Danse Macabre Blends 75 Oil Paintings With Custom AI For A Darker Fantasia Take
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Hisko Hulsing's upcoming animated short film Danse Macabre combines 75 hand-painted oil canvases with custom AI texturing tools to create a dark, nightmarish vision set to Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony.
Dutch animator and artist Hisko Hulsing is shaking up the upcoming Annecy Film Festival with *Danse Macabre*, a striking animated short film that feels like a heavy, apocalyptic nightmare version of Disney's classic *Fantasia*. Set to the second movement of Dmitri Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony, the project relies on 75 distinct, hand-painted oil canvases combined with traditional 2D and modern CG animation techniques. The result is a haunting visual experience that reinterprets the medieval artistic allegory of death summoning the living for a final dance.
While the foundation of the project rests entirely on traditional physical media, the production also integrated modern technology. The creator utilized a bespoke, custom-trained AI tool to texture the animated characters so they seamlessly matched the brushstrokes and look of the original oil paintings. Hulsing noted that the tool required extensive manual cleanup and oversight, positioning the technology as a specialized brush in the pipeline rather than a replacement for human artistry.
For players and creators who track how digital tools intersect with traditional media, *Danse Macabre* offers an interesting look at hybrid production pipelines. The short film is scheduled to premiere in competition on June 22 at the Annecy Film Festival, giving animation fans a fresh showcase of how classic techniques can merge with modern workflows to create striking new aesthetics. You can read the original reporting over at Polygon.
Tags: Animation, Art, AI, Film Festival, Culture
Original article: Polygon