Great example of character design and motion working together:

Onwards from AKQA on Vimeo.

James Jarvis is a contemporary illustrator.
Richard Kenworthy is a motion designer / http://www.shynola.com/

"I had become interested in the idea of characters that were less referential and more iconic and abstract. I particularly wanted to do something with a potato-headed stick-man that I had been drawing at that time.

The film was inspired by certain personal experiences in running a favourite run over Blanchland moor in Northumberland, being attacked by a crow in Singapore and also by the transcendent, almost psychedelic experience of the simple act of running.
Rather than a marketing project inititated by Nike, the film was something proposed and produced by myself, and as such I hope represents a much more equal collaboration with a brand."

James Jarvis