We Spoke to Kotte Animation About Blender, Art Style & Creating the 'Squid Game' Parody Video

Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself, who is the person behind Kotte Animation?

Hello, I'm Kotte Animation! I create short and funny 3D animations on YouTube, primarily focusing on parody content. I work exclusively in Blender for my 3D animations.

While you might know these details from my channel, I'm excited to use this interview as a chance to share a bit more about myself.

Originally, I was a chemical engineering student at university, with no prior experience in 3D art before starting my YouTube journey. I was going through a fairly mundane college life until, during a break, I came across a YouTube channel called Surreal Entertainment. Surreal creates intentionally low-quality, humorous animations, often called 'shitposts.' I was watching this video and found it super hilarious. I thought, "How does anyone even come up with this? It's genius!" It was amazing to see how much laughter could come from intentionally low-quality animation.

Curious, I checked out the other videos on Surreal Entertainment's channel and enjoyed them all. Eventually, I thought to myself, "If it's at this quality, maybe I could make something like it too?" It was a cocky thought, especially since I'd never touched 3D before.

Since I was young, I've always enjoyed making people laugh, especially with absurd and silly content. Back in elementary school, I'd make the whole class laugh with my one-man plays, parodies of traditional fairy tales, or post ridiculous comics on the class homepage made in PowerPoint (to the point where some parents complained to the teacher, saying my work wasn't good for kids' development). Even as a middle schooler, I'd post comics online. I stopped drawing in high school, but I was still known as the class clown, always making everyone laugh.

I wanted to create quirky 3D animations, just like Surreal, to make people laugh. But then came the question, "How am I going to make 3D animations at home?" I researched 3D animation software, finding options like Maya and C4D, and discovered that Blender was free. I even found out that Surreal also used Blender, which made it an easy choice for me.

One of the animations I made when I was in middle school:

What courses/tutorials/resources helped you to get the hang of 3D animation at the beginning of your journey?

I didn't have formal education in 3D animation; I learned everything on my own through YouTube. Like many beginners, I started with the basics using Blender Guru’s famous 'donut tutorial,' which I still recommend to anyone starting with Blender. From there, I continued using YouTube as my main learning source, searching for tutorials on specific techniques as I encountered them in my projects.

While tutorials taught me the essentials, hands-on experience has been the most valuable part of my learning. I generally use tutorials just to get familiar with Blender's core functions, then dive straight into my projects. This approach keeps me motivated and allows me to discover more efficient ways to work through my own trial and error.

For instance, when Geometry Nodes were first introduced, I watched a few tutorials to understand the basics, but then I started experimenting and figuring things out on my own. I enjoy the process of connecting nodes and discovering different effects myself.

This hands-on approach to learning has kept me focused and allowed me to apply new techniques directly within my projects. I rarely use Blender just for practice – my learning always has a purpose, which drives me to keep pushing forward.

Why did you pick Blender as your go-to tool, what are its advantages as an animation software?

I initially chose Blender because it's free, but I continue to use it because it has everything I need. While I haven't used other 3D software for comparison, Blender's animation tools cover all the essentials: the Dope Sheet, Graph Editor, and Motion Paths allow me to create any movement I want. The built-in Geometry Nodes, Modifiers, and Constraints simplify my workflow, and Rigify takes care of rigging, which I find challenging to do on my own. Blender packs all the necessary animation features into one program.

For beginners, I'd say don't hold back on creativity! Start by imagining what you want to animate, even if the process is unclear. Write down your ideas, then use resources like YouTube, Google, or ChatGPT to research the concepts. You'll find that things quickly start to make sense. Study the basics, apply what you learn to your projects, and don't worry if things don't work perfectly at first.

Through this approach, you'll gradually pick up the core tools you'll use most often. Blender has countless features, but you'll discover a set of tools that suit your style best. Focus on mastering those, and creating your envisioned animations will become much easier.

How and when did you launch your YouTube channel? Did you anticipate your meme masterpieces blowing up the way they did?

In the summer of 2018, during my university break, I started making 3D animations with the simple goal of making people laugh, and I immediately set up a channel to upload my videos. I never imagined my channel would grow to this extent. I feel incredibly lucky that what I find funny resonates with so many others as well.

How did you come up with your unique artistic style? I always refer to it as "eye-pleasing ugliness", but maybe it has an official name?

I've never really tried to name my style, but "eye-pleasing ugliness" seems like a fitting term! My current animation style came naturally as I created scenes that I personally found funny. If you look at my early videos, they're heavily influenced by Surreal Entertainment and feature highly unrealistic movements. But over time, I realized that style didn't fully resonate with me. I felt limited and sensed a need for change.

That's when I first started exploring animation theory. I learned about the 12 principles of animation and came across The Animator's Survival Kit. The "pose-to-pose" method of animating really struck me – I felt like I had finally discovered the fundamentals of solid animation.

It was around the time I made this video that I began finding my own style. The process of animating Black Widow running in a hilariously exaggerated pose was a new and exciting experience. By creating key poses, adding in-betweens, and adjusting timing, I realized I could achieve actions that were even funnier than what I had originally imagined.

I especially enjoyed creating bizarre running movements. In my parody of Frozen, for example, after animating Elsa running in an awkward, exaggerated way, I found myself laughing a lot. It showed me just how strange things could get if I fully committed to making something ridiculous. Creating funny animations like this is incredibly enjoyable for me, and I think that's what naturally led to my current style.

To break the rules effectively, you need to understand them well. Learning about the 12 principles of animation and other foundational theories played a big role in developing my style, and I believe that knowledge has been crucial in allowing me to create the kind of animations I make today.

How do you come up with the ideas for your videos? Do you plan the chaos that happens in them in advance, or do you make stuff up as you go?

My ideas often start with a simple "what if?" question. For example, my Frozen parody began with "What if Elsa couldn’t sing?" From there, I thought, "If she can't sing, let's make her hilariously unattractive with an awkward run." Then I imagined, "What if Anna launched Elsa off the balcony? And why not make Anna act like The Undertaker?" Similarly, my Squid Game parody started with, "What if the participants were unbelievably good at the game?" They could dance their way to the finish line, with exaggerated muscles and comically large behinds. The key is to keep some connection to the original but push it to absurd extremes.

While I plan some chaos, most of it happens spontaneously. Rarely does a video turn out as I originally envisioned. I start with a loose framework but often end up trying funny ideas that come to mind mid-production. Because they're unexpected even to me, they end up being genuinely amusing.

My favorite video is When Gojo lost his train, which was super fun to make. Before that, I made Star Watcher, an original animation that took too long and felt overthought, making it less enjoyable. After investing five months in it, I was discouraged by the response. But with Gojo, I went back to a looser, improvisational style, and it turned out even funnier than expected.

Could you please tell us about the working process behind your sequences? Let's take the one most people know you for, the Squid Game one, what was the Blender pipeline behind it?

This is how I work on most of my projects:

1. Character creation
2. Setting up the background and props
3. Animating.

While this basic framework stays consistent, the order within each stage changes depending on spontaneous ideas that arise as I work. Inspiration that comes up along the way is key.

Most of my characters are human, so I have a custom human model that I frequently use.

This model, which I created in early 2022, serves as the foundation for every human character I've made since then, and I still use it now. It has 18,600 polygons.

The model I used for the Squid Game video, though, is from 2020 and has 11,012 polygons. My Elsa character is essentially the same model, just with a slightly enlarged chest.

While I enjoy many parts of my workflow, rigging has always been the toughest aspect. For that reason, I rely on Blender's built-in add-on, Rigify, for my rigging instead of creating custom rigs. I've used Rigify ever since I started. 

At first, I approach every project with as much creativity as possible, brainstorming ideas and following spontaneous thoughts. Initially, I didn't make the Squid Game characters muscular. I simply textured my base model.

Looking back at my old project files brings up some nostalgia. That's right – I didn't add faces or muscles to the participants at first. In fact, I didn't even plan on making a Squid Game parody. I just wasn't feeling inspired. But as everyone was staying home and watching Squid Game due to COVID-19, I figured I couldn't let the moment pass, so I began by building the basic set, the robot, and the people. Even after all that, I still wasn't sure what fun content I could create. 

When I added the faces to the main characters, though, they started to come to life, and inspiration gradually began to flow. "What if these characters were unbelievably good at the game?" In the original, they're fighting for their lives to reach the finish line, but what if these pros could breeze through the first game?

Ideas like this didn't come to me until I had built the characters and set in Blender. While some concepts do come to mind beforehand, most of my funniest ideas arise during the process, as I actually start seeing the characters on screen.

So, these characters are supposed to be pros at Squid Game. But they're too scrawny – let's give them some muscles! 

Perfect. Just adding some bulk to Gi-hun sparked a flood of ideas. With this model, anything they do is going to be funny. Let's find the most ridiculous meme dances and have them dance their way to the finish line. The motivation and inspiration that were completely absent at the beginning suddenly surged, and at that point, there was no stopping me from finishing this project. The file I saved during this phase is called 'gihun thick.'

Are you familiar with Omni-Man's iconic squat pose? At the time, I often watched clips of Invincible on YouTube, so I naturally came across Omni-Man's squat to a cute song. This video closely resembles the original, which seems to have been taken down. As soon as this pose came to mind, I animated the characters in it, and I was so satisfied with the result.

The scene with all six characters doing squats became the foundation of the entire video's direction. I thought, "Let's have these six characters do meme dances in perfect sync as they head toward the finish line!"

After that, I searched for powerful music. I found this intense track in YouTube's free music library. The only thing left was to find more funny meme poses and dances and animate the characters marching toward the finish line to the beat.

The walking cycle was straightforward to create. I made the base pose with one foot stepping forward, added the weight shift up and down for the key pose, and added in-betweens to make it smooth. I then duplicated these keyframes to continue the walk cycle and applied them to each character to create the synchronized group movement. 

For the "Zero Two" dance, since it's a dance rather than a single pose, I couldn't apply the same level of creative freedom as I did with Omni-Man's squat. But since the dance involves swaying the hips side to side, I adapted it to a walking motion, allowing me to combine the dance with the walk cycle.

Since the rhythm of the "Zero Two" dance didn't match my chosen music, I had to adjust the timing of the keyframes. 

My favorite part of the dance sequence is when they twerk their way forward, which I took inspiration from the famous Thanos twerking meme. I followed the key poses for the twerk, made them step forward, and turned it into a walking cycle. There's a certain energy in that scene where all six characters are twerking toward the camera, filling the screen with their backsides, and I'm always aiming to recreate that vibe in my work.

The hardest scene to animate was the "evil dance" from Bully Maguire. It was challenging to combine a continuous dance with a walk cycle, especially with my still-developing animation skills at the time. 

Rather than trying to integrate meme dances into my projects, I focused on accurately recreating recognizable meme poses as references. Given how silly my characters look, the combination of exaggerated meme dances and their goofy faces created a natural synergy.

Let me share my general approach to other animations beyond the Squid Game video:

• I don't use storyboards, nor do I start with rough animations for the entire project. Instead, I loosely base everything on the core concept and complete each scene in segments of around 3 to 10 seconds before moving on to the next.
• I animate characters or objects first, followed by the camera. I rarely keep the camera static, instead moving it freely to find the best angles that showcase the character animation. Since I work alone without storyboards, this flexibility works well. The free-moving camera accentuates my chaotic, fast-paced animation style. So, when animating, I initially make sure each scene looks smooth from all angles.
• Once the camera animation is set, I tweak the character movements to ensure they look seamless within the frame. What's visible in the camera's field of view becomes the priority, so I adjust the character animation to make sure key movements look smooth.
• Music is also crucial. Nearly all of my videos are synced with the tempo of the music. Since I don't create music myself, I always sync the animation to the track. Without music, I'd struggle to decide on camera transitions or the timing of key poses. Matching the animation to the beat not only makes the process easier but also adds rhythm and immersiveness to the video.

Do you have any animations that you're currently working on? What should we, your fans, expect in the near future?

When I started writing my interview answers, I was nearly finished with my latest video, No Feeding Ducks! I've just wrapped up that project and am now working on this interview. 

This new animation features my original character, Star Watcher, and is the second video in which he appears. My first Star Watcher video took much longer to make compared to my other parody videos, and the process was so painstaking that it was almost agonizing. Despite the effort, it didn't receive as much attention as my parody videos. At that time, I thought I'd never make another original Star Watcher animation, yet here I am with another one.

For this latest Star Watcher video, I focused on creating a faster pace, more chaos, and unpredictability. Because of that, I actually had a lot more fun making it than the previous one, and I'm thrilled that the audience response has been much better than I expected. I was considering returning to mainly parody content if this video didn't perform well, but thanks to the positive feedback, I'm now excited to create more original animations featuring my own characters.

What would be your advice to beginning animators, how should they approach finding their own artistic style?

Create what you want to create, and enjoy the process! Making something you genuinely want to make will keep you motivated and prevent burnout. When you're excited about a project, even challenges feel worthwhile, and you'll find it hard to stop yourself from bringing it to completion.

Even if your animation doesn't turn out perfectly, finish it! My first walking cycle took three hours and looked terrible, but I didn't quit. Animation can be fun, but it also takes patience and persistence. Don't give up, even if things don't go as planned – you'll learn and improve with each project.

As for finding your style, focus on what you enjoy creating. Style isn't something you choose; it's something that naturally emerges from your work over time. By creating things you truly care about, you'll develop a unique style that reflects who you are as an artist.

Thank you for offering me this interview opportunity. Responding to these questions gave me a chance to reflect and organize my own thoughts about my work, and I really enjoyed it. I appreciate the opportunity to share my story with you.

Kotte Animation, 3D Animator & YouTuber

Interview conducted by Theodore McKenzie