ANIMATED SERIES about a dog's adventures FOR A TELEGRAM GAME

In autumn 2024 the game "Lost Dogs" launched in Telegram. To tell the story of the game, in which players can choose one of three storylines, a seven-episode series was written. Our studio took on the production of the series. Watch the edit we made based on the story.

Our deadlines were very tight — they seemed unrealistic. In one month we made almost twelve minutes of animation. It wasn't just bold, it was very bold.

The first few days went into adapting the series characters to the game characters. We already knew what the main characters would look like, but we had to simplify them for animation, because very detailed characters are hard to animate in a series. So first we finished the concepts, then drew turnarounds of the characters.

Then we moved on to the backgrounds. We decided to develop them with the help of artificial intelligence. We had no time to draw the world in detail — that would have taken more than a month. Our AI artists did an excellent job.

Work on movement usually starts with an animatic — a rough sketch of the story to come. It shows whether the conflict works, whether the plot is clear and whether the edit is right. Animatics are the backbone of animation production.

A notable moment: we showed these animatics to a couple of people as a focus group to check whether the plot was clear. The focus group said the story was interesting but was very surprised that the cartoon would be worked on further. Some thought this was already the final picture. "Why draw anything else? It's all clear and fun as it is." Those were our first reviews.

At the next stage the animators quickly worked on the characters' actions and the plot, bringing the action to life. Here is what came out:

And finally, the last stage was compositing: work on the final image, adding effects, assembling the material, bringing the story fully to life. Compositing is what we love most. It is compositing that turns a basic, unremarkable picture into real magic. See what the shots look like without compositing and with it.

The result: on the Telegram platform the series attracted new users. Over the course of the story Gavkus fought spiders, saved friends, betrayed friends, became disappointed in himself and others. He learned what a treasure hunt is, how hard that path is, and regretted having set out on it. It is less a story of heroism than of chasing something unattainable and discovering one's own imperfection.

Team

Director

Sasha Potapova

Producers

Asya Indrali

Alina Chekanova

Animatic's director

Zalimkhan Kashezhev

Lyudmila Leysblus

Pyotr Tarasov

Illustration

Arina Nikolaenko

Igor Mokrov

Kira Golikova

Alexander Guryev

Timur Cherepanov

Valeria Valishvili

Animation

Igor Davidenko

Serkan Ferhatli

David Petrosyan

Masha Piotrovskaya

Dimyan Illarionov

Anton Tapanan

Maxine Ray

Lina Miryasova

Taisia Troitskaya

Natalia Romanova

Compositing

Evgenia Alexandrova

Maria Semenkovskaya

Maxim Platonov

You can watch the series

"Lost Dogs" here