Animating existence

Renowned animator Danny Casale, aka Coolman_Coffeedan, says his content is like a shining light on your timeline

Danny Casale

You would find yourself scrolling down New York city-based Danny Casale’s Instagram profile, youtube vidoes, and Facebook page, completely drawn into content that is satirical and surreal. The 25-year old animator, who was in Bengaluru recently for the Under25 Summit, garnered millions of viewers for his creation Snakes have legs, a satire on the media. He speaks of his meteoric rise as an animator.

Danny Casale

You call yourself a ‘bad’ animator, when you are so good! Why would you call yourself that?

I call myself a ‘bad’ animator as I was never a pro at anything. It takes a lot out of you to call yourself a pro. As fact has it, I went viral before I knew how to animate. I had the audience before I had the content. I was not prepared on how to make more content, so I had to learn. Saying you are a bad animator sets the stage. When I say I am a bad animator, you won’t expect great animation. The fun is in the humour and the story.

You were an artist as a child...

At 12, I uploaded my first youtube video. Youtube came out when I was about 11. It was still very niche up until then. By 2014, everyone was making youtube videos.

How did the idea for Snakes have legs come about?

It was pretty much a dumb idea ( laughs ) which I got in the morning while brushing my teeth. I pictured this visual in my head. There was a snake and a pink background. I thought maybe I could build a narrative around it and make a political cartoon that I have never done before. I was done in an hour or two, and there were plenty of times during that hour or two that I thought I am done, I am going to bed now. But thank God I didn’t! I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay up if I didn’t finish it. I uploaded it and then went to bed, not thinking much about it. About a week later it went viral. One of my followers told me that a page with half a million followers reposted my video. It was a shock to me! I kind of just made the video because I knew I really couldn’t fall asleep until I made it!

How do ideas come to you?

I like to observe life and see what strikes me as weird, noticeable or relatable. One of the things that happen to me in New York city is that I order a cup of coffee at an expensive shop, I get my coffee and I say oh thank you and the barista doesn’t acknowledge my thank you and looks generally miserable. It bothers me. I am trying to be nice and spread good vibes, but people slap that out of the air. I thought it probably bothers other people too, so I thought I would make an animation out of that.

Your content, even though it addresses serious issues sometimes, does not pontificate. It is light-hearted and fun. It touches your heart and that makes it unique...

I believe that people crave for positivity and it is strange that the internet provides the opposite. I try to be that shining light on your timeline.

You also create good audio...

I am thinking of getting into audio. There is a big ASMR craze. I feel there is something very human about the magic of sound. I would really like to do a bed-time, storytelling type of thing or read Humpty Dumpty or Little Bo Beep or maybe write my own story. I feel like people gravitate towards audio and podcast. It’s re-finding itself in a lot of young adults’ lives because you can’t always watch something when you are driving or cooking, you want to listen to something.

What are your future plans?

I will definitely do more songs, more merchandise and more meet-ups . I would love to do more talks. I never thought I would be invited to India, this is so cool! I want to keep discovering new media to bring new entertainment and smiles to people.