This week in animation:

Kidscreen asks: “Is an AI animation festival a good idea?”

After reporting on an AI short film festival, the children’s media trade publication Kidscreen is running a poll to hear from readers: “Should we be shunning films made with AI? Or is the industry shifting its stance on the emerging tech?” 

I can only speak from my own experience, as someone who has worked with both the organizers and sponsors of an animation festival. I have seen how vital those events are for artists when it comes to networking and finding community. When considering a festival for films without filmmakers, what I want to know is who would want to attend?

Academy Awards announces Animated Feature Film contenders

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their list of 35 films eligible for consideration for the Animated Feature Film Oscar, per Hollywood Reporter. Notable highlights include Sony Pictures Animation’s KPop Demon Hunters and Pixar’s Elio, alongside underdogs like the genre-defying Chainsaw Man The Movie: Reze Arc, Sylvain Chomet’s A Magnificent Life, David Baute’s Black Butterflies and Genndy Tartakovsky’s Fixed.

Sharing perspective on Frieren fan art

SpaceDev1’s fan drawing of the title character from Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End made the rounds across social media with the caption: “I practiced drawing faces in a different angle, but it looks kinda weird lol.” Industry artists quickly chimed in with advice as well as their own attempts at the drawing, which Cartoon Brew collected. The amateur artist received the responses well: “I just shared it because it looked silly, but omg the publicity, the tips. I didn’t even know that drawing would touch that many people’s soul.”

Jobs worth a second look:

Production Coordinator (Series) at Sony Pictures Animation  (On-Site from Los Angeles, California) “The Production Coordinator provides essential support the Producer and Production Manager (PM) in overseeing front-end departments for CG animation series production, including story, assets, editorial, shipping, and post-production.”

Digital Colorist at DreamWorks (Hybrid from Glendale, California) “The Digital Colorist works with the VFX Supervisor, Directors and Producers to refine the color of the film.”

Producer (Color) at Company3 (On-Site from New York City, New York) “The Producer is responsible for overseeing the color workflow for assigned Colorists, managing day-to-day project execution, client relationships, and coordination with internal teams.”

Senior Materials Technical Artist (Star Wars Jedi) at Electronic Arts (Hybrid from Los Angeles, California, or Vancouver, British Columbia) “Collaborate with engineers to optimize material and rendering features for art needs. Identify and resolve performance and memory usage issues with engineers, artists, and designers.”

Line Producer (2D) at Atomic Cartoons (Remote (Local) from Vancouver, British Columbia) “Manage and lead the daily operations of the entire production. Prepare, maintain and update production schedules, budget and reports. Communicate directly with clients to discuss creative directions.”

Senior Texture Artist at Industrial Light and Magic (Hybrid from Vancouver, British Columbia) “The Senior Texture Artist is responsible for creating the textures, colours, and organic surface qualities needed in the completion of CG creatures and hard-surface models used in production.”

Senior Maya Animator at Pixomondo (Hybrid from Toronto, Ontario) “Working in close collaboration with the Production Staff, the Senior Animator will create top-notch animations and bring creatures, characters, objects and vehicles to life according to the project vision outlined by the Lead and/or Supervisor.”

Previs Artist (Part-Time) at Blue Zoo (Hybrid from London, England) “Their day-to-day focuses on expert camera work, dynamic acting choices, and visualising sequences from storyboards and animatics, whilst sticking to production deadlines and meeting that all important brief from our Directors and Clients.”

VFX Coordinator at Aardman (On-Site from Bristol, England) “The purpose of this role will be to work with the VFX Producer and Snr CG/ VFX Coordinator to provide support to the CG and VFX team.”

Didn’t find the opportunity you were looking for? In the past week, we added 74 new jobs to CartoonRecruit.com.

Want to be featured in an upcoming issue?

Are you responsible for hiring decisions at your studio? Get in touch with us on LinkedIn! We are currently working on Q&A discussions with recruiters at studios, and participating could put a link to your studio's career page directly in the inboxes of talented artists searching for their next productions.

We believe that the best thing that artists applying for a job can do is to research studios before they apply. Our goal is to provide specific advice for artists applying to very different kinds of studios.

Signing off for now

That’s all for this week, recruits! Have thoughts or feedback about our project? Feel free to message me by email at mike@cartoonrecruit.com, or send a DM to our LinkedIn page or @cartoonrecruit.com on Bluesky. I will do my best to reply to every non-spam message I receive.

Never want to miss an update? If you are not already subscribed by email, you can get new posts like this directly in your inbox.

#rolecallroundup

This week in animation:

Tea Leaves Last gives artists experience on key creative roles

The Animation Guild’s Keyframe Magazine ran a story on a project led by Saira Umar (executive producer, supervising director and writer), Stephanie Sim (writer and story editor), and Hye Lynn Park (director). The project, Tea Leaves Last, was made possible by Asians in Animation, a non-profit dedicated to supporting Asian talent in the animation industry. The animatic pilot screened at Titmouse’s studio in Burbank over the summer.

Glitch Productions to co-produce a 6 x 22 Lackadaisy mini-series

The Australian animation studio best known for their work on Murder Drones, The Amazing Digital Circus, and Knights of Guinevere announced a new label during their livestream event to help independent productions connect with funding and distribution. The first project announced under the new Glitch Presents label is Lackadaisy, whose independent pilot episode featuring a plucky cast of rum-running cats reached 17 million views.

New York Comic-Con teasers abound

Animation Magazine covered a series of series announcements at New York Comic-Con. Among the lineup was a new DC series Bat-Fam (familiar to viewers of Merry Little Batman) alongside new seasons for Invincible, Primal, Fionna and Cake, Iyanu, Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man and X-Men ’97.

Jobs worth a second look:

Character Designer at DreamWorks (Remote from Los Angeles, California) “Demonstrates strong conceptual ideas and visual creativity to form original characters. Explores and generates a large quantity of diverse ideas for film’s characters.”

Art Lead (Teamfight Tactics) at Riot Games (On-Site from Los Angeles, California) “As an Art Lead at Riot, you will manage a team of Artists and oversee the development and growth of the team.”

Visual Development Intern (Spring 2026) at DreamWorks (Hybrid from Glendale, California) “For feature animated films, Visual Development artists imagine and propose ideas for what the animated world should look like based on the story, characters, and action.”

Cleanup & Color Artist at Studio MoonMoon (Remote from New York City, New York) “Open to international artists and part time availability. Program experience open to any of the following: TVPaint and/or Clip Studio Paint.”

CG Generalist (Expression of Interest) at Company3 (Remote from Toronto, Ontario) “The CG Generalist is responsible for completing a diverse array of 3D-related tasks, maintaining a high degree of adaptability and a wide breadth of CG skills.”

Senior Nuke Pipeline TD at Pixomondo (Hybrid from Toronto, Ontario) “As Nuke Pipeline TD, you work within our global pipeline team to build Nuke-related pipeline tools and participate in meetings with departments using Nuke to gather requirements and suggest solutions to help the teams work more efficiently.”

2D Animator at Big Bad Boo (On-Site from Vancouver, British Columbia) “Big Bad Boo Studios is looking for an experienced and talented Animator for an upcoming 2D animated action-adventure series.”

2D Animator (Adobe Animate) at Atomic Cartoons (Remote (Local) from Vancouver, British Columbia) “Animate in a team environment on a sequence of shots within a streaming series schedule. Demonstrate a strong sense of performance, posing, timing, weight, and lip sync.”

Unreal Artist (Mid/Senior) at Milk VFX (On-Site from London, England) “We’re seeking a skilled Unreal Artist to join our VFX team, creating high-quality environments and cinematic visuals for film and television.”

2D Character Layout Artist at Glitch Productions (Remote, North America timezone preferred) “This role will see you collaborating with our 2D Team to help bring our upcoming anime 2D animated show to life.”

Didn’t find the opportunity you were looking for? In the past week, we added 90 new jobs to CartoonRecruit.com, which is well above average!

Want to be featured in an upcoming issue?

Are you responsible for hiring decisions at your studio? Get in touch with us on LinkedIn! We are currently working on Q&A discussions with recruiters at studios, and participating could put a link to your studio's career page directly in the inboxes of talented artists searching for their next productions.

We believe that the best thing that artists applying for a job can do is to research studios before they apply. Our goal is to provide specific advice for artists applying to very different kinds of studios.

Signing off for now

That’s all for this week, recruits! Have thoughts or feedback about our project? Feel free to message me by email at mike@cartoonrecruit.com, or send a DM to our LinkedIn page or @cartoonrecruit.com on Bluesky. I will do my best to reply to every non-spam message I receive.

Never want to miss an update? If you are not already subscribed by email, you can get new posts like this directly in your inbox.

#rolecallroundup

This week, I’m back from the Ottawa International Animation Festival and was excited to meet a few of Cartoon Recruit’s community members in-person for the first time. The next major animation festival is LightBox Expo, which just made it a little easier to connect with their guests and panelists. There’s also a new animated pilot that I’m excited about as well as leaked test footage from a shelved Genndy Tartakovsky project. It’s been quite a week!

This week in animation:

SpindleRoo animates Homestuck’s pilot episode

Describing my 16-year history with Andrew Hussie’s MS Paint Adventures series would be like describing an acid trip. The most lucid statement I can make is that Homestuck is a sprawling multimedia chimera spanning comic panels, chat logs, flash animation and interactive game-like elements. Vivienne Medrano’s SpindleRoo was responsible for production on the animated pilot, which is now available to watch on YouTube. Notably in this adaptation, John Egbert is voiced by Toby Fox, who contributed significantly to Homestuck's original soundtrack before developing acclaimed indie games like Undertale and Deltarune.

Genndy Tartakovsky releases Black Knight test footage

Genndy Tartakovsky (creator of Samurai Jack, Hotel Transylvania and Primal) shared a 50-second animation clip on Instagram of test footage for a project called Black Knight. Tartakovsky claims to be sharing the teaser in hopes of convincing a studio that there would be an audience for the production. The only detail we have about the plot: “Our Knight Armor is 20 feet high and controlled by a knight inside using ropes, pulleys and levers. The setting is around the 14th century.” The post currently has more than 50,000 likes on Instagram.

Follow LightBox Expo’s exhibitors and presenters

Looking for another reason to get into BlueSky? LightBox Expo made it a little easier to connect with the animation community by adding a Starter Pack of 57 artists, studios and groups who are exhibiting, presenting or otherwise participating with this year’s event.

Looking for more artists to follow? We also published a series of animation industry Starter Packs, which you can find here: Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3, Vol 4.

Jobs worth a second look:

Head of Story (Feature) at Sony Pictures Animation (On-Site from Los Angeles, California) “The Head of Story works closely with the Directors and Producers to translate the story from the script to a visual representation of the narrative.”

CG Supervisor at Laika (On-Site from Hillsboro, Oregon) “The CG Supervisor is responsible for overseeing all VFX shot production elements for stop motion feature films and is the key collaborator in realizing the creative vision of the Director.”

Senior 2D Animator at Innersloth (Remote from Redmond, Washington) “Your focus will play a crucial role in delivering completed animation assets for a new IP, along with assisting in art asset concept and design.”

VFX Artist (Contract) at Insomniac Games (Remote from Burbank, California) “In this role, the VFX Artist is responsible for creating VFX to work and assist in gameplay, environment, and cinematics of a game.”

VFX Paint & Beauty Retouch Artist (Expression of Interest) at Company3 (Remote from Toronto, Ontario) “We are seeking a highly talented and meticulous VFX Paint/Beauty Retouch Artist to join our team.”

Mid-Level Lighting Artist (TMNT) at Mikros Animation (On-Site from Montreal, Quebec) “The Mid Lighting Artist contributes to the visual look of shots by applying lighting setups that enhance storytelling, mood, and consistency.”

Look Development Artist at Image Engine (Hybrid from Vancouver, British Columbia) “The Mid Look Development Artist is responsible for delivering high quality assets across multiple shows in a quick and efficient manner.”

CG Generalist & Assets Artist at Outpost VFX (On-Site from London, England) “As a CG Generalist, you will be responsible creating assets, and helping out through modelling, texturing and look development.”

Experienced Character Designer at Blue Zoo (Hybrid from London, England) “The Character Designer will be creating stylised characters, working closely with the Art/Creative Director, and will be responsible for the development of the persona, appeal and design of characters.”

Lead 2D FX Artist at Glitch Productions (On-Site from Sydney, New South Wales) “Design and animate high-quality 2D effects (such as explosions, smoke, fire, weather, magic, etc.) that fit the style and tone of our projects.”

Didn’t find the opportunity you were looking for? In the past week, we added a respectable 51 new jobs to CartoonRecruit.com!

Want to be featured in an upcoming issue?

Are you responsible for hiring decisions at your studio? Get in touch with us on LinkedIn! We are currently working on Q&A discussions with recruiters at studios, and participating could put a link to your studio's career page directly in the inboxes of talented artists searching for their next productions.

We believe that the best thing that artists applying for a job can do is to research studios before they apply. Our goal is to provide specific advice for artists applying to very different kinds of studios.

Signing off for now

That’s all for this week, recruits! Have thoughts or feedback about our project? Feel free to message me by email at mike@cartoonrecruit.com, or send a DM to our LinkedIn page or @cartoonrecruit.com on Bluesky. I will do my best to reply to every non-spam message I receive.

Never want to miss an update? If you are not already subscribed by email, you can get new posts like this directly in your inbox.

#rolecallroundup