BLACK ROOSTER CREATIVE
What I doStoryWorkContact

Black
Rooster
Creative

Aden Mackness. Creative director, VFX and 3D artist, animator. Films, brands, props, guitars and music, and the whole pipeline in between.

SCROLL

You just watched
Skinwalkers.
I made it.

Skinwalkers · 2026 · Sparrows Eat Crows

  • 01Concept & lyrics
  • 02Storyboards
  • 03Characters
  • 04Environments
  • 05Previs
  • 06All the 3D
  • 07Ink Studios
  • 08Edit in Resolve

Gods That
Fade

Music video · Sparrows Eat Crows

I directed it, art directed it and made it start to finish. A raw, high-voltage performance video, cut to the track.

Aden Mackness

Twenty-five years of making things.

I'm Aden Mackness. I started as an animator in New Zealand, and somewhere along the way I learned every other part of the job too, because I wanted to make the whole thing myself.

Today I'm Executive Producer at GoldSilver, I sing and play guitar in Sparrows Eat Crows, and Black Rooster Creative is where I make films like Skinwalkers. The new tools don't replace the craft. They let one person with taste and a lot of experience make what used to take a crew.

0Years in production
0Views on one episode
0Companies rebranded

From the first idea
to the finished thing.

Bring me a concept. I'll take it all the way: the story, the brand, the design, the production, the finish, and the campaign that puts it in front of people. One person, one vision, start to end.

Toolkit Adobe Creative Cloud · Maya · ZBrush · Blender · Unreal Engine · DaVinci Resolve · Character Creator · Daz Studio · AI film pipelines · Sound engineering & mixing

01

Concept

The idea, the story and the script.

02

Brand

Identity, logo, look and voice.

03

Design

Art direction, 3D, props, costumes and sets.

04

Production

Camera, lighting, VFX and animation.

05

Finish

Edit, grade, sound and delivery.

06

Launch

Websites, merch, marketing and the campaign.

From animator
to everything else

01New Zealand

Animator

Where it started: 3D animation, frame by frame.

02Six years

Kaleidoscope

Six years at Kaleidoscope, learning production end to end.

03GoldSilver

Hidden Secrets of Money

I did the branding, the titles and the animation for the series. Episode 4 alone passed 11 million views.

04Brands

Two companies rebranded

I rebranded GoldSilver and GBI on my own, and built the website.

05Craft

Ink Trinkets & Ink Guitars

Custom jewellery, then custom guitars. Ben and I are both Ink Guitars artists.

06Music

Sparrows Eat Crows

I write the lyrics and most of the music, and make the videos, artwork, merch and websites. On set I do the costumes, makeup, lighting, camera, edit and post.

07Executive Producer

The GoldSilver channel

From the guy who animated one episode to running the GoldSilver YouTube channel.

08Built it

Ink Studios

My own AI film studio. Skinwalkers went from my storyboards, characters and previs through Ink Studios, then into DaVinci Resolve for the edit.

09Now

Skinwalkers, a book, and bigger things

Skinwalkers premieres November 9, 2026. I'm writing The New Map of Money. More I can't show yet.

The work

05

GoldSilver rebrand

Brand identity & websiteComing soon
06

GBI rebrand

Brand identity & websiteComing soon
07

Ink Guitars

Custom guitarsinkguitars.io

Working on
some big things

Book

The New Map of Money

In progress.

Series

A new story

Unreleased. Coming soon.

Black Rooster Creative

The making of Skinwalkers

How one person made a horror film, on the Black Rooster Creative YouTube channel.

Let's make
something.

Music videos, short films, animation, brands and websites. Tell me what you're making and I'll get back to you.

YouTube↗ Instagram↗ Ink Guitars↗ Sparrows Eat Crows↗