The hottest Animation Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Culture Topics

The Film That Should Be Nominated

Animation Obsessive • 21976 implied HN points • 09 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. Nobody is a low-budget Chinese 2D film that mixes traditional ink-wash aesthetics with cinematic realism to tell a funny, emotional story about ordinary ‘nobodies,’ and it connected deeply with Chinese audiences.
  2. Major Chinese animated hits like Nezha 2 and Nobody were absent from the Oscars shortlist, highlighting how submission and qualification choices — not just quality or popularity — shape awards visibility.
  3. Nobody’s success shows that small, culturally rooted, story-first animation can compete with big-budget spectacles, and the global animation scene is alive with diverse projects and teases from studios worldwide.

Popular Art

Animation Obsessive • 717 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. China’s recent breakout animated hits grew out of the indie Flash and festival scene, which mixed art-house ideas with broadly appealing storytelling.
  2. A 2022 film made by art-house animators tried to cross into the commercial market but flopped despite praise, underscoring how risky and difficult crossover projects can be and how investors and regulators often hesitate.
  3. Some producers believe there is a real market for well-made, emotionally honest, locally rooted animated films that can reach both parents and children, and they hope more creators will attempt that blend of art and mass appeal.

Takamoto and Disney and the War

Animation Obsessive • 19733 implied HN points • 02 Mar 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. He endured Japanese American internment as a young man and used his drawing talent to get a start at Walt Disney after the war.
  2. At Disney he became a meticulous cleanup and quality-control artist who refined key characters and kept films visually consistent, shaping looks like Lady and Aurora.
  3. He later moved to Hanna-Barbera, where he designed iconic TV characters (most famously Scooby-Doo) and left a lasting legacy in animation.

Dangerous Light

Animation Obsessive • 23859 implied HN points • 13 Feb 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. Classic cel-animation light came from photographic tricks like backlit/bi-pack exposures, holdout mattes and lens effects, not just simple on-screen glows.
  2. The analog look depends on film behavior — aggressive inverse-square falloff, color shifts, halation, bloom and grain — which standard Gaussian glows don’t reproduce.
  3. To recreate that “dangerous” light digitally you must layer custom glows and then push them through film emulation and texture, intentionally reintroducing the imperfections that digital pipelines usually remove.

The Same Stories

Animation Obsessive • 2063 implied HN points • 06 Mar 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. After wartime exile he returned to Italy and quickly made a name designing striking, expressive stage sets and costumes that mixed old‑world grotesques with modernist shapes.
  2. He moved freely between theater, illustration, ceramics and animation, treating each medium as a different vehicle to tell the same stories.
  3. His stop‑motion films with Giulio Gianini won wide acclaim and a major 1980 exhibition collected his work, with the show’s catalog remaining a valuable resource on his designs.
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'Sand and a Source of Light'

Animation Obsessive • 13544 implied HN points • 16 Feb 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. Animation isn’t only for elite studios or people who can draw like masters; many styles and low-tech approaches mean anyone can make animated work.
  2. Artists using humble materials — sand, paper cutouts, scratched film, a kitchen table — solved technical limits with creative problem-solving and produced deeply original, emotional films.
  3. Today phones and free software have removed many technical barriers, but AI-generated shortcuts risk bypassing the hands-on problem-solving that helps artists grow and make distinctive work.

How the Little Guy Moved

Animation Obsessive • 19105 implied HN points • 09 Feb 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. Early game creators borrowed traditional animation tricks like rotoscoping to make tiny, low-resolution characters move in believable, fluid ways even on very limited hardware.
  2. Creators used highly inventive, hands-on workflows — filming live motion, tracing frames, Xeroxing silhouettes and digitizing them — to convert real movement into economical pixel animation.
  3. Good animation decisions, not just better hardware, made the work memorable and durable, so lively motion stayed effective and influential as games moved to newer platforms.

In the New Toy Story Movie, Toys Lose Their Jobs to AI

The Honest Broker • 9741 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. The tech backlash has gone mainstream and is shaping public debate in 2026, with even tech companies joining the pushback.
  2. Toy Story 5 shows toys worried about being replaced by an AI device, highlighting anxieties about screen addiction and technology taking roles and relationships away from people.
  3. There’s striking irony in a studio that helped launch digital film now making an anti-tech movie, which suggests cultural attitudes toward technology are shifting.

Designing the Powerpuff Girls

Animation Obsessive • 33277 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. Bold, simple, and graphic character designs—big eyes, clear silhouettes, and distinct colors—gave the girls instant recognizability.
  2. The final look was the result of years of sketching, trial and error, and precise model sheets that removed unnecessary detail and found a natural drawing shorthand.
  3. Those tight, iconic designs made the characters memorable and helped the show remain culturally relevant and influential for decades.

Designing 'One Hundred and One Dalmatians'

Animation Obsessive • 42606 implied HN points • 19 Jan 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. One Hundred and One Dalmatians introduced a bold, modern graphic look for Disney, using angular shapes, scratchy lines and loose color so the drawings were meant to be seen.
  2. The film leaned on Xerox to put animators’ pencil lines directly on cels and to layer drawn layouts over painted backgrounds, which saved money and created a lively, hand-drawn texture but required much cleaner drawing.
  3. It was a big collaborative success and a commercial hit, yet its modern style clashed with Walt Disney’s taste and remained a rare experiment rather than a lasting studio direction.

A captivating, enigmatic, period family saga; a stunning, hand-drawn, surrealist animated masterpiece; and more

Read Max • 579 implied HN points • 17 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. Two book picks stand out: a mysterious, beautiful family saga set between Denmark and Russia around the Russian Revolution, and a beloved classic that turns out to be a real page-turner.
  2. A set of essays explores the A.I. economy, the shadow of Tolkien in tech culture, and stylistic tics of large language models like contrastive corrections.
  3. There’s a recommendation for a surreal, hand-drawn post‑apocalyptic animated masterpiece with influences from Jodorowsky, Tarkovsky, Moebius, and classic JRPGs, plus a short list of four music tracks worth checking out.

Miyazaki's Sherlock

Animation Obsessive • 32560 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. Miyazaki took the Sherlock Hound job during a career lull and treated it as serious creative work. He reshaped the premise into richly realized, three-dimensional worlds full of flying machines, emotional characters, and old-fashioned slapstick energy.
  2. Sherlock Hound was an Italian–Japanese co-production that ran into constant creative clashes and funding problems. Italians wanted a flatter, more commercial style while Miyazaki pushed for cinematic quality, and production stalled after a funding delay leading to his departure.
  3. Even though the series was partly shelved, the episodes Miyazaki and his team made are high-quality and influential. The project became a training ground for young talent who later worked at Studio Ghibli and helped Miyazaki grow as a filmmaker.

'A Film for All Times'

Animation Obsessive • 14710 implied HN points • 02 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. Small, incidental gestures and tiny, “unnecessary” movements make puppet characters feel alive and give scenes real emotional weight.
  2. A simple script can become timeless when a thoughtful director, expressive design, and devoted animators collaborate and pour genuine feeling into every moment.
  3. The animation world remains vibrant but unsettled, with restorations, festivals, and new projects alongside losses and political and economic pressures shaping what gets made and seen.

Why Continue After Five Years?

Animation Obsessive • 6458 implied HN points • 15 Feb 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. They’re celebrating a five‑year anniversary for their animation newsletter, marking a big milestone in the project’s life.
  2. The project began as a Twitter account about animation and evolved into a full publication run by co-runners.
  3. The newsletter uses a paid subscription model with a seven‑day free trial and gated archives for paid readers.

Oscar-Winning Storyboards

Animation Obsessive • 1614 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. The newsletter issue focuses on storyboarding, using case studies from Oscar-winning animated work across different years.
  2. The timing is tied to the Oscars, suggesting the awards season makes the topic especially relevant right now.
  3. The full article is behind a paywall and requires a subscription, but a 7-day free trial is offered and existing paid readers can sign in.

Satoshi Kon's Impossibly Real Tokyo

Animation Obsessive • 21617 implied HN points • 15 Dec 25
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. Satoshi Kon paired exaggerated, cartoony character animation with extremely realistic, photo-based backgrounds. This deliberate contrast heightens emotional impact and makes the characters' performances pop.
  2. The backgrounds were created from heavy photo reference, detailed storyboards, and digital layering techniques like repeated white-on-white snow painting and "harmony processing." Limiting camera moves and reusing angles let the team spend more time adding dense, lived-in detail to each shot.
  3. Contemporary animators are pushing craft and storytelling with mixed techniques — for example, Alina Popescu's music video Other I uses reference-driven animation, strong composition, and layered effects to tell a compact, powerful story. Meanwhile the industry is being reshaped by major news such as prominent passings, shifting box-office patterns, and debates around AI and censorship.

Closing Out 2025

Animation Obsessive • 17222 implied HN points • 19 Dec 25
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. Focusing on human-made craft in animation offers a meaningful alternative to generic, AI-driven content and keeps attention on artistic skill.
  2. Highlighting artists who work with materials like oil, sand, paper, wool, or metal pins shows how creative techniques and perseverance matter even when industry and politics make things harder.
  3. Celebrating concrete wins, growing an audience, and sharing work freely during hard times helps sustain the creative community, while planned breaks and continued effort keep the project viable for the future.

When Yuri Norstein Appeared

Animation Obsessive • 1435 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. A new Blu-ray release has made Yuri Norstein’s films far more accessible in the U.S., collecting famous shorts and rarer restorations including his debut.
  2. Norstein’s debut, The 25th – The First Day (1968), is unlike his later poetic character films: it has no plot or familiar characters and works as a music-driven "revolutionary étude" timed to Shostakovich.
  3. Although it looks like propaganda, the film was criticized and partially censored in the Soviet era and can be read as a layered, personal meditation on a past epoch rather than a straightforward celebration of the October Revolution.

New Emoji: Distorted Face 🫪

Did Someone Say Emoji? • 293 implied HN points • 04 Mar 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. Distortion has long been an artistic tool for conveying deeper truths and emotions—artists from Da Vinci and Bacon to animators and SOPHIE warp faces to express what normal features can’t.
  2. Online distortion like fisheye selfies, .5 selfies, and deliberate filters acts as an emotional shorthand and a way to reclaim control over your image, signaling authenticity or resistance to airbrushed perfection.
  3. New emojis such as Distorted Face, Melting Face, and Dotted Line Face make internal tension and complex psychological states visible, giving us a shared visual language for feelings ordinary expressions can’t capture.

The Roots of China's Animation Boom

Animation Obsessive • 1973 implied HN points • 06 Feb 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. A recent attempt to retire Adobe Animate was reversed after strong creator pushback, showing how important Flash-era tools still are to artists.
  2. Flash made animation cheap and easy to share online, letting anyone publish work, reach audiences, and sometimes launch careers.
  3. China’s modern animation boom traces back to the Flash era, which built a wide community, iconic works, and many of the artists now driving the industry.

The Quiet King of Japanese Stop Motion

Animation Obsessive • 11122 implied HN points • 24 Nov 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. Dwarf Studios focuses on creating cute and warm characters in their stop-motion animations, using storytelling that connects with Japanese cultural elements. They believe that good animation comes from how well characters convey emotions through their designs and movement.
  2. The studio values its heritage in Japanese stop motion and aims to expand its style, blending traditional influences with new, diverse themes in its projects. They work with both local and international studios for collaboration and learning.
  3. Dwarf Studios sees its audience as a mix of adults and families who appreciate craftsmanship in animation. Their partnership with Netflix has helped increase visibility and funding for their projects, providing opportunities for broader reach.

Animation Gift Ideas for 2025

Animation Obsessive • 9687 implied HN points • 01 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. For 2025, there are many unique gift ideas related to animation for different budgets. This year, it's important to consider how shopping has changed, especially for those outside the U.S.
  2. The animated film 'My Brother, My Brother' has gained attention for its personal story and unique portrayal of memory and identity, capturing the deep connection between the filmmaker and his late twin brother.
  3. 'I Am Frankelda,' Mexico's first stop-motion feature, has been a box office hit, proving that there is a market for such films in the country despite initial doubts from industry insiders.

Two Artists, Linked Across Distance

Animation Obsessive • 8341 implied HN points • 08 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. Martine Chartrand spent years creating her animated film 'Black Soul' using a unique paint-on-glass technique, inspired by Alexander Petrov's earlier work. This style allowed her to convey a powerful narrative about Black history.
  2. Chartrand and Petrov developed a strong friendship through their artistic journeys, despite the distance between them. Their connection helped both artists grow and achieve significant success in their careers.
  3. The experiences and lessons learned from each other ultimately led to their respective films receiving prestigious awards, highlighting the importance of collaboration and mentorship in the arts.

The Ultimate Midnight Movie, Reborn

Animation Obsessive • 10135 implied HN points • 17 Nov 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. A forgotten Mexican animated movie called 'Roy from Space' is getting a second chance after being rediscovered. It was a flop when it was first released, but a film scholar's research revealed that the original negatives still exist.
  2. The film's unique, homemade animation style caught the attention of a distributor, leading to plans for a re-release. They are even creating new animation for parts that originally used stolen footage.
  3. There's growing excitement about other animation projects, like 'Crocodile Dance,' which is gaining positive attention and funding support. It shows the potential for diverse voices and stories in animation.

The Next in Line

Animation Obsessive • 1435 implied HN points • 30 Jan 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. When the USSR collapsed, state studios and funding for animation fell apart, causing a big loss of skilled artists and a real fear that the craft’s generational knowledge would disappear.
  2. Veteran animators set up School‑Studio Shar and other teaching efforts to pass on techniques to younger artists, and that training helped Russian animation slowly rebuild over decades.
  3. Anton Dyakov, a Shar graduate, earned an Oscar nomination for BoxBallet, proving the mentorship pipeline can produce world‑class work, but his rise also highlights how fragile the succession and revival remain.

The Pressure That Made Miyazaki and Takahata

Animation Obsessive • 28523 implied HN points • 28 Jul 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. Miyazaki and Takahata faced a lot of challenges early in their careers, producing shows that often did not succeed. They learned from these failures and began to create works that felt more real and relatable.
  2. Their work on series like Heidi focused on everyday life and human relationships, aiming to draw viewers into a believable world. This unique approach ultimately led to their success.
  3. As they grew as artists, they started to drift apart in their creative visions. Miyazaki loved fantasy, while Takahata leaned toward realism, showcasing how different pressures and experiences shaped their art.

Animating the World Around You

Animation Obsessive • 2242 implied HN points • 16 Jan 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. Many young animators borrow Western character designs and tones, and that can make their work lose the distinct flavors of their own cultures.
  2. Local languages, rituals, colors and emotions are rich storytelling resources that can give animations a unique and authentic voice.
  3. Stop motion can put regional materials and traditions directly on screen, helping films feel rooted, tactile, and original.

Skeletons and Noses

Animation Obsessive • 1704 implied HN points • 23 Jan 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. Mickey Mousing pairs music tightly with movement so the score mirrors every on‑screen action, a technique Disney perfected in films like The Skeleton Dance.
  2. The Nose goes the opposite way: its music often clashes with the animation, and its metal‑pin animation and wild score create a strange, unsettling effect.
  3. Comparing the two shows that music can either reinforce visuals for clarity and charm or oppose them to provoke and expand what animation can express.

The Visual World of 'Samurai Jack'

Animation Obsessive • 30856 implied HN points • 26 May 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. Samurai Jack told stories through visuals instead of dialogue. The team focused on creating beautiful images that captured emotions and actions without needing words.
  2. The show's unique art style came from mixing different influences, like classic films and mid-century cartoons. This made the backgrounds and characters really stand out.
  3. Tartakovsky believed kids could understand complex stories, so he created a show that treated them with intelligence. This bold approach made Samurai Jack memorable and different from other cartoons at the time.

When Disney Went Digital

Animation Obsessive • 16325 implied HN points • 04 Aug 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. Computers changed the way Disney made animations. Instead of using traditional cels, artists began to create and manage animations digitally, which saved time and opened up new creative possibilities.
  2. Disney was initially hesitant about using computer technology. They worried it might take away from the quality of their classic hand-drawn films and even tried to keep the new system a secret for a while.
  3. Despite the initial challenges, the move to digital animation helped Disney produce stunning films with more colors and effects. This technology allowed them to create ambitious scenes that were impossible or too costly with old methods.

The French Film That Changed Japanese Animation

Animation Obsessive • 24397 implied HN points • 02 Jun 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. The French film _The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep_ had a big impact on Japanese animation when it was released in Japan. It showed animators that animated films could be for adults, not just kids.
  2. Filmmakers like Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata were inspired by the film's unique storytelling and beautiful animation style. They noted how it created a vivid world that felt real and grounded.
  3. The film influenced new ideas about how animation could express deeper themes, such as social and political issues, which changed the way Japanese animated films were made going forward.

Learning the Real Lessons from Ghibli

Animation Obsessive • 14172 implied HN points • 11 Aug 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. The film 'The Glassworker' tells a powerful story about art, love, and the impact of war on people's lives. It's a journey of two children from opposing worlds who discover their paths are not so different despite their backgrounds.
  2. Inspired by Studio Ghibli, the director aimed to capture deep emotions and realism rather than just mimic the animation style. The goal was to share feelings that resonate with viewers, similar to what Ghibli films evoke.
  3. Persistence plays a huge role in filmmaking. The director emphasizes that pursuing your passion despite obstacles can lead to success, and that it's important to hold on to your creative enthusiasm even during tough times.

Soviet Anime?

Animation Obsessive • 15786 implied HN points • 30 Jun 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. Soviet audiences embraced Japanese anime as early as the 1960s, with films gaining popularity in the 1970s. This cultural exchange showed a unique appreciation for animation in the USSR.
  2. The film _The Mystery of the Third Planet_ was produced as a response to successful Japanese animations. It aimed to connect with teenage viewers and became a beloved classic.
  3. Director Roman Kachanov focused on creating relatable characters and a warm atmosphere in his films. He believed in capturing human emotions, which helped make his animation feel alive and engaging.

The 99-Year-Old Film That Stops People

Animation Obsessive • 18567 implied HN points • 19 May 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. A film called _The Adventures of Prince Achmed_ is really special because it's the oldest animated feature still around. Even after almost 100 years, people are still amazed by its magic and creativity.
  2. The director, Lotte Reiniger, used a unique cut-out style that made her work stand out from others. Her approach was different from American cartoons, focusing more on artistic storytelling through puppetry and silhouettes.
  3. Despite the struggles during its creation and the trouble faced by her team with the rise of the Nazis, the film gained huge popularity and helped show the power of animation even in tough times.

The Maverick Animator of Chaos

Animation Obsessive • 12737 implied HN points • 07 Jul 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. Shinya Ohira is known for his unique and powerful animation style that brings energy to scenes. His work often combines detailed analog drawing with a chaotic sense of motion, making it stand out in various projects.
  2. The anime industry is evolving into a global collaboration, allowing for more creative freedom. American companies are now partnering with Japanese artists, leading to fresh storytelling and animation styles.
  3. Ohira is not just an animator but also a mentor for younger talent. He enjoys working with new animators and is passionate about helping them grow, showing the importance of nurturing the next generation in animation.

Christmas and Hope and Home

Animation Obsessive • 1973 implied HN points • 12 Dec 25
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. Bethlehem was Jiří Trnka’s first puppet film and the moment he found a poetic stop-motion language that emphasized space, light, stillness, and cinematic camera moves.
  2. The short transplants the nativity into Czech rural life, mixing folk customs with personal and wartime memories to express home, hope, and the darker echoes of occupation.
  3. Made quickly with limited equipment, the team improvised new puppet-film techniques and a choir-based musical approach, and the film paved the way for Trnka’s later influential feature work.

'Life Is Too Short to Make Remakes'

Animation Obsessive • 13813 implied HN points • 10 Jun 25
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. The Annecy Festival is a huge event for animation, attracting around 18,000 visitors and showcasing unique and powerful art from around the world.
  2. Michel Gondry emphasizes the importance of originality and creativity in art, believing that life is too short to spend making remakes of existing works.
  3. New films like 'The Mourning Children' highlight the dedication of animators to produce authentic and impactful stories by deeply researching historical contexts.

My Cousin Phil Lord, His Co-Director Chris Miller, & the Entire "Project Hail Mary" Movie Team REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY Want You to Go See Their Movie in a Movie Theater

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 138 implied HN points • 25 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Animation
  1. The filmmakers and post‑production team spent about $1.5 million per minute and obsessive time on color correction and framing to make sure viewers’ eyes see exactly what they intend.
  2. The first ten minutes are Oscar‑caliber work, and the film is meant to be felt on the big screen where a crowd enhances the experience.
  3. Coming from animation, the directors use an iterative, perfectionist process—trying many takes and tweaks—which helped turn a two‑hour toy commercial idea into genuine art with surprising cultural touches.

The Film and Studio That 'Should Not Exist'

Animation Obsessive • 13095 implied HN points • 13 Jun 25
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. Cinema Fantasma, a unique stop-motion studio in Mexico, created the first Mexican stop-motion feature film called 'I Am Frankelda.' Their work shows how creativity can thrive even with tight budgets.
  2. The film has a fun, imaginative storyline with memorable characters and songs that resonate with audiences. Its premiere at the Annecy Festival was met with excitement and applause.
  3. The Ambriz brothers, who run Cinema Fantasma, faced many challenges but remained determined to bring their vision to life. They hope their success inspires more stop-motion projects in Mexico in the future.

'The Silence of the Good People'

Animation Obsessive • 10315 implied HN points • 23 Jun 25
🎨 Art & Illustration Animation
  1. Not all animated films get proper recognition, but some like 'Hangman' from 1964 are powerful and carry important messages. This film adapts a haunting poem that critiques the silence of those who allow injustice to happen.
  2. Les Goldman, the creator of 'Hangman,' worked tirelessly to bring the project to life, showing how passion drives art. His efforts highlight the importance of standing against oppression in society.
  3. Today, 'Hangman' remains relevant, sparking discussions about how silence can enable evil. It's been used in classrooms to teach valuable lessons about morality and social responsibility.