2D animation is a world of whimsy, wonder, and expands storytelling possibilities to the reaches of the creator’s imagination.
This felt like the perfect medium to explore the world of The Gilded Teafling, it was an honor when Sydney and Kerri entrusted me with the production of this project! They wanted the visual elements to transport the viewer into a fantasy realm, the same way our teas provide the experience through the olfactory and taste senses.
My name is Kiara Lin, and I'm the Lead Production Coordinator/Executive Support at The Gilded Teafling! You may also know me as a Production Coordinator on Helluva Boss & The Homestuck Pilot, the Producer/Casting Director for the new Famtheon animatic content coming out, and as the project coordinator for the EPIC: The Musical Ithaca Saga Trip. @kiaraquelin
I hope this animation will usher in new folks, excited to learn more about our Teafling, and to become an adventurer (or scholar, or dreamer, teehee!)
I hope people can expand their palettes with new blends, learn about the world of Theoloria, and our collaborators’ worlds too!
Who brought this world to life?Working with talented animators from all over the world (Brazil, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, United States, Japan,) felt fitting for our traveling Teafling! Each artist infused their own unique style into their work, much like how no cup of tea is brewed the same twice.
I was elated to bring on my friend and wildly talented collaborator Robby Good for the score! His experience with larger than life pieces elevates every project he touches. I feel that his work, accompanied by my sound design, pairs well for an immersive experience. You may know him from Dis-Topia, the musical, or as the composer for Neal Illustrator’s Famtheon! @robbygoodmusic
When it came to casting the voice of The Gilded Teafling, I was fortunate enough to have an exceptional wealth of folks to send the call to, and was over the moon when Kerri and Sydney agreed on selecting Noah James Waddell for the role!Their ability to bring characters to life, whether on a stage, screen, or behind a mic in a recording booth, never fails to enchant audiences. @noah.jwaddell
I had been floating around in the same circles, so when I got the word that Luiza Xavier-Mazzei had been onboarded to do character design and world building, I was overjoyed! Her unique style blends beautifully with the environments, and stands out from a lot of studio work. @imlouise_art
Victoria Aldrich was a great pick as the art director. Her feedback with critiques, ability to stay true to Luiza’s art style, and speed at which she picked up pieces and ran with them are a testament to her talent. @ashidaii
Kensei Morita’s environmental design transformed the smells and tastes of the teas each scene was based on into the visual realm of being so beautifully that it made me crave a cup of each flavor when editing together the cuts. His detail work in his painterly style crafts invigorating backgrounds you can lose yourself in for hours. @kenseimorita
Cat Vintimilla’s dedication to detail in the insert shots of the Teafling grabbing items from their Apothecary brings the cabin to life! We take pride in our ingredients, and she created them in the animated space beautifully. @catsinapaperbag
Amber Schmoyer has a very expressive look to her animation, so it unique great seeing her doing grounded work as she brought or Wizard, Ladybug, and Kraken's eye to life. @amber.schmo
Lana Gerace was our trailblazer in rough animation, every moment that feels so smooth and ethereal, is Lana breathing life into The Teafling. I'm so excited for you all to see where we have her next. @lanabanana.art
Dalila Dutpayeva is a champion of color! I've been working with her since my senior thesis in college, and her ability to meticulously and faithfully flavor the animation with her work, and her cleanup work, is so inspiring. @ast.akara
Janessa “Trailing” Eldaye has been on works like Legend of Pipi, and is a master at animating frazzled cats, like our lovely Assam. @trailingfeathers
Stacia Black dabbles in roughs, cleanup, color, comp, and perfectly captures whimsy in a bottle with her smooth and expressive work! @beetlebvmmerI saw her work at a Film Festival last year, and we connected because the festival accepted, and nominated a short film completely made with Generative AI.
The Importance of Indie Storytelling:It was heartbreaking, as a ton of students and independent creators had poured their hearts into creating their short films, only to be told that their (years of!) work was worth the same as someone entering prompts into an algorithm that steals from their brushstrokes.The fortunate thing that came from the festival, was that many of the creators at the festival felt the need to connect and create, under the opposing tension of AI worming its way into indie spaces.
Art can form communities, convey powerful messages, or just give someone a distraction from tense moments in life. The innate need to create and connect will never cease to fascinate me.
How did production on this animation work?I was given a concept from Kerri and Sydney, laying out what they wanted the audience to feel from the animation, what blends they wanted highlighted, and a description with reference images of each realm the Teafling traveled to. There would ordinarily be a larger vis-dev stage here!
From there came scripting!I took the concepts and rough outline they gave me, and created a concise outline, explaining the journey I wanted the Teafling to go on, and the approximate runtime and timeline.Then, I wrote out the script, putting deliberate action descriptions into writing to serve as visual aids for my animation team.
Ordinarily, the next step would be storyboarding, but we did not have the opportunity this time around to work with a board team.I had a very specific vision for how I wanted the story to unfold, so I put my film production degree to use (yay!), and I created a reference cut.I created a shot-list, set up my phone, and acted out the entire piece (in a hotel conference room at 3 in the morning, as I was traveling for work at the time!)This was so the animators could see how the shots all flow together, what the angles/shot sizes were, and also a bit of insight on how the Teafling moves through spaces. Reference footage is some of the funniest, and most poignant assets for animators to have when crafting a character, so their mannerisms stay consistent between shifting hands.
Next, I fleshed out the team. I brought on different animators from projects I’d been on, and they all worked together beautifully! (The final product is a testament to that!)They translated my reference footage into a rough animatic, (Largely Luiza! She did incredible!) after approvals, started rough animation. I also made scratch audio, recording voice lines so the animators had a reference for timing, until we had the real thing!
With the visual world underway, the casting process began. I created a casting call, reached out to my network, and received audition tapes. We called back a select group of voices from there, saw how the actors took notes, and fortunately, Noah blew our socks off!
We had the privilege to record in a Studio in Burbank, California, where many iconic shows have been recorded. I was the performance director, helping give notes and circling takes that best suited the scene. Each actor's psyche works differently, and I've developed a variety of styles to employ notes which will have meaningful impact.
From there, I made a radio-play! I took the audio recorded with Noah and timed/sounded out where all of the actions would occur. This gave animators the framework for the more minute motions of the sequences.
From there, it was a matter of assigning the right artists to the right shots, giving feedback, and then compositing it all together: taking the layers of backgrounds, character animation, prop animation, foreground elements, and special effects, to smash it all together!
We have many exciting artistic endeavors we want to dive into this year, and we hope you enjoyed this sneak peak into the world of Theloria, and our Gilded Teafling.