Awesome Animation

Motion designer Jonathan Lindgren’s animated short film is a mouth-watering tribute to the art of making sushi. The combination of Lindgren’s sharp visuals, Luke Brown’s sound effects, and staccato voice work by Yoshi Amao, creates the perfect reflection of the precision with which sushi masters ply their craft.

LAMAR+NIK’s music video for the track Manhorse by Husbands uses a technique known as “Scanimation” or “picket-fence animation.” The trick uses several frames of motion interlaced together onto card stock, and then viewed through a transparent bar mask. You can download Scanimations from the video here.

’90s kids will surely remember the closing theme music from Cartoon Network’s classic Powerpuff Girls, as our heroes rattle off their names and skills. We think it sounds even better with the joyous instrumentals of the Ska Tune Network and the spot-on vocals of Quil Cauchon.

In the first episode of his “Quarantine of the Damned” series, animator Jon Portman introduces us to a mummy living through a virus pandemic. When his neighbors start to run out of toilet paper, he sees a major business opportunity. Warning: potty humor ahead.

Animator Steve Cutts revisited his brilliant 2012 short film MAN to reflect today’s world. This time out, the animals rejoice as the humans stay locked in their homes, leaving them alone to flourish… at least until the stay at home order is over.

Carving figures from wood takes time, patience, and skill. But S-Carving went one better, turning a sculpture of a horse into a stop-motion animation, inspired by the work of Eadweard Muybridge. To pull off the simultaneous refinement of the carving and the horse’s gallop must have taken tons of work and planning.

(PG-13) After a moth burrows into a businessman’s ear, he starts to have visions which take hold and set him off on a new course through life. Hue&Cry’s short film is a beautifully animated and expressive tale of self-discovery and transformation.

Despite the title, ArtSpear Entertainment’s hilarious animated trailer spoof is based entirely on movies that came out in 2019, including Aladdin, Joker, The Lion King, Aquaman, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, and more. We’re pretty sure John Wick threw more knives than that though.

Motion artist Henning M. Lederer is back with another cool animated clip. This time, he didn’t just use book covers, but he included some eye-catching designs from vintage record sleeves as well. The electronic music track by Tilman Grundig fits the structured, geometric imagery perfectly.

We’ve featured lots of DIY building videos over the years, but we’re pretty sure this is the first time that the entire process was documented in animation. Woodworker Willie’s birdhouse building instructions aren’t exactly precise, but Slouch Show’s animated short is endearing, and has an amusing punchline.

Bob Marley’s track Three Little Birds is one of those songs that can brighten even the darkest day. Marley’s daughter Cedella asked Seed Animation Studio to create a music video for the track. Director Morgan Powell came up with a new take on the classic Big Bad Wolf fairy tale, in which peace and harmony win out over conflict.

(Gore) Vincent Gallagher’s darkly comedic stop-motion short film tells the story of the two oldest men in the world, and the jealousy that erupts from the second-place winner, who will stop at nothing to claim the prize from his twin brother, born just seconds ahead of him.

(PG-13) Wes Anderson has always had a very precise and fastidious aesthetic. But after making Fantastic Mr. Fox, his style changed in ways that made his subsequent movies even more magical. The Discarded Image and Beyond The Frame teamed up to explore how his stop-motion learnings affected even Anderson’s live-action films.

CollegeHumor returns to the comedy well with an animated installment of their hilarious “If Google Was a Guy” series. While most of the questions asked relate to living during the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems there are still plenty of people out there who are just idiots.

LEGO builder Baron Julius von Brunk created this deranged stop-motion short which envisions an alternative universe version of The Simpsons, in which Bart, er Bort likes to sniff gasoline fumes and burn down lemon trees. Can Milhaus stop him before he destroys Sprungfeld?

Petrick Animation Studio presents a very short film inspired by “real events” that happened at their Moscow, Russia office. Along the way, you’ll meet a fly guy named Fly, and follow him through his brief, but magical journey through life.

“There are few animals more impressive than these dignified titans of the prehistoric.” It’s been 5 years since Rathergood introduced us to Dinosaurs: Terrible Lizards, but they’re back with a new animated nature flick, this time offering up a hilariously inaccurate portrayal of the mighty stegosaurus.

Freelance motion designer James Tupper presents a cheeky animated glimpse into a small piece of the world of a freelance motion designer, as he creates and programs digital imagery, waits for it to render, waits for his social media views to tally up, then does it all over again.

This off-the-wall animation from Devin Flynn and Jon Vermilyea follows the travels of three ice cubes and their passengers, as they descend into the stomach of a bar patron and compete for a frozen gem that grants them special powers. If that sounds weird, that’s because it is. Thanks for the trip, Adult Swim.

If there’s one thing we’ve all learned in recent times, it’s that we must wash our hands. We’ve already seen how dirty they can get, and this amusing animated PSA from Toronto creative studio Chop Haus shows us some even filthier mitts that need to clean up their acts before touching anything.

“We had to learn to walk in two worlds, but with one spirit.” This animated short offers a small glimpse into the lives of Alaska’s native Iñupiaq people, as they balance their traditions with the modern world. The film promotes Akima, a corporation held by Iñupiaq shareholders to provide jobs and to reinvest in their communities.

Motion designer Eddy Koek likes to create cool experimental visuals, using computer code as his medium. Here’s a compilation of some of his hypnotic moving images that he typically shares on his Instagram page. He also licenses his patterns for use by VJs as background art.

A man struggles throughout his life with self-doubt and social anxiety, and the manifestation of his fears appears in the form of a spiky hedgehog. Director Ed Bulmer’s animated short film reminds us that even the worst fears are simply creations of our own imaginations.