Awesome Animation

In this intense animation by MIKAN, a group of bicyclists find themselves in a race for survival. Which of the 25 colorful riders will make it to the end, and which will perish in some nightmarish fashion? It’s kind of like Squid Game but on bikes. Craving more bike survival action? MIKAN has got you covered.

This wildly imaginative short film from Panic takes us on a tour of the creative studio’s methodology, using animation to guide our way. The story is driven by a goofy character named Berthold, who learns about the meetings, scripting, storyboarding, illustration, sound design, and editing processes that went into bring his own story to life.

(PG-13) Jack Black never plays video games anymore… except for all of them. That’s what we gleaned from this Tenacious D track and its animated music video by Oneyplays’  Chris “Oney” O’Neill and Adam Paloian. By the end, you’ll be rooting for Kyle Gass to exact his revenge. And here we thought they were friends til the end.

Director and animator Genndy Tartakovsky is known for his work on shows like Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Primal. While promoting Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, the beloved creator sat down with WIRED to answer questions posted by fans about animation, cartooning, and the production process.

(Gore) This darkly comedic horror film drops us into an insane world where a plant monster grows human houseplants. Filmmakers Benjamin Roberds and Katie Gregg of Dominar Films flip the script on the relationship between living organisms in this award-winning and unhinged short.

Alan Becker continues his long-running Animator vs. Animation series with this action-packed short. It follows a super-powerful character on a thrilling journey to outsmart their adversaries and escape their digital confines. It’s like The Matrix and an Avengers movie but with stick figures.

Chad Nelson and Native Foreign’s animated short film is a hilarious parody of nature documentaries. As the narrator visits an unexplored forest, its residents have a thing or two to say about the invasion of privacy and being stereotyped. Its creators used DALL-E AI tech to make all of the creatures and environments.

(Flashing images) After making his first small purchase, a man finds himself pulled into a cycle of spending that quickly gets out of control. Animator Aaron Hughes’ award-winning short film is a witty and effective commentary on consumerism, appropriately drawn on market data pages from financial newspapers.

Luke Wilson stars in this original animated series about a graphic designer who moves all the way to Mars only to find out his job has been eliminated. Based on Nate Sherman and Nick Vokey’s award-winning short film, it’s a story of corporate bureaucracy and one man’s journey to rediscover himself. Coming to Max 4.20.23.

It’s been eight years since we heard the all-knowing words of the Dog of Wisdom. Our favorite animated wiener dog is back, and he’s on a mission to fetch us a fresh new batch of wisdom. Perhaps this time, the true meaning of life will be revealed. Or at least a good punchline.

Omozoc is known for their creative stop-motion animations. Their latest clip plays with the idea that everyday objects come to life and play while the humans are sleeping. It’s actually a commercial for Chinese automaker BYD, but you’d never know it until the logo appears at the end.

We know how important the work of foley artists can be when it comes to adding sound effects to movies. But the clueless dudes in this animated comedy sketch from deansoups must have fallen asleep – or smoked a whole lot of weed – while attending foley school.

After being forced into retirement due to her age, a worker accidentally reinvents herself and ends up revolutionizing the workplace as we know it. Julien David’s outlandish animated short film takes on topics like corporate greed and our throw-away society in a hilarious and absurd way.

French filmmaker Remi Molettee is known for their wildly inventive generative digital art. In the AI-enabled short film, Symbiosis, Remi transformed dancers the Ebinum Brothers into living, moving tree roots. As their bodies move and intertwine, they appear as wooden surrogates for blood vessels and veins.

Artist Guldies spent a year working on their latest short film, a wonderfully weird and inventive stop-motion animation featuring objects that morph between organic and man-made forms. In all, there are more than 4400 individual frames, each composed of hand-sculpted Plastilina and Fimo clay.

No, this isn’t one of those primitive building videos where someone creates their own tools to make other things. Omozoc’s latest video uses stop-motion animation to make it appear that a woodworker is crafting an object using their hands as their only tools. If only we could use our fingers as tiny routers to curve the edges on things.

Motion designer Hideki Inaba’s soothing and hypnotic short film FLOW is a tribute to the ever-changing nature of things. Every frame of the animation could be viewed as an individual painting, as colorful organic forms evolve, disintegrate, and coalesce into new patterns.

Machine learning tech has enabled some truly imaginative imagery. Artist Vadim Epstein helped create a set of ML text-to-video tools that generated this landscape of pseudo-realistic organic forms incorporating veins, bones, and plants. Best enjoyed in full screen with headphones on. Soundtrack by Dvar.

This animated short film follows a legendary craftsman who lost his arm and uses who uses a prosthetic arm to take down his enemies. The fight choreography is amazing, and we love the use of sawdust in place of blood. Go behind-the-scenes here, then support their Kickstarter for a feature-length film. (Thanks, Rob!)

(PG-13: Language) Sascha Vernik’s award-winning animated short film takes us on a wild ride with a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown and whose efforts to set things right send him on a mind-bending journey through space and time. Read more about the filmmaker’s process Directors Notes.

Producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg offer a fresh new animated take on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, voiced by a star-studded cast. The story sends our favorite turtles into the streets of New York City where they team up with a new friend to take on a crime syndicate and an army of mutants. In theaters 8.4.2023.

One of the simplest but most entertaining games out there is Rock, Paper, Scissors. We think it can be pretty intense with the right participants, but the guys from Corridor amped up the drama by turning it into the storyline for an original anime. Who will reign supreme in this epic clash?

Most humans won’t venture deeper than a basement or tunnel, but you could dig 7917.5 miles before you came out on the other side of Earth. On your way, you’ll visit the crust, lithosphere, asthenosphere, mantle, and outer and inner cores. This pixel art video from Posit Pixel explores what you might see on your journey.