James Jean’s artwork made me want to go into art professionally. When my parents would ask me what I wanted to be, I answered an artist - and then they were like, “But what do you really want to be?” I didn’t see art as a career option until high school. Mollie Ong: I’ve been drawing since I was a child, though nobody in my family was really into art. Below, Ong tells us about her artistic journey, how she prepared her short in just six weeks, and which Harmony 21 tools helped along the way.Ĭartoon Brew: How did you get into animation? Cooked up over six weeks, Ong’s short feels professional and polished, playfully using the magic ingredients of frame-by-frame paperless hand-drawn animation and an expansive color palette to create a truly savory piece that tells the story of this timeless dish.

The results, much like liang pi, are best served cold. Ong’s Instagram illustrates the artistic taste she has for hand-drawn sketches and watercolor paintings, both of which she was able to integrate effortlessly into her piece using Harmony 21’s layering, drawing, and coloring tools. One would never know, given how seasoned her ten-second short felt. Though Ong is a Toon Boom Ambassador and recent CalArts graduate, she only began using Harmony recently. During lockdown, the L.A.-based animator and daughter of Singaporean immigrants got a taste for her heritage by learning to make liang pi, an ancient noodle dish whose name translates to “cold skin.” She then brought this connection with heritage and history to life using Harmony 21. Each artist hired for the project contributed scenes, made using a variety of cutout and paperless techniques - and were inspired by recipes they have a personal connection to.įood and family are often inextricably baked together as concepts, at least for Mollie Ong. To encourage animators to try out new tools and techniques following the release of Harmony 21, Toon Boom Animation assembled a demo pack titled “The Ingredients of Animation,” which features work from six artists participating in the company’s Ambassador Program.

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