It’s Better with Friends. 2026. Charcoal and ink on paper. 9" × 12" (each composition). An installation comprised of six monochrome drawings—one in the center featuring the SWIMS main cast sitting around a bonfire on a beach at night, the others situated around featuring nighttime work environments for each of the characters—as well as additional drawn elements, including running poses of the characters (with accent colors) situated in between the central black-and-white drawing and the revolving ones and samples of handwriting and calligraphy on top of the black-and-white drawings. The handwriting on the revolving black-and-white drawings reads “Life can be…” along with the words “complicated,” “worrysome,” “uncertain,” “challenging,” and “risky,” respectively; and the handwriting on the central drawing reads “…But it’s better with friends.” Characters from left to right: Spencer, Warren, Iris, Myles, and Sam.

Recent work: It’s Better with Friends ✏️

First time posting a work of art in a while! This was my first assignment for my Drawing Projects class this semester, and I wanted to do something positive with the #CRJSWIMS cast in a multi-frame format. Had a lot of fun with this one!

#ObjectShowCommunity

silly glasses. 2026. Digital design. Photographs of two silly pairs of glasses (one with a frame with a circular extension resembling a teardrop, the other with blush mark designs attached to the frames) with renders of Iris (SWIMS) wearing those pairs of glasses to the right.

silly glasses! 👓
#CRJSWIMS #ObjectShowCommunity

the digits just come naturally to Warren…
oh, and Luna’s there too :3

Happy Pi Day, everyone!!! 🥧

#CRJSWIMS #ObjectShowCommunity

and here's Grant! this is what I was doing the Earth rotation effect for lol
#CRJSWIMS #ObjectShowCommunity

if anyone can guess how I did this Earth rotation animation in Adobe Animate, I will give you a free doodle of your OC 💙
#CRJSWIMS #ObjectShowCommunity

FINALLY getting around to character rigs for #CRJSWIMS again…
here's what Iris looks like!! not dealing with the mouth atm, but I will add it later on when I get around to all twenty characters' rigs
#ObjectShowCommunity

A colored sketch of Iris (SWIMS) with script handwriting to the right reading, “Happy 28th Birthday, Iris K.!” Additional handwriting reads the same text in Japanese: 「あいりす、２８才のお誕生日おめでとう！」 Below this is the date March 2, written in English and Japanese (「三月二日」).

another OC birthday today—and it's a big one this time around!!! ☃️🎉
#ObjectShowCommunity #CRJSWIMS

I sure wonder what this comic will be about...

(these are just my sketches. I'll be doing vector art for the final!)

#CRJSWIMS #ObjectShowCommunity

drawings I did on a Magma session with friends :)
I will find pretty much any opportunity nowadays to draw Iris LOL
#CRJSWIMS

I don't post enough sketches online, me thinks…
take these Iris doodles and some JP handwriting practice :) ⛄️
#CRJSWIMS

tried ToonBoom Harmony for the first time today, and I decided to make this little walk cycle for Kate (from #CRJSWIMS) for her birthday today!! 🌳🎉

#ObjectShowCommunity

Sketches of my new object character, Quinn. They are a tall delivery robot with an LED display for a face, bunny ears, a tall body with three trays stacked in between, a swivel base, and legs. The larger sketch shows them carrying a drink, a food tray, a tabletop sign, and a gift basket with Usagi (Chiikawa) inside on their trays.

saw a design for a food delivery robot last night and thought, “this would honestly make for a fire object character”
so this is Quinn!!! they are now the twentieth cast member made for #CRJSWIMS :D 🐰

#ObjectShowCommunity

SWIMS—In 2016, 2026. Procreate; 11″ × 4.25″. An illustration of the SWIMS main cast (left to right: Myles, Sam, Warren, Spencer, and Iris) depicted in a 2016-esque art style with tall, thin eyes; bean mouths; stick limbs; large hands and boots; neon blushes; a galaxy image in the background; and bloom and chromatic aberration filters applied on top.

So the SWIMS squad decided it’d be a grand idea to travel back in time to 2016 and live out their lives in that timeline, so they look like this now. Sorry, chat… 💔

#CRJSWIMS #ObjectShowCommunity

An image featuring a photograph of me with various design elements to the right, including the logos for SWIMS and FlashMade; application icons for Adobe Animate, Affinity, and Adobe Photoshop; and the text “Where have I been?” Below this is large text that reads “Updates from CRJ,” with text below that reads “Tonight at 6 PM EST” and points to the YouTube icon.

My name is Carter Janik, and I am the creator of StudioCRJ.

If you recognize either of those names, please watch my newest YouTube video releasing tonight at 6 PM EST. I have a few updates I wanna share. 💙

#CRJSWIMS #ObjectShowCommunity #BFDI #InanimateInsanity

A screenshot of one of the on-screen graphics to be shown in my new update video on YouTube, featuring illustrations of the SWIMS main cast (left to right: Myles, Sam, Warren, Spencer, and Iris) along with a diagram with their names pointing to the initials that make up the SWIMS acronym.

Working hard on my new update video for the StudioCRJ YouTube channel!! Here’s a little sneak peek of one of the on-screen graphics featuring the whole #CRJSWIMS squad! 💙

#ObjectShowCommunity

100 Object Show Tips – Voice Acting Transition Card, 2025. Affinity and Procreate; 1920 × 1080 px; from 100 Object Show Tips by MsBonnieArt. A design featuring illustrations of Myles and Iris (from SWIMS) holding microphones, with speech balloons reading “VOICE” and “ACTING,” respectively.

You might’ve also noticed this little Voice Acting transition card in the middle of the video that I made, featuring Myles and Iris from #CRJSWIMS! 🛋️⛄️
You’ll get more content of them and the other cast members soon enough… :)

SWIMS—In Pixels. Aseprite; 432 px × 252 px. A pixel art illustration of the eighteen cast members of SWIMS standing on a grass plane surrounded by a dirt path, depicted with a top-down perspective. Row 1 (from left to right): Myles, Sam, Warren, Spencer, Iris, Luna, Kate, Chris, Blake, and Vivian. Row 2 (from left to right): Grant, Rose, Presley, Elliott, Oscar, Beatrice, Pepper, and Frank. Color palette: © PineappleOnPizza.

🖌️ SWIMS—In Pixels

Decided to revamp my old pixel art piece from 2023 but with all the new #CRJSWIMS characters and designs! This time, I wanted to make them truer to their actual designs/proportions and make them animate a little. Oh, and Luna’s very silly as always. :)

#OSC #pear36

Part of this assignment is to make two design variants with the same subject matter, so here’s the second variant! This time, I added a bunch of broken glass effects, hand-drawn scratches, and lots of other textures and things. I think these go really hard.
#CRJSWIMS #OSC

The front side of my album cover design for my Visual Language class, featuring four panels of each band member’s eye depicted with vibrant colors and glass distortion and light effects.

The back side of my album cover design for my Visual Language class, featuring an illustration of the band members reaching up toward a bright magenta-ish light as well as the band’s logo, the album title, eleven track titles, a faux copyright notice, and signatures of the band members. The album is titled Refraction, and the song titles are (1) “Dusk,” (2) “Kaleidoscope,” (3) “Brain Freeze,” (4) “Roller Coaster,” (5) “Is Anything Real?”, (6) “Air,” (7) “John III,” (8) “Senses Overloaded,” (9) “The Foes We Made,” (10) “Fading Away,” and (11) “Sight.”

Also, I’m in the middle of making an experimental vinyl album cover design for one of my college finals! The characters in this band are Myles, Iris, Vivian, and Spencer from #CRJSWIMS, and their band name is ULTRVLT. I really love how I pulled off all the light and glass effects… :0
#OSC

Drawings of my eighteen original characters for my upcoming animated project, SWIMS. These drawings depict the current character designs with simplified limbs and facial features. From left to right: Myles, Sam, Warren, Spencer, Iris, Luna, Kate, Chris, Blake, Vivian, Grant, Rose, Presley, Elliott, Oscar, Beatrice, Pepper, and Frank.

I talked about this on Twitter already, but I think I’m gonna start sharing stuff I’m working on more casually in the future, since I’d rather not keep you guys waiting for polished content for eons.
To start, here’s some new drawings of my OCs for #CRJSWIMS! Who do you guys like the most??

#OSC

Drawings of my new object OC, Oscar. They are a pot marigold with a tall ceramic pot/vase covered in paint splatters for a body, a necklace with a golden leaf charm, and legs. Their pronouns are they/he, and they’re twenty-six years old. They will be a local painter and art therapist in Brightfield in the universe of SWIMS, my in-progress animation and multimedia project.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted any OC-related stuff online, but I think you all do deserve some rough/in-progress stuff that I’m working on. :)
Here’s my newest OC that I made four days ago: Oscar!!
#CRJSWIMS #OSC

Super excited to say that #CRJSWIMS is finally coming together!!! :D
To be clear, I’ll be updating this thread periodically with new characters as I complete their ref. sheets, as quite a few aren’t done yet. Follow @CRJSWIMS and stay tuned for more! 💙
#OSC

The SWIMS logo and the words “Meet the cast!” surrounded by simple illustrations of the five protagonists (Myles, Sam, Warren, Spencer, and Iris).

Welcome to the official account of SWIMS, an animation and illustration project featuring the best friend group of five you could ever ask for and more!! Speaking of, let’s meet the main cast, shall we? 🧵
#CRJSWIMS #OSC

An image showing the banners for my two new Twitter accounts. Calligraphy in the middle reads “New Accounts!”, and beside it is an illustration of my objectsona with the word “WOW” on screen. Writing below the top banner reads, “Follow @studiocrj.com for new animations, art, announcements, etc.,” and writing above the bottom banner reads, “Follow @swims.studiocrj.com for…you get the point.”

You might’ve noticed that I changed my handle to @carter.studiocrj.com. That’s because I have NEW ACCOUNTS set up now!!

Follow the new @studiocrj.com for new animations, art, content announcements, and all that good stuff. 🪧
Also follow @swims.studiocrj.com for upcoming #CRJSWIMS content! 🛋️

#OSC

An illustration of my original object characters arranged in a circle formation in rainbow order. Large display type in the center reads “I am 18,” with the years “2007” and “2025” above and below, respectively. In the background are streaks of color emerging from the center and tinted to dark blue. Characters clockwise from top: Carter (my objectsona), Spencer, Iris, Vivian, Rose, Blake, Pepper, Sam, Frank, Elliott, Luna, Presley, Kate, Chris, Grant, Beatrice, Warren, and Myles.

It’s official, guys… 🎂🎉💙

#CRJSWIMS #OSC

“Swimmingly.” A digital comic-style illustration of the SWIMS squad in front of their house. Completed on October 29, 2024. Created for the Design and Visual Communications course at my high school. Top row (from left to right): Myles and Sammy. Bottom row (from left to right): Warren, Spencer, and Iris. © 2024 StudioCRJ. All rights reserved.

Friendship is a big part of living. It’s something us humans naturally count on when we need it most. But what if everyday objects could engage in friendship too?

Well, this group of five seems to be getting along well. You could even say they’re getting along … swimmingly.

#CRJSWIMS #OSC