Godzilla vs. Gigan
To celebrate Gigan’s 50th anniversary, Topps and Toho released a special Godzilla vs. Gigan collection featuring iconic kaiju, original comic artwork, and animated digital collectibles.
Godzilla vs. Gigan NFTs
To celebrate Gigan’s 50th anniversary, Topps partnered with Toho on a limited Godzilla vs. Gigan collection featuring characters and artwork from across the franchise. Part of the release included special reward collectibles based on comic covers from IDW’s Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, with original artwork by kaiju artists Matt Frank and Jeff Zornow.
Topps brought me in to turn those static illustrations into animated pieces that felt worthy of both the artwork and the monsters themselves. I broke apart and rebuilt the original art, retouched areas that were never meant to move, and added character animation, attacks, lighting, debris, heat distortion, atmosphere, and camera movement. The trick was making everything feel bigger and more alive without losing what made the original illustrations so good in the first place.
CLIENT
Topps NFTs
STUDIO
Weirdo Works
YEAR
2022
ROLE
Animation
Justin Gammon
ORIGINAL
ILLUSTRATION
Matt Frank
Jeff Zornow
RESULTS
Three animated comic covers for the Gigan 50th anniversary
Built as the reward tier for collection challenges
Limited release sold out quickly
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth – Comic Cover #1
Illustrator: Matt Frank | Animator: Justin Gammon
Godzilla vs. Gigan Cross-Collection Challenge
Making Monsters Move
Animating finished comic artwork is a little different from building something for motion from the beginning. Every cover had to be carefully taken apart so characters, backgrounds, smoke, fire, debris, and other elements could move independently. That also meant rebuilding pieces of the artwork that had originally been hidden behind monsters or effects.
From there, I could start bringing the scenes to life. I wanted the monsters to feel huge and physical, not like pieces of artwork sliding around on screen. Subtle camera movement, atmospheric effects, glowing light, fire, smoke, heat distortion, and destruction helped give the illustrations more depth while keeping Matt and Jeff’s original artwork front and center.
The Quest for Kaiju Knowledge
Slaying the Groundwork
Godzilla fans know these characters inside and out, so I couldn’t just make the monsters move however I wanted. I went back through clips from the films to study how Gigan, M.O.G.U.E.R.A., Orga, and the other kaiju moved, attacked, and used their abilities.
That research gave me a vocabulary for the animation and helped keep the pieces connected to the movies rather than just adding movement for movement’s sake. The goal was for someone who really knows Godzilla to watch one of these and feel like the character was behaving the way they should.
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth – Comic Cover #2
Illustrator: Jeff Zornow | Animator: Justin Gammon
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth – Comic Cover #3
Illustrator: Jeff Zornow | Animator: Justin Gammon
Building Value Beyond the Artwork
Godzilla vs. Gigan vs. Groupies
These animations were created as special rewards within the larger collection, so they needed to feel like something more than just another card. Fans had to collect specific pieces to unlock them, which meant the payoff needed to feel worth the effort.
That gave me a good excuse to push the animation further. By adding movement, atmosphere, effects, and character moments to the original comic artwork, the rewards felt more like little scenes from the Godzilla universe instead of simply animated versions of the covers.