, A Tale of Two Wombats within Adobe After Effects.
Animating the epic short Scottish & Farfray: Heroes for Hire within Adobe After Effects.