Overwatch Characters Get Stop-Motion Treatment For Second Anniversary

To celebrate the second anniversary of its team-based multiplayer shooter Overwatch, Activision Blizzard commissioned a stop-motion spot from one of the company’s in-house animators, Justin Rasch, and his wife Shel.

Though Justin is currently a cg animator at Blizzard, he has plenty of experience in stop motion, having previously worked as an animator at Laika (Kubo and the Two Strings, Paranorman) as well as tv productions like Robot Chicken and Tumble Leaf. The anniversary piece, “Trace & Bake,” features two of the characters from the game, Tracer and Reaper:

The making-of video below features Justin and Shel describing the effort that went into creating the piece. You’d never know it from the high-quality production values, but the filmmaking duo explains that they animated the film entirely in their home with the help of just a handful of friends: