NEW AYA RENDER Happy #indieanimationday in #blackhistorymonth 2026! This past year, we reworked Aya's model, textures, and rig along with our compositing method to make her look straight out of an anime cel! What do you think? Does she look cool? 💪🏾😁

Happy #IndieAnimationDay everyone! We're ZENITH, a show all about a girl chasing her dream of reaching a giant floating island in the sky and claiming the title of "King of Kings". To our fellow animators, we hope you were inspired by all the incredible projects around you today! #ReachYourZenith

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! 🥳 It'd mean the world to me if we could get more followers on my indie project @zenithtas.bsky.social 🧡

And if anyone wants to contribute to said project, we've got a merch store and donate link! Every penny goes in to making this cartoon come to life! studiofon.myspreadshop.com studiofon.com/donate

we are trying our best out here to level up Astral Force to finally build the fan base 😭😤✨ #astralforce

Our pilot features a hybrid style of animation inspired by Spiderverse. The bodies are animated in 3D at a lower frame rate, while the facial features are drawn over to give the characters a more exaggerated/cartoony expression than 3D rigs are capable of producing.

In order to achieve a hand drawn aesthetic, we needed to redo all of Aya's textures and make some tweaks to her hair. Instead of using a particle system, the split ends and curls were meticulously placed to give her more of a hand drawn silhouette from all angles. How'd we do? Like her new look?

If you love shows about: -Achieving big dreams -Huge anime fights -Exploring a vast fantasy world Then you're gonna love our upcoming indie animated show ZENITH!!! Please like, share, and follow to keep updated. Happy Indie Animation Day!!! And remember to always aim high! #ReachYourZenith

Don't forget! We're also open to donations! Please feel free to pitch in to making our upcoming pilot by visiting www.studiofon.com/donate Every dollar goes back into making our production come to life! Thanks in advance, everyone!

We would appreciate anyone who wants to #supportindieanimation and help fund our pilot episode! We have shirts, mugs, and stickers all available on studiofon.myspreadshop.com

AYA'S MODEL HAS BEEN UPDATED!!! It's been a year since our first teaser, and we took the time to revamp her model to look more cel shaded! What do you think?

Want to know more? We've got plenty of lore! Check out the thread below for some character bios:

HAPPY #INDIEANIMATIONDAY EVERYONE! Our show is about two strangers, Aya & Zed, on a quest to challenge the seven kings of Nadir for their coveted artifacts. If they succeed, they may find a way to reach Zenith: a giant floating island home to the legendary King of Kings!

We've worked with Michael previously and he's so talented! We can't recommend him enough. Please reach out to him for a commission or two!

It just dawned on me that this is also the very first depiction of the titular floating, Zenith! That's only a small piece of it, though. Stay tuned for our pilot to see the full scope in all its glory!

THIS IS IT! Our official poster for the Zenith animated pilot is finally here!!! Please join us in thanking the legendary @klemtmandra.bsky.social for this immaculate work of art. We're so excited for what's coming next- Hey isn't someone missing??? #Zenith #indieanimation #ReachYourZenith

Next week, we're going to be dropping something SUPER EXCITING! We can't wait to show you all. Please be sure to follow us so you don't miss out!!

As an bonus, we noticed that many of the expressions matched with each other! Here's some unintended extra Aya/Zed's for ya! Let us know your favorite 😍 (1/2)

NEW ART DROP! We asked @mastrocecchi.bsky.social earlier this year to draw these awesome expression sheets for Aya & Zed! The ranges on these two have been instrumental when drawing our storyboards. Thanks again for the wonderful work, Mastro!!!

Hi #PortfolioDay! I'm Shamar, a Jamaican artist that specializes in fanart and currently working on making my own series in the future! 📧[email protected] Vgen 💚: vgen.co/shamarttm

NEW ART JUST DROPPED! A big thank you to the amazingly talented @shamarttm.bsky.social for this Aya and Zed illustration 🧡🩵 Please go check out their portfolio and show your support! bsky.app/profile/sham...

Commission for @zenithtas.bsky.social #commission #art #indieanimation

FUN FACT When Aya was little, she was told two things: 1) Anyone can be a king as long as you undergo their trial 2) The King of Kings is the strongest king in Nadir's history So when she said she'd take on the King of Kings' trial someday, most people laughed it off as a joke! She wasn't joking 😂

FUN FACT C'Terra has a younger sister! 🙂 FUNNER FACT They hate each other! 😀 FUNNEST FACT If they see each other it's ON 👏🏾SIGHT 👏🏾😃

FUN FACT Truppos and Aseb used to study under the same Élan Master in Qore as children! They're still really good friends to this day FUNNER FACT Nobody remembers when exactly it happened, but at some point, Nervia and Truppos became drinking buddies! She LOVES Tsol Wine 😂

FUN FACT Gordun has remained in power longer than other king in Nadir's history (barring the King of Kings, of course), being on the throne for over 50 years! FUNNER FACT He had no intention of being king, let alone stay in the position this long. He is very tired.

FUN FACT Before she became king of Buro, Nervia was given speaking lessons by Gordun himself! To this day, she holds the title of his worst student 😇 She can speak in full sentences just fine but most often defaults to a form of pidgin.

FUN FACT While we love all our kings equally, Durne has been the butt of so many Eustace jokes when writing his scenes 😂 We're going for a very stubborn Jamaican Faada-type.

FUN FACT T'Tombo was the first king we ever named during development! His name, his region's name, and his trial were all crafted around the same time. It gave us a great foundation to work with when developing the other kingdoms!

FUN FACT Aseb's crown weighs over 200 pounds!!! (nearly 100 kilos 🤯) Perhaps we took the phrase "heavy is the crown" a bit too literally haha He has to constantly imbue the crown with energy or else it might crush him. My neck hurts just thinking about it 😬

FUN FACT Zed was always teased for being shorter than his Zenithian classmates, which is why he straightens and points his hair up! This gave him a confidence boost for awhile...until he met Aya 😅

FUN FACT Aya's symbol is a real African symbol! It's from the Akan culture in Ghana and represents strength from overcoming hardship. FUNNER FACT We had no idea this symbol existed when we chose her name. It was definitely a serendipitous coincidence, but we couldn't be happier!

Oh hey that's me 👋🏾😃 For those of you who don't know I'M MAKING AN INDIE CARTOON! It's called Zenith and our pilot is currently in development. We've been writing little bits of lore on our @zenithtas.bsky.social page, so please go check it out & enjoy these next few development notes haha

With that, we're wrapping up our major character descriptions for the moment! Thanks for joining us on that lore tour 😊 We're gonna resume our deep-dives in a few weeks, but first, we wanted to go over a bit of character trivia with series creator: Tafrey Mongkuo! @tafrey.bsky.social

THE KING OF KINGS is a mythical being who once freed Nadir from the grips of chaos and raised Zenith into the sky 1000 years ago. Their true name was lost to time, but their legendary strength has been revered across Nadir for generations. Their reign, unchallenged... Until now.

We're wrapping up our major character summaries this month! Feel free to check out the thread of lore below to catch up. Maybe once it's all through, I'll go through each character and provide some behind the scenes trivia & fun facts!

C'TERRA, the young King of Casm, has remained undefeated for 10 years following her mother's death. A devout follower of the King of Kings, she believes her faith empowers her skills with a blade. All heretics who have the misfortune of crossing C’Terra's path face divine judgment.

TRUPPOS reigns as the beloved king known for interacting directly with the citizens of Tsol. He can sense when a person is in need and knows just the right people to help. Tsol is in a constant state of celebration because to Truppos, any issue resolved is worth revelry and wine!

GORDUN may appear as just an old man with a blind eye, but in truth, Depe's king oversees the nation's largest university housing Nadir's historical records. The scholars revere his abilities to both recount every tale inscribed in the library as well as predict the future with uncanny accuracy.

The Spring Ascension represents Hope - the hope for a brighter tomorrow! Those who choose this day to ascend are optimistic in Nadir's future. May the blessings of our ancestors give you the strength to remain hopeful even in times of Chaos.

NERVIA rules over the Kingdom of Buro. They say she was born in the wild, which explains her beastly nature. She has an intuitive understanding of jungle law and enforces it without prejudice. Those that wander into Buro with ill intent may be the target of her next hunt.

DURNE, the stoic and stern King of Lowe, remains steadfast in the traditions of his land. As the crashing waves intensify each year, his people urge him to move them away from their ancestral home to higher ground. However, Durne believes that if they as a people can grow stronger, they will endure.

ZENITH was widely inspired by Dragon Ball. As a nod to Toriyama-sensei, we replicated this pose for our latest Aya art! If she ever met Goku, she'd definitely want to learn the Kamehameha! (Oh and fight him, of course)

T'TOMBO is the hearty King of Pytt. After recreating an ancient technique and using it to usurp the throne from a tyrant, T'Tombo has remained undefeated and unsatisfied. He once taught his legendary Fist of Thunder to a young Aya, whom he hoped would grow into a worthy challenger for his crown.

This part of our site needs to be updated a bit BUT we do have a resource section full of information to help you succeed in Indie Animation!! Check it out: https://buff.ly/4b3J5FY #indieanimationday

If anyone else in the indie animation space is struggling with animating complex character designs but still wants to utilize hand drawn animation, I recommend a hybrid method! It could really save you the burnout of redrawing whole bodies while also allowing you to focus on expression work!

So when it comes to animating facial features, we just have to make sure the 3D setup is focused on posing with facial animation in mind. Even if the body has parts of it animating, the head needs to be very still. The 2D artists only need to draw a few, really dynamic expressions and boom!

This could be really beneficial in the indie space because hand-animating a character like Aya (who has lots of minor details like and accessories keep track of and a very rigid set of proportions) is very difficult for a single artist to draw consistently. Whereas a 3D model is always consistent.

I learned so much from animating this trailer last year, so I can't wait to show off some improvements we've made to the animation. Follow @zenithtas.bsky.social for more production updates as well some lore & character summaries from the world of ZENITH! You don't wanna miss it 😁

Yes, this technique does have a lot of Spiderverse influence, but I initially got the idea from the Disney Short "Paperman", which utilized an internal program called Meander to track any hand drawn lines over a 3D model during an animated sequence.