SamSuka
felixcolgrave
felixcolgrave

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DONKS

DONKS!!! It's here, it's done, and you can watch it right now!

What is this film? How do I describe it?? I was thinking about ocean plastic, bottom feeders, and animals adapting to living with humans, even though they're as far away from humans as possible. So I guess it's about that- as a musical extravaganza!

There's a bunch of other influences and themes and motivations behind this, but I've been staring at it for too long to tell what kind of film the final product is. So I'll just let the film do the talking -hopefully it's good!!!

The name of the film comes from a box of miscellaneous plastic objects that my child has. Things that are not categorically blocks or figurines or anything describable. I referred to them as "gonks", which was pronounced by my then-2-year-old as "Donks". This film was me making my own set of Donks, and building silly things out of them.

The Donks themselves are modelled in 3D, which is the first really significant use of 3D in one of my films. But, they're animated in 2D! It's all just pictures of the 3D objects being dragged around frame-by-frame, and occasionally swapped out for pictures from different angles. It was fun finding a way to start learning 3D and using it in a project, while still playing to my 2D strengths!

Also, you may notice there's a company logo at the start of the film! That deserves its own post, but long story short, my wife and I now have a studio name to release our projects under- either individually or when working together!

Now this probably goes without saying, but please don't share this around with anyone just yet!!! This is an early release for Patreon, but I'll be putting the film out publicly on YouTube in about a week or so!

When it goes up on YouTube, I'll also make some big HD copies available for patrons to download, so you can see every pixel as intended!

A huge thank you thank you THANK YOU to every single one of you for helping fund this production over the last 16 months!!! It's a very dense film made using a completely unfamiliar method, which is a slow way to work, but the amount that I've learnt and improved and branched out would be near impossible if my time was being eaten by fast turnaround freelance work. So thank you for your patience, as well as your immense generosity!

The creative freedom you afford me is an unbelievable privilege, and I hope to apply some of these new skills I've built up on some faster projects for you to enjoy!!!

Much love,

Felix

Comments

I would love to see little customizable figures of donks

Benny Dough

Felix, thank you so much for the work you do. Your films have made me feel safe in a way I cannot describe. Something that resonates so deeply and inspires me to pursue my own creativity and expression. I cannot thank you enough. Thank you thank you thank you.

Crobiie

I have to know if there’s any concious Cyriak inspiration here…

Talmon Glidden

It's here! It's finally here! I'm freaking out!

Christopher Guerra

I love the whale fall idea at the end!

[Sally]

기대에 부응하는 멋진 영상입니다, 항상 잘 보고있어요 ! 채널 더욱 번창하시길~

김희연

brilliant!

Daniel Arena

holy fuck this is SO good.

Christopher Rutledge

Congratulations! It's wonderful.

Jonathan

I love how you build those beats visually with the clown hat growing

POWER TOOLS

Omg I'm terrified. Microplastics is a hot topic and your art remind me the problematic exists. Well done! Great job!

Nahuel Alfaro

i can't believe what i just saw. it was so incredibly meticulous and rythmic and detailed and bouncy. cant wait for your next project felix 💜

gromit

Felix this is great!

Max Wade

It's such a privilege to support you Felix, this is wonderful

Harry Milas

Donk You Very Much, Mr. Colgrave

Hae-Joon Lee

That was a beautifully world of fantastic creatures!

Maic López Sáenz

I love the Donks!

Melinda Buckner

They are all so cute! And goofy. I like how all of your characters have so much personality

Valerie Paulsgrove

Yeah the way the clips fit in with the whole animation was interesting to see

Valerie Paulsgrove

This is the best description

Valerie Paulsgrove

I agree

Valerie Paulsgrove

สวย

Dr. Boyfriend

Tremendous!!!

Handa

Your sound design is amazing! I've never seen someone connect music to animation in such a meaningful and literal way. This is so inspiring and incredible.

Ari Chais

Really really lovely, loved the good natured (I hope) competition for the parts. I did feel a stab of painful dismay when the barge dumped its load.

Eric Rowley

Omgggg extraordinary!!! The music is next LEVEL, and felt simultaneously hopeful and icked out by the donks little story, kinda wanna live down there. incredible work, congrats for the upcoming release :)

Eliza Janssen

Love it. The music at 4:09 reminds me of the band "Battles".

Nathan Brader

I loved your new work felix !! The art direction is amazing! you inspire me a lot, thankssssss

Rodrigo Vasconcelos

Amazing as always

Rune Bang

Love it! So worth the wait. :D

Dannie Lennard

Hurrah!!

Thomas

What a legend, Felix! I love the nonchalant spring noise the boat makes offloading all the donks, the random vermicelli prawn spring rolls box in amongst all the plastic. How did we not all know that subs of course have endoskeletons? The comedy teeth on the donks are the best. Can't wait to see the reaction to it on Youtube.

Nereide Greaves

It's so cool!

Jed Haydney

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH

Jay Walker-Brillig

Even seeing the process through snippets and shorts, the full video was truly worth the wait.

Falrientik

This was incredible. I love how surreal all your films are.

ColonelCactus

This is amazing! I loved the style and the 4:3 approach. I noticed some really cool people in the credits too, the gravity falls creator and the adventure time creator support you!

dudebloke

This was really cool!

Silver Smoulder

this is very fun! it's like watching a nature documentary about a game of spore. i love all those little guys immensely

i think turtles are cool

I love the art direction, how much synergy it has with the music and in general the whole concept and look is so interesting and so distinctly you. Amazing job.

Mike Schutmaat

This went above and beyond what I was hoping for. It feels like I’m watching a Petri dish filled with clown germs. I love your ever evolving style and I can’t wait for the next one!

Bean goblin

Oh it's wonderful! I'm so happy I was able to support you in making this fantastic, wacky, whimsical film! I love how much character you can add to a motion. Nevermind what the objects are, the movements have so much personality. It's been so cool seeing bits and pieces come together as you've worked on it, and so rewarding to see it all together!!

Lily Bryan

This is some pretty crazy stuff! I love how the donks seem to shift from curious to passive to artistic to playful to predatory at the drop of a donk- they’re very mercurial, much like the part they’re comprised of! You really captured the feeling of an isolated ecosystem; everything that happens there may seem alien to us but is very clearly important and has meaning to its occupants. Ultra cool!

AlexKorobeiniki

Thank you for at last taking us on a dive down to Donkland, well worth the wait.

davekroil


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