đ¸ THE FINAL CUT đ¸
INDUSTRY NEWS FOR VISUAL STORYTELLERS
Happy Friday, and welcome back to The Final Cutâ your weekly roundup of whatâs moving in the world of visual storytelling.
Big week. Brad Bird just dropped the first-look images for Ray Gunn (see above image)â his sci-fi noir animated feature thatâs been 30 years in the making â and the cast alone is worth pausing over. Also this weekend: a festival in Nashville that somehow assembled Andreas Deja, Aaron Blaise, and John Pomeroy under one roof.
One last note before you grab a coffee and get into it. Shane and I are well aware how polarizing even the mention of AI can be, especially in a newsletter designed for artists. That said, we feel completely ignoring it may not be the best approach, as some may want to keep tabs on the advances and how it may affect their careers.
A couple of articles in the Tools & Pipeline section mention AI this week. We would be interested in knowing exactly how our readers feel about this moving forward, so please sound off in the comments section (but please keep it civil).
The Week in Visual Storytelling
Storyboarding ¡ Animation ¡ Comics ¡ Pre-Production ¡ Tools & Pipeline
April 10, 2026
Animation â Events
Animation Yâall Expo Returns to Nashville This Weekend with Disney Legend Lineup
The second annual Animation Yâall Expo runs April 10â12 at Lipscomb University in Nashville, bringing together an impressive roster of working and legendary animators â including Andreas Deja, Aaron Blaise, John Pomeroy, and Stephen Silver. Masterclasses cover animal drawing, world building for story, and a behind-the-scenes look at Dejaâs film Mushka. The expo features nearly 90 exhibitors and sponsors including DreamWorks Animation, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Skydance Animation. April 11 has been officially declared âAnimation Dayâ in Tennessee, timed to coincide with the event.
Source: Animation World Network
Animation â Industry
TAAFI 2026 Wraps This Weekend at TIFF Lightbox with 100+ Films and Industry Conference
The Toronto Animation Arts Festival International runs through April 12 at the TIFF Lightbox, presenting over 100 animated films from around the world alongside the Toronto Animation Industry Conference (TAIC). The lineup includes speakers Bobby Chiu, Suzanne Wilson, Mark Edwards, and Nic Cabana of Claynosaurz. Programming includes Perfect Pitch, Speed Pitching, portfolio reviews, and panels on navigating the current industry. For those in the Toronto area, the conference programming runs through Sunday.
Source: Animation World Network
Animation â Feature Film
Netflix Drops First-Look Images for Brad Birdâs âRay Gunnâ â and the Cast Is Exceptional
Netflix and Skydance Animation have revealed the first official images and voice cast for Ray Gunn, the long-in-development sci-fi noir animated feature from two-time Oscar winner Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, The Iron Giant). Sam Rockwell voices private eye Raymond Gunn, Scarlett Johansson voices Venus Nova, and Tom Waits voices Eyera â set against the backdrop of Metropia, a sprawling city imagined from the vantage point of 1939. Bird has said the project has been in his mind for over 30 years, and the first-look visuals already carry that sense of long-gestating vision. Produced by Skydance and John Lasseter.
Source: Animation World Network
Comics & Illustration
Graphic Novel Sales Jump 28.5% in Q1 2026 as Market Rebounds
According to Circana BookScan data reported by Comics Beat, graphic novel sales climbed 28.5% in the quarter ending March 28, 2026 â a significant rebound following last yearâs disruptions from the Diamond Comic Distributors collapse. The surge appears driven largely by DCâs Absolute Batman collections and continued dominance from manga titles including Jujutsu Kaisen. The growth comes even as total print book unit sales fell 3.1% for the same period, making the graphic novel category a genuine bright spot in publishing right now.
Source: Comics Beat
Tools & Pipeline
iQIYI Launches Nadou Pro â An AI Agent That Handles Storyboarding Through Post
Chinese streaming giant iQIYI launched Nadou Pro on April 3rd, positioning it as Chinaâs first AI agent built specifically for end-to-end professional film and TV production. The platform combines proprietary multimodal models with third-party tools to support script development, storyboarding, art direction, and visual effects inside a single workflow â no platform switching required. Itâs already being used on 16 productions across genres, and was credited by director Fangzhao Zhuang for achieving the visual look of Celestial Quest. The platform was co-launched with Academy Award-winning cinematographer Peter Pau, whose AI Theater initiative gave directors early access.
Source: PR Newswire / Morningstar
Tools & Pipeline
Autodesk Rolls Out New AI Features for Maya and Flow Studio â Free Webinars Next Week
Autodesk has released new AI-powered features across its animation tools, with two standouts worth knowing about. MotionMaker in Maya now includes a horse motion archetype that uses AI to generate realistic base motion in seconds â a practical time-saver for animators working with quadrupeds. Wonder 3D, available in Autodesk Flow Studio, lets artists generate 3D characters or objects from text prompts or reference images, designed for previs and concept development. Autodesk is hosting free live webinars on whatâs new in Maya on April 15 and 16 at 10:00 AM PT.
Source: Autodesk News
From the Community
Fellow Substackers worth your time this week. If their work resonates, give them a restack.
BIZ â Charles Houghton
Animation First 2026 Festival: How Animators & Composers Surprised Me About Making Comics
Houghton reports from the Animation First 2026 festival and digs into an unexpected connection â how animators and composers approach narrative rhythm in ways that challenge the way he thinks about comics. Cross-disciplinary thinking at its best.
How to Draw ____ â RJR
An Exercise in Visual Storytelling: Adapting Your Favorite Films to Comics
RJR walks through the process of taking a beloved film and translating it to the comics page â exploring how panel composition, pacing, and visual language shift when you move from motion to static frames. A genuinely useful exercise for anyone who works across both mediums.
Cartoon Movement
Newsletter 2, 2026 â Cartoons, Democracy, and the DELIAH Project
Cartoon Movement shares updates on DELIAH, a European research initiative exploring the relationship between humor, cartoons, and democratic literacy. Itâs an interesting lens on what editorial and political cartooning can actually do in the world.
And thatâs a wrap for this week. Weâll be back next Friday with more industry news.
Beyond The Process is a Substack for working creatives in visual storytelling â storyboarding, animation, comics, illustration, and film pre-production.
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