Party All Night
concept, illustration, cel animation, music composition
A party rages late into the night with a little old man on the other side of the wall just trying to get some beauty sleep.
This original short was created for Hellavision’s Track Attack open submission.
It was a super fun brief to work with and Big thanks to the Hellavision team for organizing this community event!!!
See below for a full process breakdown!
This original short was created for Hellavision’s Track Attack open submission.
It was a super fun brief to work with and Big thanks to the Hellavision team for organizing this community event!!!
See below for a full process breakdown!
Brief
HELLAVISION Track Attack presented by Yonk:
“Track Attack calls on you—the fearless animator—to dive deep, unleash your inner music producer, and create a completely original song. Whether it’s a kazoo ballad, a techno beat so infectious it lingers in dreams, or something so out there… it'll make the angels ask for a refund! No half measures. If you’re gonna make a track, make it unforgettable. Make it insane. Your sound, your vibe, your rules.
So, what are you waiting for? Grab your synthesizer, wrangle those pixels and animate your way onto HVTV’s Track Attack.
Make a short that's accompanied by an original song.
The animation and track must not exceed 90 seconds.
We kindly ask that AI not be used for visuals or sound.
STEP 1
MAKE MUSIC
Make an original song. We love all kinds! Please, no AI!
Try your best.
Find a friend.
Join the conversation on discord!
STEP 2
MAKE CARTOON
Make an animation with your song!
SPEND AS LITTLE TIME ON IT AS POSSIBLE.
CUT ALL CORNERS.
BAD IS GREAT.
Make choices without judgment.
Low effort. Low, low, low.
Make things that are profound, or have absurd circumstances, or are visually interesting. Consider impact. Less shocking, more intelligent.”
“Track Attack calls on you—the fearless animator—to dive deep, unleash your inner music producer, and create a completely original song. Whether it’s a kazoo ballad, a techno beat so infectious it lingers in dreams, or something so out there… it'll make the angels ask for a refund! No half measures. If you’re gonna make a track, make it unforgettable. Make it insane. Your sound, your vibe, your rules.
So, what are you waiting for? Grab your synthesizer, wrangle those pixels and animate your way onto HVTV’s Track Attack.
Make a short that's accompanied by an original song.
The animation and track must not exceed 90 seconds.
We kindly ask that AI not be used for visuals or sound.
STEP 1
MAKE MUSIC
Make an original song. We love all kinds! Please, no AI!
Try your best.
Find a friend.
Join the conversation on discord!
STEP 2
MAKE CARTOON
Make an animation with your song!
SPEND AS LITTLE TIME ON IT AS POSSIBLE.
CUT ALL CORNERS.
BAD IS GREAT.
Make choices without judgment.
Low effort. Low, low, low.
Make things that are profound, or have absurd circumstances, or are visually interesting. Consider impact. Less shocking, more intelligent.”
Concept and Character Design
I absolutely adore making music to pair with my animations so the theme of “Music Cartoon” felt serendipitous! The tone of the brief got me excited to make something off the wall, trust my instincts, and work quickly. I took this project from concept to completion in 4 days.
I drew inspiration from meme type videos of people playing electronic drum kits with headphones on while imagining their neighbors on the other side of the wall, only hearing a clatter of drum sticks whacking plastic. I wanted to make something from the neighbor’s point of view!
This birthed the idea for a party raging late into the night with a little old man on the other side just trying to get some beauty sleep.
The main character that came to mind contains elements of both Squidward and Ron Swanson.
Inspiration
Initial Crayon Sketches
Animation Process
I queued up a 90s hard techno playlist, opened up Photoshop, and began sketching the rough sequence. Pose to pose felt like the best approach to make sure I blocked out the right feelings, refining shapes and adjusting timing as it came together. Working in 12fps, much of the animation is on 2s and 4s (or more), testing how little frames I could get away with while still being readable and comedic. I had a blast not worrying if it was pixel perfect and love how the roughness adds to the charm and humor. Once the animation was finished, I composited in After Effects, inverting the colors because: night.
Without dialogue, I wanted to focus on the escalation of emotion through facial expressions and full body poses. It was also important to let the moments breathe to build anticipation and feel like we were sitting in it.
Character Qualities
Old Man
Square
Passive
Timid
Impatient
Irritated
Pushed to the limit
Pure Rage
Submits to Fate
Square
Passive
Timid
Impatient
Irritated
Pushed to the limit
Pure Rage
Submits to Fate
Partying Neighbors
Bumpin
Outgoing
Rowdy
Carefree
Unchanged, Constant
Night owls
Bumpin
Outgoing
Rowdy
Carefree
Unchanged, Constant
Night owls
Work in Progress: Animation
v1 suuuper rough Animatic, just get the idea out![]()
v4, pass: character focus, getting closer![]()
Favorite Extreme Frames
Original Music Composition
This felt like a great opportunity to make a song that was obnoxious as possible so we could really feel the pain of our main character. No shade to the music I listened to for inspiration while animating, I deeply enjoyed immersing into it and it kept me pumped through the process!
For this track, I laid out a 4 on the floor kick drum and 16th note hi-hats, chose some aggressive hard synths to play a repetitive bassline and a brainless melody that regrettably turns into an earworm. It was fun to add low bit chiptune and overdrive effects for grit and finish with a descending pitch envelope to bring down the last note for a “game over” vibe. Overall, I did want it to still feel somewhat like a real song so I threw in a riser and cut out the bass to create transitions, both for when we entered the house and after the character succumbed to his fate.
The noise for the party guests was chopped and layered from various free sample audio of playgrounds.
My favorite part was clamping down on the master channel with a low pass filter when we cut to enter the home, giving the muffled “through the wall” sound.
Listen to the track without the low pass filter and crowd noise (lower your volume!!)
Ableton Timeline
