Watch The Clips That Earned Feature Character Animation Nominations At This Year’s Annie Awards

Although many festivals and awards shows honor the animation art form, a small handful, like ASIFA-Hollywood’s Annie Awards, recognize the individual achievements of the artists behind the images we see on screen.

With Annie voting taking place through next Monday, we’re taking a closer look at the Character Animation – Film category by speaking with the nominated artists. We asked them to share the clip they submitted to the Annies and discuss the work that went into bringing some of last year’s most memorable animated characters to life.

Four of this year’s nominees are featured here: Takeshi Honda (The Boy and the Heron), Jessica Torres (Elemental), Toby Seale (Nimona), and Prashanth Cavale (Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken). Kenichi Tsuchiya (Suzume) was also nominated but was unable to contribute to this article.

Elemental

Nominee: Jessica Torres

Jessica Torres: Elemental was the most challenging show I’ve worked on in my 22-year-long career, both technically and in terms of performance. We had to walk the line between human-like characters and the essence of our characters being made of fire or water, lacking a true skeletal structure. I am most proud of the collaboration between the characters (rigging), animation, and effects departments through the making of Elemental.

Ember had around 12,000 controls for animators to manage. While it might seem like she and Wade were merely models with fire or water effects layered on top, that was far from the case. We paid attention to tiny details, such as the movement of the edges of the irises, the color change in her complexion, and the noise and intensity of her fire. Choices were made about Ember’s gestures, deciding whether she left her hands behind or had a full hand or just the tip of a flame.

With Wade, we animated ripples through his face and tears in his eyes. When it was handed off to the effects department, they contributed their magic to complete the look. Conquering such difficulties was a treat, and it’s gratifying to sit back and feel proud of two characters that the world could emotionally connect with.

Nimona

Nominee: Toby Seale

Toby Seale: The most challenging part of the process was searching for the correct acting choices to complement the sincerity of the vocal performances; I really wanted to craft something that felt authentic, so I poured a lot of personal experience into shooting references, which was emotionally challenging, but highly cathartic at the same time. Without the support of the whole team, I would not have felt as safe as I did exploring such sincere performances, so I owe a lot to them. Honestly, the audience response has been far beyond what I could have anticipated – it has been heartwarming to have people share their personal connection to Nimona with me. To know that these moments have helped others along in their personal journey, given them the courage to have a difficult conversation with a loved one, or purely made them feel seen – I hope that every animator gets to experience the joy of personal connection like this in their career. I feel very honored to have been a part of Nimona’s story.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

Nominee: Prashanth Cavale

Prashanth Cavale: I was very fortunate to animate some key moments in Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. Capturing the essence of Ruby’s frantic transformation in the library and animating the busy introductory breakfast table scene presented distinct challenges. I tried to infuse comedic nuances into Uncle Brill’s character to evoke the endearing goofiness we all cherish in our favorite uncles, whether meeting a nephew for the first time or making unannounced entrances.

Additionally, Arthur (Dad), whose rig development I contributed to, demanded an over-the-top dramatic flair in his attempts to convince Gordon. Throughout the animation process, I strived to achieve a fluid, almost boneless quality in their movements, aligning seamlessly with the characters’ designs that naturally lend themselves to a squishy aesthetic with ample overlaps.

The Boy and the Heron

Nominee: Takeshi Honda

Takeshi Honda: (Answer only, no clip provided) All of the stages in Miyazaki films—specifically the style of the drawings, the movement of the characters, and the design of the stories—give me a lot of stimulation, and I receive inspiration from them all.

Cg technology has greatly advanced in the last 20–30 years, but ultimately, what is important is the depth of the content of the story we are telling. The process of making the film continually changes as we incorporate transformations in ideas and creative ingenuity.

I am most proud of continuing to create films that I myself want to watch and be involved in making them.