Cloudling (2026) | AI Animated Short Film

Hey guys! Wanted to share something I've been playing around with for the past year or so. This project began as an experiment to explore what modern AI tools can offer for 2D and 3D artists. What started as a technical test gradually evolved into a complete short film, giving me the opportunity to tell a simple, heartfelt story while pushing the boundaries of my personal workflow.

The production relied heavily on open-source and ComfyUI-based tools because they provided the greatest level of creative control. At the same time, creating the film still required a significant amount of traditional artistic work. Throughout the process, I regularly returned to Maya for camera and character layouts, Photoshop for paint-overs and corrections, and After Effects and Premiere Pro for final compositing and editing. AI became a powerful collaborator, but guiding it toward a specific artistic vision remained a hands-on creative process.

While there is still plenty of room for improvement, the journey was both challenging and rewarding, and it gave me valuable insight into how AI and traditional digital art workflows can complement one another.
I understand that AI a very controversial subject( to say the least). I'm not gonna protect or glorify it. I personally used it as a tool and came to it with an open mind. But I also understand people who are against it. This is definitely a time of change in VFX and Creative industry as a whole and I'm honestly can't wait to see if it leads to new creative heights or ruin. Only time will tell

Created with:

ComfyUI
Maya
Photoshop
After Effects
Premiere Pro

Models used:

NanoBanana
GPT Image
WAN 2.1
WAN 2.2
Flux
ZImageTurbo

Music:

Suno

Thank you for watching