“Sexual Fantasies. Attraction. Birth Control. Fertility. Childbirth… This isn’t the sex education you may have had to sit through in school.” - Vox

I had the privilege of helping to lead the design & animation style on the Sex miniseries of Explained. Talk about a fun topic! I realized pretty early on that⁠—like many viewers, I would imagine⁠—I had only a rudimentary grasp on the birds and the bees, and only a hazy picture of the broader spectrum of human sexuality. I learned so much in working on these episodes. Especially the Fertility and Childbirth episodes, which I approached as someone who has never had a child, but has very real fears about pregnancy (which, have to say, appear to be pret-ty valid).

My favorite part about working on this miniseries was bringing the interviewees’ experiences to life through animation. There were so many vivid descriptions of attraction, sex, childbirth, and beyond. I knew right away that I wanted the look and tone of these animations to be some combination of “humor and grotesque,” and I think we hit the mark. Not every aspect of sex is fun⁠; some of the subject matter the episodes dive into carries pain and stigma. And some of it is incredibly moving.

OH AND HELLO—voice over by Janelle Monaé!!?! 😍

You can watch the entire miniseries at Netflix.com/SexExplained.
The Childbirth episode is also available on YouTube for free.