Psst...🧡

Our second project as Studio FON emerged because our founder kept getting distracted from animating our pilot. Please follow @taftalks.bsky.social to validate his lore theories or we'll literally never hear the end of it.

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

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.

A visual breakdown of this latest test animation:

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?

For comparison, here's a turnaround of her model from last year's teaser.

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:

Her model takes direct inspiration from @mastrocecchi.bsky.social 's design sheets. We loved them so much we tried to replicate her look in 3D! bsky.app/profile/zeni...

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

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!

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!

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

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!

Logoless alt versions for your viewing pleasure:

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

A few of these might make it into the pilot 🤭 (2/2)

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!!!

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

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!

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.

Thanks for all the kind words on the video! I’m glad it’s resonating with folks! I truly believe in the future of indie animation but I think we’ve got lots of problems to solve before it can become a viable industry, and the best way to change it is to start talking about it. ✌️

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)

If you haven't seen our teaser trailer from last year, please check out this sneak peak of Aya in ZENITH! We'll have a new animation to debut next #IndieAnimationDay so stay tuned and follow for more! 😉✨️ studiofon.com

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 😁

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.

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.

Ok I may be biased but the hoodies are so comfy omg And who wouldn't want cute lil Aya sticker? Look at HER Big thanks to Lyn Campos for the art!

The art in this post was made by @mikeyjamesdraws.bsky.social and Godstime Ojinmah! Please follow them both, we love their work 🧡

We seriously appreciate every like, follow, repost, and comment just as much as every sale and donation on our store! Your belief in this project keeps us going more than you know. If you haven't already, please consider following our journey of making ZENITH! It's going to be awesome!!!

Heya, Zenites! We will not be having any new big announcements for tomorrow's #IndieAnimationDay, but we WILL start posting again regularly on our socials again. More lore and more art coming soon!

2025 sale is live! studiofon.myspreadshop.com

We'll be adding a few items in the store based on this art soon, so keep an eye out for that!

Bro every time I see an order come in for @zenithtas.bsky.social merch, it literally lights up my drive to get this pilot out. Thank you to everyone who believes in us!!! 🙏🏾😭

We have our #CyberMonday sale going on right now! Every dollar earned goes right into making our animated pilot episode. Please #supportindieanimation by helping us make ZENITH! studiofon.myspreadshop.com

Here's the official turnaround sheet for Aya! Art by the incredible Godstime Ojinmah, who you could find on his website: godstime_ojinmah.artstation.com

It's getting reach chilly these days! Wanna bundle up in a cozy Zenith hoodie and drink cocoa from a cute motivational Aya mug? You can do that AND support our indie cartoon by going to our shop! studiofon.myspreadshop.com 25% Off & Free Shipping Sale going on NOW!

Happy #smallbusinesssaturday!! Consider supporting TSC and other indie studios today!! 💛💛💛

It's #smallbusinesssaturday! The holidays are right around the corner, so stop by our store right now for our early Cyber Monday sale! 25% OFF AND FREE SHIPPING FOR THE NEXT WEEK!!! Shop now: studiofon.myspreadshop.com

We're continuing our Lore Tour with a preview of one of Nadir's seven kings: Aseb! For more info on his kingdom, check out our previous post about Qore here: bsky.app/profile/zeni...

Last day of our 25% off sale!!! Our long sleeve shirts and hoodies are selling out, so get them before they leave you in the cold 🥶 studiofon.myspreadshop.com