Cuco — A Love Letter to LA
AI model training for the animated short film directed by Paul Trillo, produced by Asteria for Microsoft Artifacts. Vimeo Staff Pick #21.
View Project →Overview
Trained custom AI models for A Love Letter to LA, an animated short film featuring music by Cuco, directed by Paul Trillo, with original art by Paul Flores. The film was produced by Asteria as part of Microsoft’s Artifacts initiative — a collaboration collecting new work made with generative technology by different groups of artists.
The film transforms the streets of Los Angeles into kaleidoscopic dreamscapes, deeply rooted in Chicano culture. It reached Vimeo Staff Pick #21.
Role
AI Model Training (credited alongside Araminta K) — Fine-tuned custom LoRA models trained directly on Paul Flores’ hand-drawn artwork, with his active participation and collaboration. The models enabled Asteria’s team to remix and reinterpret Flores’ visual language at scale while preserving its distinctive character.
Technical Artist Guidance — Developed documentation and provided direct education to the broader production team on working with the trained models and ComfyUI-based generation workflows. The project assembled a team of over 20 people including 2D animators, 3D generalists, AI animators, and VFX artists — bridging traditional animation craft with generative tools required clear technical communication.
Production
Directed and written by Paul Trillo. Original art by Paul Flores. Produced by Douglas Emerson at Asteria. Lead animation by Eric Foster with 2D animation by Juan Lage and Nicolás Marsá. Full credits available at C49 Productions.