A skull-faced creature stands in a forest crossed by luminous ribbons of color. Lindsay Berkebile’s Skullicorn bumper for Adult Swim makes that improbable combination feel like a complete little world before sending it into a graphic transformation. The short format leaves little room for explanation; silhouette, lighting, and the behavior of materials must establish its personality almost immediately.
Practical color in a miniature forest
The rainbows were physical elements, made from heated acrylic and lit with colored gels from below. Art director Doug Cummings and cinematographer Jake Hauswirth helped develop that effect. The creature combined a wire-and-foam body with a hard sculpted skull by Thrift Creeper. Layered paper feathers incorporated black wrap, allowing their shapes to be controlled during animation. [1]
Clay and Quake Gel supplied the viscous transformation material, while a logo shot was animated in reverse to preserve a clean result. Motion-control sliders and focus motors supported the camera work. VFX artist James Morr and 2D animator Paul Zito contributed to the transition between the dimensional scene and its drawn transformation. [1]
A small film with a strong silhouette
The puppet’s pale skull is a clear focal point against the dark trunks. Color does more than decorate the background: the rainbow structures divide the space and make the creature appear to inhabit a landscape with its own strange rules. The feathered body supplies a softer, irregular edge below that rigid face.
The switch into 2D makes the contrast sharper. Physical depth gives way to a graphic arrangement of shapes and repeated forms, yet the transformation grows out of the same character. That change of medium is part of the joke and the spectacle. It allows an already unlikely puppet to become something even less constrained by anatomy.
Skullicorn is an effective study in concentrating a visual idea. Its forest, creature, and transformation each have a distinct material identity, but the brief sequence connects them through color and movement. Watch the bumper above; the stills below isolate the miniature setting and the later graphic passage.
Images from the production
Frame captures from Skullicorn, directed by Lindsay Berkebile for Adult Swim. 2D animation: Paul Zito.
