How Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Blended Hand-Drawn & CG Animation Detailed By VFX Artists

VFX artists detail how Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem blended both hand-drawn and CG animation. In the film, the Turtle brothers attempt to become heroes by saving New York City from Superfly and his army of mutants. The Mutant Mayhem cast includes Nicolas Cantu, Brady Noon, Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Ayo Edebiri, Seth Rogen, Ice Cube, and more. Released in August, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem garnered praise for its humor and soundtrack, along with a distinct style that separates it from other animated films.

In Corridor Crew‘s latest video, Alex Snow discusses how Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem blended different animation styles. He made the comparison to Sony’s Spider-Verse movies, noting the ways lighting could be added to scenes, and explained how hand-drawn images were incorporated into movements. Read Snow’s comments regarding the animation in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem below, or check out the relevant section in the video, starting at 49 seconds:

“This is doing a lot of the things Spider-Verse and other things are doing as well. Like you can even see every time there’s a light source, it’s kind of like flickering back and forth. But obviously, the light is hitting the characters in a very correct way. There might be three versions of the lighting texture on the character, but it’s built in and then on top of that, they’re having realistic lighting, and then on top of it, they have draw overs you see in the smoke like that’s 2D animated, and I think sometimes the animator is doing that, sometimes an effects artist is doing that.

“There’s a lot of different solutions to the same problem, but it’s definitely hand-drawn, and you can see that with the scribbles and the variation. I’m sure they had like at least some assets that they could plug in, you know, things like the sword moving here. Drawing those lines, that’s quick for someone just to do on top and the animator might even do that on their Playblast before it’s rendered just to make sure it’s working, because doing lines like smear frames or multiples will slow down or speed up your animation.”

What Makes TMNT: Mutant Mayhem’s Animation Special?

The animation in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem stands out because of its ability to blend hand-drawn and CG styles. In one of the sequences Corridor Crew looked at, they mentioned the doodles surrounding light bulbs or flames. Snow added that Mutant Mayhem “feels more like a teenager drawing in his notebook,” and the differences between that and other contemporary animated movies are noticeable. However, there are some films that use similar techniques, with Sony’s Spider-Verse installments being touched on in the video as well.

For Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a franchise created in 1984, this style of animation may also be nostalgic for fans, and there are likely many viewers less interested in a new look for Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. When it comes to the work involved with bringing this movie to life, director Jeff Rowe previously revealed that Mutant Mayhem did not have strict conditions for its animators either. There’s a feeling that true creativity is being sparked onscreen, which makes the movie especially unique.

It’s interesting to see how Mutant Mayhem was able to use a different animation style to great effect, and to hear the explanation behind that. It might be difficult to predict how viewers respond to an animated film that has some sort of 2D semblance, but the praise for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem suggests that the blend of styles worked out well, and should be explored further in the future.