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Issue #79 | December 21th, 2025

Hello Reader 👋
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This week, I’m writing to you from Marseille.

And wow… I forgot how loud a big city can feel when you’ve been living with the ocean and the pine forest as your daily soundtrack. 🌲🌊

Even driving here feels like I’ve chugged eight coffees in a row — traffic jams, horns, that constant rush… I literally felt a pressure on my chest the other day. 😅

About a year and a half ago, I moved from Marseille to the southwest coast, near Hossegor.

It was a move I’d been dreaming about for almost eight years.

But you know how it is… life doesn’t always let you move when you want to.

I’m divorced, my kids were in Marseille, so I stayed as long as I could. My daughter left for Lisbon to study veterinary medicine, my oldest son is still here… and when the time felt right, I packed our life with my wife and our toddler and we made the jump.

Coming back now — for Christmas, family, old friends, my dad’s place in the mountains — it hits me again:

At some point in life, you realize you don’t fully fit where you were born. Not because the place is “bad”. Not because the people are “wrong”.

But because you changed. And what you need to breathe… changed too.

And I think it’s worth asking yourself that question, gently, without drama:

Do I belong where I live?

Do I feel aligned with my environment? Does it pull me toward the person I’m trying to become?

If you can move, move. If you can’t, travel. Go see other vibes, other rhythms, other ways of living. It’s one of the best gifts you can give yourself (and honestly, one of the best pieces of advice I keep repeating to my kids). ✈️

Because happiness is often… ridiculously practical.

For me, it’s surfing more.
So I needed waves.
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It’s being close to nature.
So I needed trees and silence and long walks.

It’s reading more.
So I’m trying to protect that time.

And then there’s music. My first love. The thing I’ve always come back to.

A big part of why I’m building Animator NOW — beyond the passion for animation, beyond the community, beyond teaching — is also about building a life with more freedom. Financial freedom, yes… but mostly time freedom.

Time to make music.
Time to be present with my family.
Time to breathe.

Animator NOW takes a huge place in my life right now… but it’s not the whole thing.

And I want this newsletter to be that again too: not just “animation updates”, but a small honest window into the real life behind the work.

This is almost the last Animation Sunday of 2025… and I just want to say thank you.

Thank you for reading. ❤️
Thank you for being here.

You don’t realize how much you help me keep going. Truly.
Now, on to this week’s issue 🌟

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The Spotlight

Sometimes you hit play on a short film and you think you know what you’re getting.

A cute setup. A vibe. A thumbnail that suggests “okay, this is going to be cozy” or “this is going to be dark,” and you’re already mentally placing it in a little box before the first frame even lands.

And then… within the first seconds, Forget Me Not totally won me over. 🙂

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The premise alone is already my kind of thing: deep in a Norwegian forest, an old man lives a quiet, orderly life with his lifelong friend — a troll. Tea, routines, small gestures of care. A little world that feels sealed off from reality, in the best possible way.

But what really hooked me instantly was the production design. The character design is super appealing — simple, graphic, memorable — and it pairs beautifully with that staggered, blocky animation style that almost feels stop-motion-ish in spirit. It has that “carved” quality, where poses feel deliberately placed, like the animators are choosing exactly what matters and letting everything else breathe.

Now, if I’m being picky (and you know I’m going to be 😄): there were a couple of moments where I felt the animation could’ve used a touch more finesse — especially around the eyes. When you commit to that blocky/staccato language, you can’t just “animate more” to compensate. Sometimes less is more… but less needs to be sharp. Overall though, the animation is really strong and consistent, and the style gives the film a unique identity.

Atmosphere-wise? So good. The sound design and overall mood pulled me right in. It’s one of those shorts where you can almost feel the cold in the air… and suddenly you want a hot drink in your hands while watching. ☕️

My only real frustration was a camera choice: there’s a big rotational move around the character at one point, and it did that thing I hate — it reminded me, abruptly, “hey, this is CG, we can spin the camera anywhere we want.” And I’m sorry, but moving the camera just because you can drives me crazy. If the camera moves, I want it to mean something. Purpose over flex, always. (I’ve been telling students that for 15 years. Some things never change.)

But even with that little moment, this short is genuinely lovely. At its heart, it’s a tender story about friendship, attachment, and that painful moment when life asks you to accept what you don’t want to accept. And it handles that with a lot of sweetness and restraint.

Also: it’s on Miyu Distribution, and honestly… Miyu almost never disappoints. They’ve been behind so many of the most beautiful, awarded independent and graduation films out there. So yeah — this one is absolutely worth your time. 🌲✨
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​🎬 Credits — Forglemmegei (Forget-me-not)

Original title: Forglemmegei (Forget-me-not)
​Director: Katarina Lundquist
​Character Design: Mihaela Buzgan, Régis Marion
​Storyboard: Katarina Lundquist, Neil Ingle, Teoman Cardel
​Layout: Teoman Cardel
​Background: Teoman Cardel, Alexander Jensen, Irmak Semiz, Astrid Brix Torø, Maria Kruse, Katarina Lundquist
​Animation: Simone Linn Skorstad, Neil Ingle, Mihaela Buzgan, Régis Marion, Mario Stefan Grosu
​Camera: Katarina Lundquist, Neil Ingle
​Compositing: Teoman Cardel, Alexander Jensen, Irmak Semiz, Astrid Brix Torø, Maria Kruse, Katarina Lundquist, Kim Strandli
​Music: Mette Skjøttgaard, Jeppe Lindskov
​Sound: Mette Skjøttgaard, Jeppe Lindskov
​Editing: Katarina Lundquist
​Production: The Animation Workshop
​Distribution/Channel: Miyu Distribution

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The Job Fair

• ​Junior Animator - Morgan & organ P.A
  ​We are seeking a creative and detail-oriented Junior Animator to join our fast-paced and collaborative marketing team. This role plays a critical part in the firm’s creative marketing efforts. The ideal candidate is passionate about art, design and creativity, and thrives in a dynamic, results-oriented environment.
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• ​Freelance 2D Animator for YouTube videos - Panelplace International​
  We are looking for an animator to create animation for our YouTube channel. We have a YouTube channel that share videos about digital products/services and eCommerce industry. The ideal candidate should have experience in animation.
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• ​2D Animator - Princess Bento Studio​
  As a Harmony Animator on our hand-drawn/traditionally animated show, you will play a crucial role in bringing characters and scenes to life through animation. Working within the Toon Boom Harmony software environment, you will animate characters according to established layouts and designs, ensuring adherence to the show's style and guidelines while maintaining high-quality standards.

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The Random Stuff

​Disney Animation BTS rabbit hole 🐰 — I just stumbled upon a super neat corner of the Disney Animation website where they lay out the actual filmmaking process with tons of behind-the-scenes material (I’m a total sucker for that stuff). It’s currently heavily centered around Zootopia 2, but you can also peek at other projects and see how things evolve from story → layout → animation → final. If you like process breakdowns, you’re going to lose 20 minutes without noticing. 😄

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My current to-do list obsession: Todoist ✅ — I’ve tested an embarrassing amount of task apps over the years (UI/UX nerd forever 🙃), and somehow Todoist is the one that stuck. It hits that sweet spot: simple enough to stay frictionless, but powerful when you need it (projects, filters, sharing, etc.). The real game-changer for me is the Google Calendar integration: tasks with a date/time show up as events, so my to-dos and my schedule finally live in the same place. That feature alone is worth it.

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HELP NEEDED!! Unreal Engine SOS (real-time pipeline) 🎮 — I just signed a big client for a 6 months production and I need to build a real-time cartoon pipeline in Unreal… except I’ve never used Unreal in a production environment. So I’m diving in, and I could really use your help: if you know a great YouTube channel or a cheap course that’s perfect to kickstart Unreal (clear teacher, not lost in tiny details), please send it my way. 😊
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Thank you!

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Philippe Duvin​
Founder, Animator NOW

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