Grandpa Wolf

Junior project 2025 KCAI

[grandpa-wolf]

Introduction

Hello! We are Janessa Hoffmann and Andrea Sumoza, we are juniors in the animation department of the Kansas City Art Institute. We are currently working on our junior project called "Grandpa Wolf" and it will be a mixed media animation. Stay tune for more updates!

[grandpa-wolf]

Here’s the turnaround tests of Grandpa Wolf and Pup. These tests gave us an understanding of how each character would look from multiple angles. These turnarounds were also the first laser cut frames that were animated with the stop motion background. We go from rough animation and clean up in Toon Boom to a test of the final look of the film.

[grandpa-wolf]

Here's a resume of the process making some tests for the laser cutting part, which will help us later to create a better plan to make it easier and faster for us.

[grandpa-wolf]

Logline

Welcome back! let's talk a bit about what is Grandpa Wolf going to be about.

Our narrative follows a slow, reflective grandpa wolf and his energetic granddaughter as they travel together through the snowy woods. Tired of feeling held back by his elderly pace, the granddaughter decides to run ahead and suddenly finds herself stuck out on the ice. Grandpa must muster up ancient strength from within in order to rescue her, and she learns that they’re not as different from one another as they seem.

To create this story we will be merging 2D animation with stop motion animation. We will be using ToonBoom Harmony for hand drawn character animation which will be printed onto wood and laser cut in Beals Studio (the technology lab that we have at school). Each laser cut frame will be placed within the fabricated stop motion sets (made with materials like cottom, clay and acrylic) to create this 2D-stop motion hybrid.

I hope you enjoy all what is coming soon!