· Art
Drawing the fox: 48 frames for one small hero
How we animated the fox in sixteen by sixteen pixels, and why the tail took longest.
The fox is sixteen pixels tall. That’s 256 pixels to say “small, brave and a little bit tired”.
We drew the run cycle first: six frames, because eight felt floaty and four felt like a dog. Then the jump, the landing, the turn, and the tail, which took longer than everything else. A tail that lags one frame behind the body is what makes the fox feel alive.
Next time: how the lantern sways when the fox stops.