Animation

Was it animated with AI too?

Bob Harper thank you!

Wyman Brent let me know if you'd like to be apart of our newsletter, we share behind the scenes, tips and process flow with our community :)

Rick Wheeler no sir. The most AI we used was Chatgpt to create the prompt, from that point forward there was a creative actively working each role.

Cyrus Sales, of course I want to take part in your newsletter.

Thanks for sharing Mike Boas. I feel like it might be easy to gloss over this article but I do think every creative should read this and understand what's happening. I'll be candid, I knew steam boat mickey hit the public domain and my understanding was it was now free for anyone to use. I did not think about what this meant for commercial use. I'm interested in how the court will approach this matter.

You can think of After Effects as Photoshop with a timeline.

I don't have many samples to share, as I am primarily using Nuke, but I made the title sequence for this in AE (the TOC in the description lists all software I used for that documentary, though that is mainly for 3D rather than 2D character animation):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75dJW3teHHk

You can do pretty much anything in AE, and this video shows some good examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy8N_Tpnx-U

As AE is widely used, you should be able to find a ton of free tutorials on YouTube.

Rick Wheeler This sounds like an exciting adventure and learning experience. I personally haven’t worked in that style, but I’ve posted several After Effects videos in the Post Production Lounge that might help you along the way. Please keep us updated on your progress—I’d love to see what you create.

Here’s a character-level application of the Mantid Expression System. This is Vedran rendered with the eye arcs applied — testing how the design language works once embedded in a fully realized character rather than just on a grid.

If you look closely, you’ll notice a structural detail in the mouth: the two lateral mandibles meet at the center of the upper lip, while a third, lower mandible rises to form the chin. Together, these create a “locked jaw” mechanism — the lateral mandibles cupping around the lower to form a stable surface for speech. The result is something like a natural mouthpiece: alien in structure, but capable of nuanced, legible expression when paired with the ember-eye arcs.

Does the expression feel emotionally legible here? Curious how it reads to fresh eyes.

Yes, I really feel the expression of your character Adam.

Koby Nguyen Thank you tremendously for the feedback and for taking the time to respond. It means a lot to me. It’s nice to connect with you.

Adam Spencer, thank you for sharing your process so openly. I also appreciate that you’re thinking ahead to animation pipeline compatibility.

Ashley Renee Smith, thank you for your kind words and for the way you continue to nurture the Animation Lounge community. Your presence makes these conversations feel both supported and purposeful.

For us, the path forward really depends on medium. In high-fidelity CGI, designs need to lean a little more anthropomorphic—otherwise we risk uncanny dissonance that keeps audiences from connecting. In 2D or more stylized animation, though, we can push deeper into mantid forms, where their alien qualities become part of the poetry.

The expression system we’re building—the “Ember Eye” and “Mandible Protocol”—is flexible enough to serve both. They’re designed to translate emotion whether subtle and human-readable or boldly insectoid.

Here’s an example leaning toward the stylized direction, where light and form work together to keep the mantid essence.

I think making the story and characters relatable to the British audience, writing about issues that British people face and issues they've faced, and writing about things British people find funny, Ashley Renee Smith.

Absolutely, that’s such a great point. Relatability is everything, Maurice Vaughan, whether it’s humor, conflict, or cultural references, rooting a story in the lived experiences of the audience makes all the difference. British storytelling has such a rich history of nuance, wit, and social commentary.

Will be reading this tonight. Very curious.

Hey Bob Harper, thanks for sharing this article. It was an insightful read. I like that it also includes areas connected to animation like VFX or audio engineering and highlighting how those areas will be impacted and to what extent. There's some great points within this article, one thing that stood out was how "Traditionally, junior artists learned fundamentals by working on early stages of animation production, the kinds of tasks most at risk of automation. If those jobs disappear, the pipeline for training future generations of animators could be weakened." As someone who has been through this process and currently work through animation and solving different "problems," I do feel like AI solves those problems but part of the process is those problems. Learning in-betweens, clean lines, etc. Like Ashley Renee Smith mentioned, I feel like studios may prioritize "efficiency," and stray away from the artsy.

Are there very many examples out there of full animations that have been done with AI besided Marvel's new Zombies. I am at a loss to compare what I did last summer with "Stewpid" series to anything else out there. Am I just in the bubble waiting to get popped? :) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLapc_lrZjswK6XLMWHwK3hkQ6JuXX0FmN

Terence Daniels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVT3WUa-48Y&t=6s

Hey Bob~! This animation was made over two years ago when the technology was still developing. Though the story is not a huge deal, "Rock Paper Scissors" what concerns me is the fact that they did ask for donations to continue the production, and with the size of the crew they had as well as the outreach the story did not continue. On the lighter side, they are more of a how to, or a dare us to do some stunt type of a content creation channel. Does anyone have any other examples of series that successfully picked up funding.

Adam Spencer that was extremely insightful. I think it depends on who is asking. I've heard some people only ask for a script, other ask for a script plus a little extra but I like the idea of being able to articulate what you are pitching in one single emotional hook. I think that'll also help the creator with clarity on what they are pitching.

Cyrus Sales — I really appreciate the way you framed that. The reminder to center everything on a single emotional hook feels so key, especially in animation where visuals can easily pull us in a dozen directions at once. Keeping it anchored in one clear emotional truth not only helps others understand what we’re pitching, but keeps us as creators from drifting too. Really solid insight.

This video from odd1sout is one of the best ive seen in YT about pitching an animated show. Also a superfan of him! Hope to get my original animated film a reality in the future.

Cyrus Sales are there any animated shows you guys are working on right now and planning to pitch, soon?

Phoebe Anasco - let's message, we do have a show currently being worked on.

Thanks for sharing Ashley Renee Smith! This is an interesting watch from the start. First, all of the individual have great personalities but from the start Tim talks about how he originally turned down a project due to a 4 week deadline but ended up taking it on. I'm truly impressed with what they were able to do in such a short period of time.

Absolutely, Cyrus Sales! I thought that moment from Tim really stood out too, it’s such a great reminder that sometimes the projects we initially hesitate on can turn out to be creatively fulfilling in ways we didn’t expect. It’s inspiring to see what’s possible under tight deadlines when a team is aligned and committed.

Ashley Renee Smith something I am curious about with that tight deadline is the budget for this project. I know with animation the name of the game is time, being on a three week crunch I'm sure the budget reflected the short turn around time. I do wish there was more transparency around finished project budgets and how it was allocated.

Maybe I don’t think of it as designing a world…

I storyboard a sequence, planning the action, blocking, acting, and camera movement for each shot. These storyboards usually focus on the foreground.

When I get to the point of thinking about backgrounds, that’s when I plan the layout. Layout means planning the action and/or camera moves as they relate to the environment. You want the subject (usually a character) to be framed well, and the background should complement that.

If you look at animation background art, it will feel like something is missing… the characters. Often there will be a hot spot of color where the characters should stand, the point of interest. The colors, the lines, the forms of the background should draw your eye to the point of interest.

So in answer to your question, the composition, color, and forms of the world as they support the story take precedence over any one visual detail.

I start with stylistic choices in the initial sketches to set the tone.

Ashley Renee Smith - although I'm not animator in our company, we typically pull references first and pull the different elements from those references into somewhat of a collage prior to building out the animated world. Hopefully this helps!

Thanks for sharing the video, Mike Boas. I like the strategy Nicolas Curcio and his team are using! I post loglines and posters for my Animation spec scripts on social media to pitch them, and I post pages from the scripts on social media.

Mike Boas thank you for sharing! I've been gathering as much information about pitching series so I'm adding this into the list of videos to review and take notes on.

It also helps that he is connected to gain access to these places to pitch. Still, a great approach!

Right, that’s what I meant by having written before. He’s in a position to get meetings, so what he’s posting about is how he uses those opportunities.

Thanks for sharing this, Mike Boas, Nicolas Curcio’s approach is such a great reminder that while there may not be a “standard path” for pitching animation specs, that doesn’t mean doors are closed.

Congratulations! I’m new to the platform as well, and I really like the cosmic orientation of your script — outer space stories have always been a personal favorite of mine. Wishing you the best in the contest!

Thank you, Alex Olguin ! I really appreciate your kind words. Outer space stories have always inspired me too, and I’m glad the theme of light and darkness resonated with you. Best of luck to you as well on Stage32, let’s keep pushing our cosmic stories forward!

Congratulations on pitching your script Daniel Danitto, keep us update on the outcome!

Thank you, Cyrus Sales ! I really appreciate the support. I’ll definitely share updates as things move forward.