The broad range of styles and production techniques seen in these seven films speaks to just how energized and extraordinary 2024 was for character design and animation across the motion industry.

The projects include cute and classic stop-motion, trippy 2D, four of vastly different 3D projects, and a multi-award winning short which uses a hybrid animation technique.

We were honored to publish all of these projects in The Stash Permanent Collection during 2024. They are listed here in reverse chronological order by their issue of publication.
 
 

iQOO R11S “MONSTER INSIDE” (above)
STASH 167

Somei Sun, CD at SOMEIDESIGN in Singapore: “iQOO’s main selling point for this spot was the dedicated graphics chip, hoping we could make the audience feel the improvement of this phone in terms of gaming. So, we imagined the problem of in-game lag as a barrier created by the antagonist boss to freeze time.

“Our protagonist uses their own core Ghost Face (display chip) and hopes to resist this stillness of time. Each step he takes is met with greater restraint and resistance until he fully unleashes his Demon Mask state, releasing his inner Monster soul (mecha form), breaking through the constraints and revolutionizing the frame rate of the entire world.”

“SCAVENGERS”
STASH 166

Lucas Navarro, director/co-founder of Illogic Studios in France: “The goal of this teaser was to serve as a proof of concept for a 120-minute feature film titled ‘Scavengers’ which is currently in development. The aim was to introduce the two main characters, establish the film’s stakes, and showcase the environment they inhabit.

“Our primary focus was to deliver outstanding visual and animation quality, ensuring that the audience sees the potential for a full-length feature. The challenge was to strike the perfect balance between photorealism and stylization to create unique, captivating characters that are both appealing and expressive.”
 
 
 

“REGULAR RABBIT” (Above)
STASH 166

Director Eoin Duffy at Studio Belly in Vancouver: “This was a self-initiated project funded by Screen Ireland. Our internal brief focused on a comedic exploration of disinformation aiming to answer the question: How far apart can visuals and narrative be separated and still convince an audience that the story has merit, no matter how absurd?

“With full creative freedom, we delved into experimental story techniques that challenged conventional narrative structures. Our animation team consisted of just two members: Henrique Barone on character animation and myself handling the backgrounds.”
 
 
 

ROLLIN’ “SMOOTH”
STASH 165

Somewhere in the future, when the world has come to its senses and finally establishes the Car Insurance Advertising Hall of Fame (CIAHoF), this spot from Division directing duo Mrzyk & Moriceau will be inducted for sheer audacity.

Containing a full minute of psychoactive imagery that rewards frame-by-frame examination, the spot was animated by Mathematic and produced through Sydney agency Bear Meets Eagle On Fire for Australian insurance brand ROLLiN.
 
 
 

BBC “THINGS WE LOVE”
STASH 165

Rich Webber, director at Aardman in Bristol, UK: “The BBC asked us to produce six 30-second shorts as part of their ‘Things We Love’ campaign. The objective was to hear people’s genuine thoughts about the BBC shows they love. Using the real voices of the great British public, we interviewed over a hundred people then whittled our selection down to 15.

“With this way of working, you have no script, so starting from scratch you tailor some questions as discussion points and hope you get something back you can form into short pieces that evolve as you move forward with the edit. The creative challenges were picking the right voices and setting them to the right characters and scenario.”
 

PIERRICK PICAUT “THE ART OF EFFECTIVE RIGGING 2”
STASH 165

CG veteran Pierrick Picaut, who heads up the character department at French indie game studio Atypique, released this two-minute animated rampage to rally interest in his latest Blender rigging course.

Pierrick Picaut: “I was definitely looking for a stylized animation style, mixing influences from anime, Arcane, SpiderVerse, and the TMNT Mutant Mayhem movie. I storyboarded everything using the 3D models and Blender’s camera and made an animatic out of it, then I focused on animation using simple block out for the environment.”
 

“MANTIS GARDEN” TRAILER
STASH 164

Eddy director César Luton, shortlisted for the Student Academy Awards as co-director of the animated short “La Diplomatie de l’Eclipse“, defines his style as a blend of realism and dreaminess: “I love creating animation that resembles live-action cinema without venturing into hyper-realism.

“My characters, while unmistakably animated, carry a distinct, stylized, and poetic aesthetic. My approach is to stage them in a manner akin to live-action, with slow, steady, and deliberate movements, to capture the elegant essence of real-life cinematography.”
 
 
Watch all the Best of Stash 2024 Collections.