Minnow Mountain

  • Home
  • Minnow Mountain

Minnow Mountain Emmy-Winning Animators of TOWER, Amazon's UNDONE, and Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood. Craig Staggs is an animator, illustrator, filmmaker and writer.

We are honored to serve as the character animation unit on Amazon’s groundbreaking new series: Undone. And proud to be the animation team behind Tower, an Emmy winning film directed by Keith Maitland. Craig Staggs and Steph Swope founded Minnow Mountain to create groundbreaking material for the new media environment that includes screens big and small. Our work displays a unique vision and persona

lity but is rooted in traditional creative processes and turbo charged with an insane work ethic. After earning a BFA in Photography from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Steph Swope began a diverse career in the visual arts. A veteran of the independent film industry, Steph rose from art department and photo/video research to producing award winning animation and video. His illustrations have been featured in publications such as The New York Times and the covers of Simon and Schuster’s Star Trek: Starfleet Academy book series. His iconic work on Richard Linklater’s cult classic A Scanner Darkly lead to a successful freelance animation career before founding Minnow Mountain with the goal of developing original feature films, television and web series. We are excited to offer original content and professional services.

There are 8 total visual styles in Apollo 10 1/2. The family is animated in one style but the archival material is anima...
05/06/2024

There are 8 total visual styles in Apollo 10 1/2. The family is animated in one style but the archival material is animated in 7 different styles depending on source and narrative usage. These exclusive images are from Minnow Mountain’s character design guide for the film. The family style was designed by Aaron Sacco and archival styles were designed by Craig Staggs . … Free Apollo 10 1/2 Screening at The Menil Collection June 8 with Minnow Mountain’s Craig Staggs appearing in person.

Apollo 10 1/2- 91% on . You can watch now on .

Go to MinnowMountain.com to watch our demo reel.

Free Apollo 10 1/2 Screening at The Menil Collection June 8 with Minnow Mountain’s Craig Staggs appearing in person. Ap...
04/06/2024

Free Apollo 10 1/2 Screening at The Menil Collection June 8 with Minnow Mountain’s Craig Staggs appearing in person.

Apollo 10 1/2- 91% on .

Go to MinnowMountain.com to watch our demo reel.

Houston folks!!! Craig Staggs will be appearing in person to introduce Apollo 10 1/2 at The Menil Collection this Saturd...
03/06/2024

Houston folks!!! Craig Staggs will be appearing in person to introduce Apollo 10 1/2 at The Menil Collection this Saturday (June 8th). It's a free outdoor screening!

The Menil Collection in Houston, Texas

Thank you for the lovely festival. Many mini meetings were made that mattered.
03/06/2024

Thank you for the lovely festival. Many mini meetings were made that mattered.

and getting caffeinated for .
30/05/2024

and getting caffeinated for .

“The process of capturing a performance in animation results in a deeper audience understanding of the character’s emoti...
30/05/2024

“The process of capturing a performance in animation results in a deeper audience understanding of the character’s emotional intent.” -Minnow Mountain Studio CEO Craig Staggs.
“An analysis of feelings and movements one frame at a time. When done well, it feels like magic.”-Minnow Mountain Studio President Steph Swope.
Tower- 99%, Undone- 97%, Apollo 10 1/2- 91% on . Go to MinnowMountain.com to watch our demo reel.

“Arthouse animation is a fertile ground for surrealism and magical realism. The artist’s skillsets elevate the vision of...
29/05/2024

“Arthouse animation is a fertile ground for surrealism and magical realism. The artist’s skillsets elevate the vision of the writer, the director, the actor, and the director of photography. The animator bends art and visual effects around the character to translate the story of their emotions.”
-Minnow Mountain Studio CEO Craig Staggs. Tower- 99%, Undone- 97%, Apollo 10 1/2- 91% on . Go to MinnowMountain.com to watch our demo reel.

“Beautiful art pulls the eye and keeps your attention. When each frame is literally a painting there becomes a magnetic ...
28/05/2024

“Beautiful art pulls the eye and keeps your attention. When each frame is literally a painting there becomes a magnetic quality to the film. Now the audience is focused on our story and not their troubles.” -Minnow Mountain Studio President Steph Swope.

Tower- 99%, Undone- 97%, Apollo 10 1/2- 91% on . Go to MinnowMountain.com to watch our demo reel. Realism

An important piece of inspirational decor from the Minnow Mountain studio.
16/05/2024

An important piece of inspirational decor from the Minnow Mountain studio.

07/05/2024

“A very important element of my process is the role of the live-action actors. For Undone we had brilliant actors like Rosa Salazar, Bob Odenkirk, Angelique Cabral, Constance Marie, and Siddharth Dhananjay who would create whole new layers to the story. And that is the beauty of rotoscoping.” - Hisko Hulsing, director of

Hulsing combines rotoscope and hand-drawn animation, live-action performance, and oil-painted backgrounds to capture the subtle intricacies of human emotions within a dream-like, ‘unreal’ aesthetic. Read the full interview with Sharon Katz, and watch the animatic of his upcoming 2025 short, ‘Resurrection,’ at the link here: https://bit.ly/4aXsX87

Studio President Steph Swope having a great time speaking to the 2d, 3d, video game animation students at University of ...
11/04/2024

Studio President Steph Swope having a great time speaking to the 2d, 3d, video game animation students at University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio last week! They were a fantastic audience with a lot of smart questions. Minnow Mountain is always thrilled to meet the next generation of animators. Thanks again for the invite, !!!

The countdown begins. Join us for the 2024 SXSW Animation Professionals Meet Up on Sunday March 10 at 4PM in the Hilton ...
08/03/2024

The countdown begins. Join us for the 2024 SXSW Animation Professionals Meet Up on Sunday March 10 at 4PM in the Hilton Downtown Room 410.

New logo. Who dis? has a new look to celebrate . Featuring new portraits of CEO and studio President . These portrait...
07/03/2024

New logo. Who dis? has a new look to celebrate . Featuring new portraits of CEO and studio President . These portraits are based on amazing photos by . They are hand drawn by human being on a Cintiq tablet in software. We use the official portraits on our biz cards as an instant proof of concept for what we do.

Address


Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Minnow Mountain posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Minnow Mountain:

Videos

Quantum Cowboys Clip
Quantum Cowboys Clip

Quantum Cowboys: Now showing in select theaters and streaming on Prime Video and Apple TV. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. We were honored to contribute to this amazing film. #animation #rotoscope Quantum Cowboys

Quantum Cowboys Clip
Quantum Cowboys Clip

Quantum Cowboys: Now showing in select theaters and streaming on Prime Video and Apple TV . 100% on Rotten Tomatoes We were honored to contribute to this amazing film. #animation #rotoscope Quantum Cowboys

Quantum Cowboys Clip: Bullets
Quantum Cowboys Clip: Bullets

Quantum Cowboys: Now showing in select theaters and streaming on Prime Video and Apple TV. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. We were honored to contribute to this amazing film. #animation #rotoscope Learn More: Quantum Cowboys https://www.quantumcowboysmovie.com/

Quantum Cowboys Trailer
Quantum Cowboys Trailer

Quantum Cowboys playing now in select theaters and streaming November 14th. We were honored to contribute to this amazing film. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

We are proud our 96% average Rotten Tomatoes score. Studio co-founders Steph Swope and Craig Staggs in this clip from our new about video you can watch on minnowmountain.com.

Apollo 10 1/2 is the perfect Sunday afternoon movie. Watch on Netflix right now. #fyc #Oscars #animation

For your consideration. Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood on Netflix. #fyc #oscars #animation

A peak behind the scenes of Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10 1/2- the highly acclaimed Oscar contender for best animated feature film playing right now on Netflix. Starring Glen Powell Jack Black Zachary Levi #FYC #foryourconsideration #bestanimatedfeature #animation #oscars

Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic nominee for Governor of Texas. Drawn by Craig Staggs. Beto O'Rourke #animation #illustration #rotoscoping #rotoscopia #rotoscopeanimation

Minnow Mountain's 2022 Demo Reel. Enjoy the flavor!

Three shots from Apollo 10 1/2. Check out motion blur smear on first clip. The challenging simultaneous camera and character movement in the second clip. And the exaggeration and stretch in the last clip. The Academy ignored these traditional animation techniques when they refused to let Apollo 10 1/2 compete. #animation #rotoscope

Yet another OBVIOUSLY frame by frame hand animated shot from Apollo 10 1/2. The Academy insists this isn’t animation. It is. And we can prove it. #animation

New lesson tonight! Huge discount for our social media followers at How To Rotoscope with Craig Staggs. Go to howtorotoscope.com and use the coupon code “SOSHMEED25” at checkout to get 25% off. Discount applies to all subscriptions, video lessons, and gift cards. Sale expires soon so don’t wait. #rotoscope #animation #rotoscopeanimation #rotoscoping #rotoscopia #illustration #digitalart #digitalportrait #tvpaint

Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic nominee for Governor of Texas. Drawn by Craig Staggs. #animation #illustration #rotoscoping #rotoscopia #rotoscopeanimation

Check out our work on Apollo 10 1/2 dir by Richard Linklater. Watch all of the amazing samples from our new reel at minnowmountain.com. #animation #rotoscope #rotoscopia #rotoscopeanimation #rotoscoping #filmmaking #film

Check out our work for Critical Role. Watch the rest of our amazing samples at minnowmountain.com #animation #rotoscope #rotoscoping #rotoscoping #rotoscopia #illustration #filmmaking #filM

How To Rotoscope Lesson 202 available this evening. Watch this portrait being drawn in real time by a master of rotoscope. howtorotoscope.com #rotoscope #rotoscopeanimation #rotoscopia #rotoscoping #animation #illustration #filmmaking #artclass

Check our work on Dance First, an original dance video. Watch the rest of our amazing samples at minnowmountain.com #animation #rotoscope #rotoscoping #rotoscoping #rotoscopia #illustration #filmmaking #film

A decade before Minnow Mountain launched- studio co-founder, Craig Staggs, got his start animating Keanu Reeves on A Scanner Darkly. Still in the demo reel! Watch the rest at minnowmountain.com! #rotoscope #rotoscopeanimation #rotoscopia #animation #filmmaking #ascannerdarkly #keanureeves

Shortcuts

  • Address
  • Alerts
  • Contact The Business
  • Videos
  • Claim ownership or report listing

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?

Share

EMMY WINNING ANIMATORS OF TOWER AND AMAZON’S UNDONE

We are honored to serve as the character animation unit on Amazon’s groundbreaking new series: Undone. And proud to be the animation team behind Tower, an Emmy winning film directed by Keith Maitland. Craig Staggs and Steph Swope founded Minnow Mountain to create groundbreaking material for the new media environment that includes screens big and small. Our work displays a unique vision and personality but is rooted in traditional creative processes and turbo charged with an insane work ethic.