Courtesy of Animators Over the past two decades, animated features have pushed the boundaries of art and storytelling while dominating the box office.
Earlier this year, Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” made history by winning the animated feature Oscar. The triumph was powered in part by its chart-topping original song “Golden.” But behind every animated victory stands a group of passionate visionaries. Variety is once again proud to honor the artists behind the toons with our 2026 class of 10 Animators to Watch.
As has become an annual tradition, we asked each honoree to create a self-portrait to run in this feature.
More notably, this year’s list also marks a significant milestone. The franchise, first launched in 2015, will be making its debut at SCAD AnimationFest. The Savannah College of Art and Design, which brings its festival back to its SCAD Atlanta campus in Georgia on Sept. 23-25, is staging three days of premieres, sneak peeks and industry conversation at the university’s SCADshow theater.
This year’s program will also pay tribute to two incredible staples of the animation medium. One marks the 25th anniversary celebration of “The Proud Family,” which will honor executive producers Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar, and a closing-night premiere of DreamWorks Animation’s “Forgotten Island.” Its director and writer, Joel Crawford, the Academy Award-nominated mind that helmed “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” will collect the Creative Impact in Animation Award. Past recipients include Chris Miller, director of “Smurfs”; Nick Park, director of “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”; and the directors of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson.
This year’s list of the 10 exciting animators to watch is below.
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Chloë Aubert
Image Credit: Chloë Aubert Animation director, “Iron Boy” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Aubert found the right fit in Louis Clichy’s hand-drawn 2D feature “Iron Boy,” which debuted in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and won a special jury prize, then going on to earn honors at Annecy.
“There’s something in how Louis Clichy tells stories that I like,” says the artist, who specializes in 2D animation and has worked on such films as “Long Way North,” “The Breadwinner” and “Wolfwalkers,” as well as Genndy Tartakovsky’s series “Unicorn Warriors Eternal.”
“Iron Boy” uses fairly simple lines and watercolors to convey deep emotions and the physicality of its characters. The film revolves around Christophe, an 11-year-old who must wear a brace for two years to correct his spine, and his farm family in northern France. The animators express Christophe’s physical limitation as well as the liberation he finds in swimming, riding a bike or playing the church organ.
Aubert pushed the artists to go beyond what they thought the animation could do. “Don’t show me halfway. If you have an idea, sell it to me completely,” she says. She also echoed what Clichy told them: “I don’t care if the drawing is perfect. I want the emotions to be perfect.”
She reminds herself to “animate the invisible, like the air” and characters’ breathing, to add another layer. “It’s important, and I see that it can be forgotten easily in animation.”
The film challenged her to learn more about the artistry of hand-drawn animation, Aubert says, especially under Clichy, who imparted his knowledge freely.
As for AI, she notes that people love handcrafted things. When she started her career, she was told that 2D was going to disappear. “I was like, no way, and I was right, because 2D is not disappearing, and there is some charm in hand-drawn that 3D does not have. Humans like to make things.”
— Carole Horst
