Short of a few seconds of homebrewed animations here and there, we’ve never seen Calvin and Hobbes animated. That’s fine — Bill Watterson’s panels are more lifelike than a kabillion hours of most shows — but seeing it done right is enough to make your eyes fall out from happiness.
The Calvin & Hobbes GIFs Tumblr has been around since last July, when it got some coverage around the web, but it’s new to us and we assume new to some of you too and just too wonderful to not tell everyone about. Creator Eric Linn, who creates the GIFs using Photoshop, After Effects, and his boxed set of books, told the Daily Dot he still worries about whether or not Watterson approves.
One of the most remarkable things about Calvin and Hobbes’ legacy is that it’s never been licensed out (to the everlasting credit of Bill Watterson, the wonderful old codger). He was always worried they’d “contradict the message.” But it’s hard to imagine anyone finding much fault with these.
Maybe it’s just because I can’t stand there never being any more, but these and the other awesome Calvin and Hobbes Photoshop projects out there are just concentrated nostalgia and whimsy missiles. You can see the rest of the GIFs (animated a bit more smoothly) at the Tumblr.