Pixar has released another short film from their SparkShorts program, and it’s extra special, because it’s hand-drawn. While the studio is known for their pioneering digital animation, their latest short – Kitbull – is entirely hand drawn short. Watch the full Kitbull short below, along with a making-of featurette and an introduction to the filmmakers.

Kitbull

Even before you watch a single frame of Kitbull, you can tell it’s going to be the type of project that tugs at your heartstrings. The official synopsis solidifies that: “Kitbull, directed by Rosana Sullivan and produced by Kathryn Hendrickson, reveals an unlikely connection that sparks between two creatures: a fiercely independent stray kitten and a pit bull. Together, they experience friendship for the first time.” And now I’m crying.

The short premiered last month at the El Capitan Theater, and now makes its way to Pixar’s YouTube page. It’s the latest entry in their SparkShorts program, Which Pixar says is “designed to discover new storytellers, explore new storytelling techniques, and experiment with new production workflows. These films are unlike anything we’ve ever done at Pixar, providing an opportunity to unlock the potential of individual artists and their inventive filmmaking approaches on a smaller scale than our normal fare.”

The fact that Kitbull is hand drawn is a big deal, and helps make it extra distinct. Pixar has experimented with 2D animation before – the 2010 short Day & Night combined 2D and 3D elements. But this is the first entirely hand-drawn feature. In the below behind-the-scenes featurette, director Rosana Sullivan talks about the approach.

“I’ve always loved the charm of a hand-drawn image,” she says. “No two artists will draw the same way. And no two drawings are going to be exactly alike.” Sullivan does acknowledge that the art was drawn on computers, but everything was done from the artist’s hands.

Kitbull Behind-the-Scenes

And if you want even more behind-the-scenes details, here’s a featurette devoted to the filmmakers that created Kitbull, director Rosana Sullivan and poducer Kathryn Hendrickson. Here, Sullivan admits the genesis of the short sprang from watching endless cat videos online. So next time someone judges you for sitting around watching cat videos on YouTube all day, tell them you’re researching a groundbreaking Pixar short movie. That’ll shut ’em up.

Meet the Filmmakers