The Ninjai Gang, creators of an online/action series called Ninjai: The Little Ninja. This small group of stuntmen, artists, and musicians by day, and animators by night who primarily use Flash 5 for their creation. This was one of the very first Flash animations I was introduced to when my father showed me Don Hertzfeldt on AtomFilms (NOTE: because of their website change, now Ninjai and Hertzfeldt are no longer on their site). The Ninjai web-animation is currently only 12 chapters long and centers around the life of Ninjai, a young samurai/ninja who is traveling the world looking for meaning and purpose in his life. During his journey, he encounters memorable characters, including a little bird as his friend and sidekick, and villains.
What sets them apart from other animators is that they are not a famous studio or artist. They are a group of normal people aging from 15-25 with various skills in Flash and animation work. They are not a company such as Pixar or Lucas Films, but they have enjoyed their success thus far. The group has had their struggles with financial issues but is persevering.
The characters in Ninjai are hand drawn frame by frame for most of the animation process. Most of the backgrounds are either hand drawn or are found images because of the pixilation that is apparent whenever they zoom in on a character. Further into the series, the character design becomes more fluid and natural instead of static animation traditionally seen in Flash.
