Doodle, Disney's Best Christmas Ever

This one was pure joy to work on.

A Disney Holiday Short: Best Christmas Ever tells the story of a little girl who crafts a small character and places it on the mantelpiece for Santa, only to discover on Christmas morning that he's brought her creation to life. The design of Doodle, the scribble character at the heart of the film, went through over 250 drawings during development, with some inspired by actual children's artwork from the crew's families. The whole brief was essentially: draw like a kid. Deliberately wonky, imperfect, full of energy. And that was genuinely one of the most liberating things I've been asked to do in years. No polish. No refinement. Just scribble something and make it alive.

You can see some of that early exploration in the concept images above, loose crayon sketches and AI-driven tests using stills like these to push the character in different directions. Everything from chaotic neon scribble-creatures to rounder, chunkier forms. The third image shows the thing I love most about this kind of work: concept sketch on the left, 3D realisation on the right, same energy, same silly little wing-nubs, just made real.

One of the key design challenges was making it absolutely clear that Doodle is missing a mouth, without any of the crayon marks being mistaken for one. Every mark had to count. Getting that level of intentional imperfection right is actually harder than it sounds.

The whole film was directed by the brilliant Taika Waititi, Oscar winner, the man behind Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Ragnarok, and last year's Emmy-nominated Disney holiday short The Boy & The Octopus. Doodle is voiced by Disney Legend John Goodman, and legendary Disney animator Eric Goldberg, creator of the Genie from Aladdin, served as animation advisor. No big deal.

The short was produced in collaboration with Untold Studios, production company hungryman, and creative agency adam&eveDDB. It's now streaming on Disney+. The character design has also been nominated for an AICP Award in the character category, which honestly feels pretty good for a drawing that's missing a mouth.

Go watch it. It's three minutes and it'll make your day.