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Worth a read today: the New York Times profiles five rising animators in the American animation scene. The five featured artists are Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe), Minkyu Lee (Adam and Dog), Jason Ruiz (Murder Police), Justin Roiland (Rick and Morty), and Timothy Reckart (Head Over Heels).

Minkyu Lee conceived his Oscar-nominated short Adam and Dog while attending the Film Directing program at CalArts. Lee, 27, spent nearly three years making the film, all the while working a dayjob at Disney on the features Winnie the Pooh and Wreck-It Ralph. He squeezed in time on his own film during nights and weekends, but his ambitious vision (Adam and Dog is fifteen minutes long) eventually necessitated a four-month sabbatical from Disney so that he could devote full attention to his Biblically-inspired tale.

Lee was not only the film’s director, but also its producer, storyboard artist, designer, lead animator, and background painter. The backgrounds, painted in Photoshop, are one of the film’s highlights. The dramatically lit compositions contrast lovingly textured elements of nature with wide expanses of open space. It is an unlikely vision of the Garden of Eden that suggests at once comfortable familiarity and ethereal majesty.

Lee shared the following selection of background paintings with Cartoon Brew:

Now nominated for an Academy Award, we first wrote about Minkyu Lee’s remarkable short Adam and Dog about a year ago. Here’s the whole film:

“This is a short film that me and a group of my close friends made. It was put together by artists who work at various studios, including Disney Feature, Dreamworks and Pixar; The animation is done by myself, Jennifer Hager, James Baxter, Mario Furmanczyk, Austin Madison, and Matt Williames. Glen Keane also helped by being a consultant on the film, and also doing some visual development. It is a completely independent film without any major studio involvement. We are really excited for people to see it, and wanted to share.” – Minkyu Lee