I met a Robot at a Ballet Once

This charming hand drawn animation is by a student called Isabella Dos Santos at CalArts who had this to say about it

And for the record, I did go to a ballet this summer in NYC after making this film (American Ballet Theater of course, with Daniil Simkin performing that day BECAUSE WHAT A GORGEOUS DANCER HE IS). While I did not have a robot sit to my right, there was a middle-aged woman there who after the first intermission magically transformed into an old lady, and at the second intermission that old lady started up conversation with me about how much of a gem Daniil Simkin is and about what it takes to be a truly captivating artist, that intelligence and being truly human to your audience will take you further in life than talent alone. Close enough, I suppose. She did not eat her playbill, however.

But, anyway, it was a good day in my life. The weather was nice and I ate Goldfish snacks by the Lincoln Center fountain.

I think that this animation is particularly successful as it mimicks the charm of the narrative with simple animation. The colour scheme also works what with the robots hand matching her dress. And the charm is captivating in the hand drawn colouring flickering. This is the style I would like to adopt in my work. I also think the characters are really strong as a designer I have looked through other pieces of her work and think that her style is whimsical and works well with the textured childlike lines and block colours. I think that the fact that she does her own narration and animation is something that interests me because I think it works and that's a feature i want to work in my animation.

• beladossantos.blogspot.com