RÄT is a short animated film I created in 2021 as part of my education in the Advanced 2D Animation Course at CG Spectrum. The task was to create a short story that involved a bus stop, so I developed a small comedic narrative around that prompt. I had the idea of a rat and a girl meeting at the bus station and when the bus finally comes, the bus is comically small and the rat jumps in instead. I started by sketching out the storyboard and character designs.
After receiving feedback, I adjusted the designs and story beats before moving into a rough animatic in Toon Boom Harmony. This helped me figure out the timing, spacing and overall flow of the short before committing to the final animation. The background was painted in Photoshop, while the final line art, animation and coloring were done in Toon Boom Harmony.
I edited the project in After Effects and later worked on the audio in Audition. Looking back, I am still quite happy with the final result. RÄT also became an important project for me personally, since I used it as part of my application for the University of Applied Sciences, where I went on to study for the next five years.
