The loss of a beloved pet can be devastating but when co-founders Betsy de Fries and Jerry van de Beek at Little Fluffy Clouds recently lost their family dog, they chose to channel their emotions into this meditative 2D short film.

Betsy de Fries: “In 2023 our dog JAX, the North Star of Little Fluffy Clouds, left the planet after 17.5 incredible years. The desolation we feel around that loss is incalculable and so, as artists do everywhere, we created something beautiful to look back on and honor JAX, and give artistic expression to our loss.

“The film tells the story of a junior astronaut powerfully attracted by the moon and fulfilling a life-long dream of going there. Once there, exhilaration gives way to reality: what has been left behind? ALLURE shines a light on the very human attempt to explore and expand our horizons, the drive of our ambition and perhaps vanity as we disregard our own internal compass, our feelings and more meaningful connections.

“In creating ALLURE we used a very colorful 2D graphic approach. The palette is both cool and warm and like the style, both retro and futuristic, and this alludes to the duality that runs through the story as it does in life. It speaks to the pull of the past and the lure of the future, the smallness of us and the vastness of the universe.
 

“ALLURE shines a light on the very human attempt to explore and expand our horizons, the drive of our ambition and perhaps vanity as we disregard our own internal compass, our feelings and more meaningful connections.”

 
Jerry van de Beek: “We often animate using 3D and 2D but after we drew the first style frames for ALLURE we decided to create the entire film in 2D. The first frame drawn was that of the rocket where we are looking down towards the tiny astronaut at its base. It was so colorful and rich and had so much perspective that it made us realize we didn’t want to try to emulate it in 3D.

“The really challenging part was when we realized we wanted to animate at 24 fps and that a lot of the moves, like the moon walk, were deliberately very slow. Here the animation had to be extremely smooth and precise. We had no distractions to hide behind.

“So many of the challenges in this animation would have been no issue at all if we had used 3D but, in the end, we got exactly the look and feel we loved so much from the original designs. I think it feels authentic and to me that is crucial for such a personal story.”
 
 

 
Production: Little Fluffy Clouds
Director/Animator: Jerry van de Beek
Producer/Art Counselor: Betsy de Fries

Music: Seatools “Nature Ambient”
Sound Design: Jerry van de Beek
Launch and Landing V/O: NASA

Toolkit: Photoshop, Illustrator, Premier, After Effects