2026 OIAF Poster

Statement from the Artist

When I was asked to draw the poster for the Ottawa International Animation Festival, I was only given one requirement. It must have an owl in it. That was fine with me. I like owls. They are a great classic cartoon image. Immediately, I settled on a typical bookish, tweedy owl. The go-to owl. I suppose I could have gone against type and done, say, a skinny little punk-rock owl, but who am I kidding? It was always going to be this frumpy old owl. That’s my sensibility. Out of nowhere, a nerdish frog appeared to run the film projector. No names were requested for these characters yet, “Owlbert” and “Frogworth” found their way into my brain. I assume they have a kind of Siskel and Ebert sort of relationship (aha—thus the “Bert” part of the name). 

When I turned in the drawing, my good friend Luc Chamberland (animator and director) asked me why I had surrounded Owlbert with books instead of film canisters. It was a good point. Though, to be honest, it never even occurred to me. Owls are wise. Owls read books. If I had a screening room, it would be full of books. In this case, surely they are books about animation! 

Graphic Novelists and animators are related, but they come from very different branches of the cartooning family. My medium is all about stillness, and animation is all about movement. It is an interesting difference. When I first saw some of my work animated, I was amazed to fully realize how utterly apart these two branches are. It was a good experience for someone like myself who genuinely loves animation and thinks they understand it…but perhaps is kidding himself. I have the deepest respect for the noble calling of animation in all its various forms, and it is a lovely honour to draw this year’s poster.  

Good luck to all the nominees.

Seth
Palookaville, 2026