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Hey everyone, our team is hosting a jack-o-melon carving contest! Submissions are due by 2 PM PST on June 22nd.  Feel free to design your melon however you wish! (Melon type does not matter)

Post submissions on Tumblr or Instagram with #mksummerween, and tag us at @themysterykidsreturn. We will contact the winner, and they will have a small cameo in the episode!

The winner will be announced over a Twitch stream. This is a great opportunity to meet the director, cast, and crew! Our Twitch username is themysterykidsreturn. Another info post will be made at the time of the stream.

Inappropriate or offensive submissions will not be considered. Also note that we will be playing Cards Against Humanity, a game that contains strong language and sexual innuendos. Thanks to @astralyume and @nellietart for the flyer.

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ARTISTS WANTED

ARTIST POSITIONS OPEN! 

As of July 14, 2018.

Hey guys, we have a few open artist positions! If you’re are interested, send some art to [email protected]!

NOTE: Digital art is strongly preferred! The style we’re going for is a bit round and cartoon-y, and not similar to the style used for anime and manga.

The spots may fill fast. If you send some really good art in after the slots are filled, we’ll put you in our list of future contacts! We will make a post when they are filled, so until we do so assume one is open. Please do not send NSFW content.

This project is non-paying, and we are in a later stage of production.

Thanks!

-The Mystery Kids Return Team

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exploring an old style with Coraline

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Animatic 1 - Bromance

Here are a few screencaps from an early deleted montage of Norman and Neil’s blossoming friendship. See the whole animatic and more on LAIKA’s official site!

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my predictions for the upcoming novel

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Pheeeew, guys, guys, why did nobody tell me that Paranorman is that good?!

Wait, you guys did. My bad. Why did I not watch it sooner?! Well who knows, clearly a big mistake on my part.

But it’s SO GOOD! Gosh, I just finished watching it, and I can’t stop smiling since then! I already had the feeling it would be great because it’s Laika, and Laika made Kubo – which already had me on the edge of my seat and starry-eyed and all – but it’s so completely different from Kubo while still being the same kind of awesome!

Okay, a bit more in order now:

-        It’s actually darker than I expected of a children’s movie? I mean, the whole talking to ghosts thing is pretty cool, the zombies turn out to be just as sad as Norman himself, and the witch is just a child who is scared, in the end… but what I mean is not only the setting and the abilities, but the whole movie in itself. It’s held in dark tones, or at least grey, the story orientates strongly on death and fear and everything in between, and only after it all got resolved is there more light and color in it. It’s a dark aesthetic, but really, really well done!

 -        The whole story with its twists and turns is, while still keeping familiar elements, new and surprising. The zombies aren’t really the bad guys, at least not in the present. The witch isn’t some scary mean old lady, just a bitter and frightened child. While Norman does find friends, he still has to do the really important things alone because he is special, and that’s great. While his sister never got along with him and still is a bit of a… well, a teenage girl trope fulfilling young lady, she actively protects and helps her brother. The baseball-sports-guy is not the bully of the story, but a good guy (and he has a boyfriend, I may or may not have laughed in delight at that twist, but that’s mostly just me).

And, super important to me, Norman doesn’t lose his abilities in the end. It’s over. It’s finished. Doesn’t mean he has to lose what makes him different – the people who care about him just have to learn, finally, how to live with it. That’s… that’s actually really great.

 -        No, really, what caught me wrong-footed here (and, in the end, delighted me) is that there is no antagonist as in, a singular bad guy, or a small group of people. Everyone does something wrong in some way. The zombies for judging and killing a child they were afraid of. Norman’s family and town’s people for never listening. The witch for becoming bitter and punishing people who either long since suffered enough or, worse, the innocents.

I was so ready to go “Ah, there’s the villain!” – but there wasn’t. Because, just like in reality, there is not always that one villain who can be blamed for everything, it’s actually all of us who are responsible for our actions, and it’s on us to do it right again.

… Neat!

 -        The stop-motion. Guys, the freaking stop-motion again. That’s my second stop-motion movie of all time, and I just can’t get over how freaking awesome it is, and just how much time and work goes into every. Single. Move. I mean that quite literally: Every single move is so time consuming, good lord, how do you not become completely insane over this. Someone sneezes, the whole scene is ruined. Poof. I would quit the damn job if that happened.

My absolute favorite, uh, animation (?) part is the lighting-magic-form of Agatha. That looked so amazing! I went back two times to watch it again just because I didn’t want to miss a single second.

 All in all, I somehow completely missed the time passing while watching – I was so enthralled and surprised by the story, no, the whole movie in itself. It’s so good! Seriously, if anybody here hasn’t watched ParaNorman yet, give it a go. The story needs a bit to pick up, but once it does, it doesn’t let you go again until it’s over, and you will love every second of it! =D

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Enjoy a taste of the comic that’s never going to be finished.

Art by @ghost-chicky

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Today from LAIKA’s official Instagram story… What’s coming in 3 days? A possible announcement about LAIKA film 5? Lets wait and see!

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Welcome to the Unknown, boys.

You’re more lost than you realize.

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Laika announced a film that I worked on!  I hope they release an image soon so I can talk more about it!

This is my first feature film project.

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Following Spree!

I just unfollowed a bunch of people and I’m looking for new blogs to follow! Please like/reblog this post if you post:

Sailor Moon Tokyo Ghoul Anime in general Overwatch RWBY Cow Chop JK News Nier Automata Life is Strange Over the Garden Wall Rick and Morty Bang Dream Harry Potter Mystic Messenger Supernatural 88 Rising Elsword DDLC

Feel free to message me if you also have any suggestions/want to recommend other blogs!

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My pages for the @waywardleaveszine - a ‘multi-media’ Over the Garden Wall fanzine. I was so glad to be a part of this project, alongside such talented people ~

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Over The Garden Wall

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eugh idk help me 

I know I’ll regret this in a month

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“sometimes people say things that seem mean, but they do it because they’re afraid.”

This drawing is quite old now but I figured I’d upload it because Paranorman will always hold a special lil place in my heart. 

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I need to sleep

it’s 2 am

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The Seeker

-can make a friend with a ghost

-less afraid of darkness