Tonic DNA, the award-winning Montreal-based animation studio, is proud to unveil 10th Life, its first AI-powered playground project. Created by long-time Tonic director and animation innovator Malcolm Sutherland, 10th Life is a point-and-click mystery adventure game that blends classic interactive storytelling with cutting-edge AI-assisted animation techniques.
At the core of 10th Life is a simple but bold question: how can AI complement—not replace—the work of artists and storytellers?
“I was interested in finding ways of using AI tools alongside my existing illustration, animation and film skills, instead of handing everything off to the AI wholesale.”, explains Malcolm.
With the support of Tonic DNA’s AI R&D Team –Jay Caplan, Philip Jan Franjo, Victor Franjo, Nadim Chartouni– 10th Life serves as a real-world test of new AI-integrated animation workflows that preserve an artist-first approach.
Two techniques were developed in-house:
AI-Assisted Environments
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An AI model was trained on Malcolm’s own art style, generating backgrounds from 3D layouts and text prompts. The result? A fast, visually coherent method for building rich animated worlds, up to 75% faster in some sequences.
AI-Assisted Character –
Animation
Inspired by rotoscoping, Malcolm acted out scenes, drew over the first frame, and used Runway to restyle footage. While cleanup is still necessary, the process accelerates the overall workflow and unlocks stylistic experimentation.
What’s next?
The studio has also developed a 2D Environment Generator tool, capable of rendering the same environment from different camera angles. An ideal asset for episodic storytelling.
Tonic DNA’s R&D team continues to refine these tools, always with the same goal: to provide artists with consistency, control, and creative freedom.
