In our newest birthday eCard we see 4 little guys who get funky with their hats playing a groovy tune. They sure know how to make a foot go tap in this musical eCard. We got to talk more with former intern Sean Rhodes to find out about his funkadelic inspiration to making this fun card.

1 – Do you play any instruments?

I play the guitar as often as I can – I’m not any good at it yet, but playing is a ton of fun.

2 – Who is your favorite band?

I have a whole lot of favorite bands, because I like a whole lot of music. I’m currently listening to Animal Collective, Divine Fits, Kings of Convenience, and Frank Ocean – I could spend all day listing the bands I love, but I don’t think any individual one takes the cake.

3 – How did you come up with the character design for this card?

I wanted to keep all of the characters simple, while also using the party hat shape everywhere I could. I also had a lot of help from the fantastic Jeff Gill, who helped me with the look of the card.

4 – Who was your inspiration?

I guess it was my love of music (and animating to music) that inspired this card, so I’ll have to go straight to the source on this question – my dad! He played/plays music all the time, and without him I wouldn’t have found my inspiration.

5 – How long did this card take to animate?

I was also working on graduating / finishing up my senior film while I was working on this card, so it took me a little longer than I would have liked. If I factor in all the time I worked on this guy and really got time to focus, I’d say it took me a little under two weeks to animate.

To check out more rocking art go to Sean’s website here: www.sean-rhodes.com and send Hat Jam to that boppin’ birthday someone.