Latest Pixar short 'Kitbull' will warm your cold heart

Looking for a bit of “awww” in the midst of winter?

Pixar’s latest entry in its SparkShorts program is “Kitbull,” a hand-drawn story about an unlikely friendship between a stray kitten and a pit bull.

Directed by Rosana Sullivan, the heartwarming story opens on a black kitten whose cardboard box home in a back alley is rocked when a pit bull, kept by an abusive master, moves into the neighborhood.

In addition to its tear-jerking storyline, “Kitbull” is special in that it’s the first entirely hand-drawn feature from the studio known for its cutting-edge digital animation.

“I’ve always loved the charm of a hand-drawn image,” Sullivan says. “No two artists will draw the same way. And no two drawings are going to be exactly alike.”

“Kitbull” is the third installment in Pixar’s six-film SparkShorts series.

“The SparkShorts program is designed to discover new storytellers, explore new storytelling techniques, and experiment with new production workflows,” says Pixar Animation Studios president Jim Morris. “These films are unlike anything we’ve ever done at Pixar, providing an opportunity to unlock the potential of individual artists and their inventive filmmaking approaches on a smaller scale than our normal fare.”

Watch, but make sure you have plenty of tissues handy.

“Every frame is hand-drawn and hand-painted,” Sullivan says. “And while we did draw on computers, everything was directly from the artists’ hands onto the screen.”

If you are interested in how it all came together, Pixar put together a fascinating behind-the-scenes feature of the making of “Kitbull.”