All Heart
Custom LoRA training for the Oscar-qualifying animated short from Michael Govier, Will McCormack, and executive producer Natasha Lyonne. Produced by Asteria.
Overview
We trained custom AI models for All Heart, a nine-minute animated short directed by Oscar-winning filmmakers Michael Govier and Will McCormack (If Anything Happens I Love You) and executive produced by Natasha Lyonne. The film has qualified for Academy Award consideration.
All Heart tells the story of a father’s journey to visit a young man with an extraordinary connection to his late daughter — an exploration of grief, memory, and the transcendent power of love. The film combines hand-drawn artistry by illustrator Jimmy Thompson with AI-animation techniques developed at Asteria.
Role
Custom LoRA Training — We trained models on Jimmy Thompson’s original illustrations, enabling the production team to generate additional assets in his distinctive style while preserving the hand-drawn character of the work. The same model-to-pipeline methodology developed across previous Asteria productions — training artist-specific LoRAs that extend rather than replace the illustrator’s vision.
Technical Knowledge Transfer — Contributed to the ongoing education and documentation that enabled the broader production team to work effectively with generative tools. The workflows and techniques carried forward from previous projects, allowing this production to move efficiently from trained models through traditional editorial, compositing, scoring, and sound mixing — all with Los Angeles-based creative talent at each phase.
Production
Directed by Michael Govier and Will McCormack. Executive produced by Natasha Lyonne and Bryn Mooser. Original illustrations by Jimmy Thompson. Produced by Kimberly Dennison, Justin Lacob, and Carly Burgess. Produced by Asteria.
The filmmakers noted: “By integrating AI into these films, we’ve not only unlocked more freedom to art direct the animation, but we’ve also been able to bring more of our artistic visions from an idea to a completed short with the amount of time saved.”