Four-time Oscar nominee Sylvain Chomet, the celebrated French director behind The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist, is defending his hand-drawn animation legacy after a storm of online controversy erupted around his new short film. In an interview with Variety, Chomet and producer Aton Soumache pushed back against accusations that the animated short Christian Dior’s Night in Color used generative AI, asserting the project was made using traditional 2D animation techniques.
Defending the Animation Process
“Some people are claiming Sylvain was contacted two weeks ago and that the entire film was made with generative AI, without a single drawing, but the reality is that this film took seven months to make and it was entirely drawn by artists,” said Soumache. He stated the project had a team of approximately 20 individuals, which included six animators as well as storyboard artists, designers, background artists, compositors and editors. The pair confirmed that generative AI was not utilized to produce any of the art for the short, even though automated interpolation was employed to create some of the in-between frames to ensure smooth motion.
A Lifelong Commitment to Hand-Drawn Art
Chomet, who has remained faithful to drawing throughout his career, explained that while the technology has changed, the creative process remains the same. “I design the characters, we create the storyboards, the backgrounds, the colors. The entire creative process is exactly the same as when I started making animated films. What has changed is the technology,” he said. He also pointed out his plan to return to pencil and paper, stating, “I love having original drawings.” Chomet referenced a history of defending traditional animation, recalling how he continued making hand-drawn films during the era when Disney declared it was dead in favor of CGI.
Addressing Specific Online Criticisms
Chomet directly addressed a key piece of online criticism: characters with six fingers. “It’s a movement where the hand is spread out like a fan. In that kind of drawing, you might see six or seven fingers because you’re trying to convey movement,” he says. “I’ve seen a character turn his head and suddenly his nose changes shape completely over five frames [in other 2D animated projects]. These things happen.” He also dismissed the timeline suggested by online commentators, clarifying the seven-month production process relied entirely on artists’ drawings, contradicting claims the film was quickly generated by AI.
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