3D Artist and Animator Dragana Stamenković shared on YouTube the Leap of Faith animated short film, which took five years to finish. It shows a girl fleeing on horseback, dropping what appears to be a sword and a pair of handcuffs.

The artist explained that it was made by a team of 13 people working part-time, and it took them five years to finish. She also mentioned that, unintentionally, it was gradually inspired by the Book of Exodus from the Bible.

In a live stream Q&A, Stamenković said that the main idea was inspired by Pocahontas; she wanted to recreate that image of hair being moved by the wind, and even though she didn't have a story per se yet, she wanted to portray a character feeling confused and kind of lost, but determined at the end.

Check out the full Q&A to see more details:

The artist has shared on her socials the creation process behind the animation, showing how a great work can take so much time, but seeing the final result is very rewarding.

In the videos, you can see how the team worked on creating the character, the horse, how they animated it, and how they put everything together, working as a team.

She also has shown a comparison of how the project looked in 2021 and how it looks now:

These are some of the first design explorations for the main character, Marika:

The film shows the girl looking at her hands; we can see that they're covered in blood, provoking the viewer to feel intrigued and wonder what happened to her. Then we see her running again, and it finishes when she is looking at what looks like roots covered with spikes.

Credits:

• Story, layout, animation & showrunning: Dragana Stamenković.
• Animation: Ognjen Cvetinovic, Aine' Graham, Andy Latham, Bharat Gour.
• Unreal Engine: Maksim Ljubenkovic.
• Composition: Nikola Vucenovic.
• Modeling: Aleksandar Babic.
• Rigging: Jared Embley.
• Concept art: Vladimir Mladenovic, Estelle Porterat, Ashith Mohan, Sarah Baslaim.
• Music: Luke Thomas.

The project was sponsored by Epic Mega Grant and made in association with Streamroller Animation. Follow the artist on YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn to see more of her projects.

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