Thanks to the amazing support of the Urbance community through the Kickstarter campaign, the Urbance pilot was green-lighted for production in January 2015. The pilot was produced in 9 months between Canada, Japan and France, and ended in September 2015. It was a blessing and a wonderful first experience to work with such an amazing and talented team of artists from all around the world. Yapiko Animation did an incredible animation job, which was led by Hiroshi Shimizu (Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke). On the other hand, the original soundtrack was created by PLAID, a talented duo from UK, as well as many other brilliant music composers: The Tanuki Project, B.Ames and High Klassified. Each one of them instinctively mixed up our vision with their unique color. Lastly, Total casting, Spacesheep and Hifi-Génie also contributed into making this pilot a success. Up until now, the screening was restricted to kickstarter backers and festivals only. We are very happy to finally share the pilot with you.

Enjoy the Watch!

Countries of production : Canada, France | Year of production : 2015
Production : Steambot, DFP | Animation: Yapiko Animation
Direction : Joël Dos Reis Viegas, Sébastien Larroudé
Music : Plaid, The Tanuki Project, B.Ames, High Klassified

Visual ID : 123 Klan
Main voices: Ryan George, Vanessa Hasid, Ben Cardilli, Marie Nonnemacher

FX/Compositing : Spacesheep | Sound : Total Casting, Hifi-Génie

This 168 pages artbook covers 3 complete years of Research and Development, featuring tons of concept art, background design, backstory and animation keyframes I’ve created with Florent Auguy, 123Klan and the Steambot steam. For the very first time, Sébastien, Florent and myself open up about the creative sparkle around Urbance. You will know everything about the backstory, how Urbance started. In every single page we share our experience and motivation to achieve such as unique vision despite its off-format nature and edgy originality. You will learn about Neo-city, the gangs, the gang members themselves but also how they came to life trhough tons of sketches and animation keyframes.

The quality of the print is gorgeous and the colors have never been that flashy on quality paper; the use of acid and neon Pentone ink colors for the cover immediately gives an electric feel at the tip of your fingers. in my opinion, Genesis of Urbance is a book-to-have for animation lovers and inspired artists. Don’t miss it!