Kévin Gemin () (born April 14, 1992), known online as Kékéflipnote or simply Kéké, is a French artist and animator. He is best known for his work created using the
Flipnote Studio
''Flipnote Studio'', originally released in Japan as , was a free downloadable application available through the Nintendo DSi's DSiWare digital distribution service. Developed by Nintendo EAD Tokyo, ''Flipnote Studio'' allowed the user to create ...
line of software for the
Nintendo DSi
The is a dual-screen handheld game console released by Nintendo. The console launched in Japan on November 1, 2008, and worldwide beginning in April 2009. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sony In ...
and
Nintendo 3DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...
handheld game consoles.
Early life and education
Gemin was born in
Annemasse
Annemasse (; Arpitan: ''Anemâsse'') is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Even though it covers a relatively small territory (4.98 km2 or 1.92 sq mi), it is Haute-Savoie's second ...
,
Haute-Savoie
Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is ...
, France.
He enrolled at the Émile Cohl School in
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
in 2013, graduating with a degree in animation in 2016.
Career
Gemin initially discovered Flipnote Studio in September 2009 after having animated via traditional means for a period of time and was inspired by 1930s cartoons, specifically the work of
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American a ...
.
Two of his works include a
Steven Universe
''Steven Universe'' is an American animated series, animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe (character), Steven Universe (Zach Callison), who li ...
parody entitled ''Steven Pigeon Universe'' and an animation featuring
anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
pigeons
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
(resembling
Kiwis) dancing the
can-can.
Gemin was the Guest of Honour at NordicFuzzCon in 2019. In May 2018, he spoke at the 14th annual Pictoplasma Conference and Festival for character design and art in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
.
Gemin's animation was featured in the ending of an episode of
Pop Team Epic
is a Japanese four-panel surreal comedy webcomic and digital manga series written and illustrated by Bkub Okawa (alternatively romanized as "Bukubu Okawa"), which started serialization on Takeshobo's ''Manga Life Win'' website in August ...
.
References
Living people
French animators
1992 births
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