Luxo Jr. by John Lasseter

It was a masterpiece, in many many ways. It came from a time where 3D animation looked very stiff, uncanny and just awkward in general. Fluid animation existed in 2D for decades by then, and there were multiple techniques and principles of animation that existed for it. Sadly, these principles were never exploited in 3D back then. John Lasseter, the main animator behind this, studied using the animation principles of disney’s nine old men, and put them to great use in this short. It basically proved to the world that 3D could be more than just a bunch of fancy-looking wireframes for sci-fi films. (Pixar 1986)

Luxo Jr (Pencil Test)