Ester Pazur: Stop-Motion Animator on Losing Work to AI and Finding 64k Followers with Handmade Art

Ester Pazur, a stop-motion animator finishing a bachelor's degree in animation, has spent roughly a decade developing her practice, moving from academic and impressionistic drawing to anime and then to experimental and surreal stop-motion. After AI tools began replacing her commissioned work, she started posting her personal animations on Instagram, where she has since gained 64,000 followers. She describes herself as a pessimist drawn to innocence and naivety, aiming to create warm, comforting work that offers escape from a difficult world. Her process is intuitive, often beginning with a single image or feeling; for example, a running horse animation was inspired by a horse in a carpet pattern she noticed while lying on her mother's sofa, and Thunder Storm in Minneapolis drew from David Hockney's iPad paintings. Another piece features her mother, an oil painter, pouring milk into an Americano. Pazur also creates loop animations drawn directly onto paper in eight or 12 frames without advance planning. She is not interested in conveying a single message but hopes to stir emotion or questions that linger. In a world increasingly filled with AI-generated imagery, she finds the physical presence of the artist and handmade process especially meaningful.