Variety has released its 2026 class of 10 Animators to Watch, spotlighting artists behind recent hits like Wildwood, Hexed and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. The list recognizes animators whose work shaped those films, and it comes with a new twist: each honoree created a self-portrait for the feature.
The tradition dates back several years, and this edition adds a milestone. The franchise, first launched in 2015, will make its debut at SCAD AnimationFest. The Savannah College of Art and Design brings the festival back to its SCAD Atlanta campus in Georgia from Sept. 23-25, with three days of premieres, sneak peeks and industry conversation at the university’s SCADshow theater.
Self-Portraits for Each Artist
Each of the ten animators drew their own portrait for the feature. The portraits accompany the profiles, giving readers a visual sense of the artists behind the work.
Debut at SCAD AnimationFest
The Savannah College of Art and Design hosts the event at its SCAD Atlanta campus, where it runs three days of screenings and panel discussions. The festival pays tribute to two animation cornerstones.
One is the 25th anniversary celebration of The Proud Family, honoring executive producers Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar. The other is a closing-night premiere of DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island.
Creative Impact Award Details
Joel Crawford, director and writer of Forgotten Island, collects the Creative Impact in Animation Award at the festival. Crawford is the Academy Award-nominated mind behind Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
Past recipients of the award include:
- Chris Miller, director of Smurfs
- Nick Park, director of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
- The directors of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson
Chloë Aubert’s Hand-Drawn Craft
Chloë Aubert is the animation director of Iron Boy, a Sony Pictures Classics release. The film debuted in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and won a special jury prize. It later earned honors at Annecy.
Aubert specializes in 2D animation. Her credits include Long Way North, The Breadwinner and Wolfwalkers, plus Genndy Tartakovsky’s series Unicorn Warriors Eternal.
“Iron Boy” uses simple lines and watercolors to convey deep emotion. The film follows Christophe, an 11-year-old who wears a brace for two years to correct his spine, living on a farm in northern France. Aubert pushed her artists to go beyond what they thought possible.
“Don’t show me halfway,” she says. “If you have an idea, sell it to me completely.”
She echoes what director Louis Clichy told the team: “I don’t care if the drawing is perfect. I want the emotions to be perfect.”
Aubert reminds herself to animate the invisible — air, characters’ breathing — to add another layer. “It’s important, and I see that it can be forgotten easily in animation,” she says.
The film challenged her to learn more about hand-drawn animation, especially under Clichy, who shared his knowledge freely. On AI, Aubert notes that people love handcrafted things. When she started her career, she was told 2D would disappear.
“I was like, no way, and I was right,” she says. “2D is not disappearing, and there is some charm in hand-drawn that 3D does not have. Humans like to make things.”
Louise Bagnall’s Analog Tools
Louise Bagnall is the director of Julián, a feature bowing at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. She is a creative director at Irish studio Cartoon Saloon, where she has worked on Oscar-nominated features Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner and Wolfwalkers.
She holds an Oscar nomination of her own for the animated short Late Afternoon.
The film is based on Jessica Love’s children’s book Julián Is a Mermaid. It follows a 7-year-old boy spending the summer with his abuela in Brooklyn. He digs into her colorful past in the Dominican Republic and dreams of becoming a mermaid, while she unlocks long-buried memories.
Both discover truths about who they are and about the power of self-expression, identity and family.
“Even though the film has this joyful, celebratory tone, there is for me a level of sophistication to the storytelling that comes from the feeling that these characters are real,” Bagnall says. “Their difficulties or their conflict or the challenges are coming from something that also feels quite believable.”
The tools stayed deliberately analog. “In this day and age of AI we still actually make a lot of our work on paper,” Bagnall says. “Now we do the animation on the computer, but it’s still hand drawn. All the backgrounds are made on paper with pencils and markers. The idea was that we were using the same tools that Julián would have in his pencil case.”
Keeping roughness mattered to her. “So that you could see weeds growing out of the pavement, or you see cracks in the wall, so that it felt believable and specific, but still beautiful, even in its imperfection,” she says. “I think that ties back in a way to the themes of the film, and how we aren’t all perfect, but we can make the most of it.”
Clarisse Chua’s Story Work
Clarisse Chua is the story artist for Ray Gunn, a Netflix/Skydance Animation release. Her work involves developing the narrative and visual direction for the film.
Chua’s career includes contributions to the Oscar-nominated features Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner and Wolfwalkers, and the animated short Late Afternoon.
One scene in Ray Gunn involved close collaboration with director Hayao Miyazaki, who provided guidance on a key sequence.
The Films That Defined the List
Earlier this year, Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters made history by winning the animated feature Oscar. Its triumph was powered in part by its chart-topping original song “Golden.”
The list also highlights the artists behind Wildwood and Hexed, though specific roles for those films are not detailed in the announcement.
What the List Shows
The 2026 list highlights a generation of animators who came up during a period when 2D animation was declared dead. Aubert and Bagnall both cite the importance of emotional truth over technical polish. Aubert wants the emotions to be perfect, while Bagnall keeps rough edges to make the world feel believable.
The debut at SCAD AnimationFest places the franchise alongside established classics like The Proud Family. The Creative Impact Award recognizes the directors of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, whose work set a standard for animated storytelling.
The 2026 class of 10 Animators to Watch is a snapshot of where animation is now. These artists are not waiting for the next big technology. They are pushing the boundaries of what hand-drawn and hand-crafted animation can do.
The self-portraits are a small touch, but they matter. They humanize the work. Behind every animated victory stands a group of passionate visionaries, and Variety is proud to honor them.
The list is a reminder that animation is not a single style or a single tool. It is a field of individuals, each with their own approach, their own obsessions, their own reasons for choosing this craft.
The 2026 list is a celebration of that diversity. It is a reminder that the future of animation belongs to the people who love it enough to keep making it by hand.
The films these artists have worked on have won Oscars, premiered at Cannes and drawn audiences worldwide. Their work has been recognized by critics and audiences alike. Now Variety has given them another platform: the chance to share their own faces with the world.
The list is a gift to fans. It is a guide to the people shaping the medium. And it is a call to attention for anyone who cares about animation.
The 2026 class of 10 Animators to Watch is a group worth watching.
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