Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541699
Fur Speed Ahead Gary wasn't the only new creature the artists a to gure out. Zootopia 2 also includes some mellow sea lions, a family of powerful lynx, and a sheep named Ed earin oice, of course, y singer eeran. n since te seues story foos on te eents of te rst m, te returning characters had to look similar to o tey i in te origina, een if the technology that made them was light years ein at is no ossie. "There was a lot of consciousness put into making sure that they felt like the same caracters, so you see tings ie uys ears moe in a simiar ay tat tey i in te rst moie, etomai says. For coloring, Art Director of Characters Meg Park adds: "I looked a lot at what tey i in te rst moie, an o tey kind of caricature the animals' fur using arm tones an coo tones. or exame, Judy's fur is gray-brown like an actual rait, ut it ures an ues oen in. ison says tey aso neee to n a happy medium between what software could do in the 2010s and what is possible now: "Time was spent updating the grooms so that they would look like enance ersions of at te auience rememere ut not oery contrasty or muy in teir igter areas. "The light energy we use now more cosey matces reaor aues. In fact, a conersion cacuator as eeoe by our lighting team to help them look up the light output of real-world lights an conert tose aues for yerion, says ison. e imact of tat cange, though, was that we generally had a lot more light energy in our scenes than we ou ae a on te origina Zootopia, so each existing character's materials needed •••• • -€: New creatures like sheep (top) brought new challenges when it came to working with fur, while returning characters like Judy Hopps (below) meant that artists had to find ways to use tools that made these characters feel familiar while also in sync with the updated look of the movie. ƒ••ƒ•••€ • -€: (from top) Vis-dev artwork for the Marsh Market scenes by Visual Development Artist Kevin Yang; Concept art facal expressions for Gary created by Visual Development Artist Sang Jun Lee. "Time was spent updating the grooms so that they would look like enhanced versions of what the audience remembered but not overly contrasty or muddy in their lighter areas." eit ison WINTER 2025 39