Nimona made its long-awaited debut on Netflix in the summertime of 2023, and the movie was an enormous hit, pleasing new viewers and followers of the graphic novels alike. The movie follows a younger shapeshifter named Nimona and a rogue knight named Ballister Boldheart as they try and take down the Director and her authoritarian rule over the dominion. Nimona includes a distinctive mixture of sci-fi and fantasy, with it’s lovely animation model and excessive vitality making it one of many standout animated movies of 2023.
Theodore “Ted” Ty was the Animation Director for Nimona, with the artist becoming a member of the movie after it moved to Netflix as a result of closure of Blue Sky Studios. Ted obtained his begin working as an in-between artist on The Lion King, along with his spectacular checklist of credit together with basic movies like Mulan, Pocahontas, Brother Bear, Kung Fu Panda, Shrek Endlessly After, The right way to Practice Your Dragon 2, and lots of extra. Ty now serves because the World Head of Character Animation at DNEG Animation, persevering with to work on movies like Netflix’s Nimona.
Display screen Rant sat down with Ted Ty at SCAD AnimationFest 2023, following up on his Nimona panel and his acceptance of the SCAD AnimationFest Excellent Achievement in Animation Award. Within the interview, Ted Ty touched on the transition from Blue Sky to Netflix, the key to Nimona‘s distinctive animation model, and the way forward for the Nimona franchise.
Display screen Rant: Nimona was unbelievable, and some of the distinctive components about it was its artwork model. But it surely was very famously a Blue Sky manufacturing earlier than Blue Sky Studios was tragically shut down, and it moved on to Netflix. So, how completely different is Nimona in its last kind in comparison with the way it was a Blue Sky? And what challenges got here with that transition from Blue Sky to the Netflix revival?
It looks like Nimona was in a position to convey on a variety of the Blue Sky individuals, so what was the vibe working with the previous Blue Sky workers? Had been they actually simply excited to nonetheless have Nimona round, or…
And lots of people discover there are some Blue Sky Easter eggs, just like the billboard. Was that one thing that you just have been to place in, or was it the animators’ concepts?
The animation model is simply unbelievable, and it’s very energetic and zany, however the viewer by no means feels misplaced. What have been among the methods and challenges that got here with attempting to have this high-energy animation model, but additionally having the ability to maintain the viewer locked in the entire time?
One explicit side that I assumed was rather well completed was the Nimona transformations, as a result of Nimona is in every kind of various varieties. But in addition, the entire completely different varieties are nonetheless uniquely Nimona. So how was your group in a position to maintain that concept on the forefront?