Animator Wanted: YYC Band Music Video
Kue Varo & The Only Hopes
Application deadline: February 18, 2026
Starting date for production: First week of March
We are a local band called Kue Varo & The Only Hopes. Our last release, Cowboy Witchcraft, has won awards and charted nationally — which was a surprise as it was DIY and independently released. It was recently named one of Calgary’s best 25 albums of the past 25 years.
For this project, called How Everything Feels and Other Lies, we will be recording our next album in February to release in late April. The music video we would like animated is for the title track and will be used to promote the album as a publicity asset.
We’re looking for a collaborator comfortable with morphing animation and vintage-inspired styles. We want you to love this so we’re very open to your ideas and creativity. The album’s tone lives somewhere between 60s and 70s illustration: think Kurt Vonnegut, old-school Soviet animation and folktale storybooks, all imagined as if Twin Peaks were set on the prairies. Of course, these are loose reference points, meant as sparks rather than strict direction.
We’re intentionally committed to a handmade look and feel. Imperfect, human and full of heart, as a counterbalance to the overly glossy AI-heavy aesthetic we’re seeing everywhere right now.
The contracted project is approximately 90 seconds of animation. It includes two unique black-and-white walking or morphing animations of a single character, centered in frame against a primarily white background. During the chorus, the music and mood shift dramatically. We’d love to transition from verse to chorus by transitioning the character into a full-color environment. This would be the only part in colour. This section can loop, similar to a “beats to study and chill to” style. Very subtle movements like wind, breathing or gently moving water.
I’m not an animator, so I’m excited to collaborate with someone who finds this fun and interesting and is eager to suggest the best way to bring it to life once you’ve heard the demo track. However, I am a producer and have extensive experience with project management, so I aim to be as organized as possible and keep things simple.
Once we’ve found the right person, we would also love it if you’d make our album art for an additional payment.
We plan on paying 30% upfront and 50% upon completion with a storyboard or just some examples of the character/scene, with the final 20% paid on project completion. We also expect one- to two-iteration deliveries where we can give some feedback.
For the final deliverable, we would also like some of the elements to be separated PNG’s so we can brand website, social media etc. assets with them. This might be more relevant to the album artwork however and can be negotiated as a separate item.
Length of Contract: 4 – 6 weeks.
The artist would be expected to attend a pre-production meeting Late Feb.
Starting date for production: First week of March (We will need to swap out the song a few weeks later when it is mastered timing will not change from start date)
Hard deadline: April 16, 2026
Duties/ Deliverables:
- Music video animation (Full video exported in 1080p)
- PNG’s of some of the elements of artwork for use in promotional materials and branding (potentially separate contract but would want the same artist)
Potential for official album artwork — to be discussed in a separate contract.
Skill Requirements: Looking for an artist to work in a 2D hand-drawn style, digital preferred. Please send over relevant examples of your work in your portfolio.
If interested, send an email with the title Music Video Application and your portfolio to kuevaromusic@gmail.com by February 18, 2026.
