Back


SZATour Visuals
2025







These are some experimental animations I made for SZA's GNX tour. I traced the paths that bugs make. You could say I became the bug. I reformatted my experiments the above video for presentation.

Animation, Sound Design by Nik Arthur
Tour directed by Bradley J. Calder
Produced by bigkid
Special thanks Emi Takahashi


For these animtions, I decided to mimic the markings of bugs.

First was bark-eating beetles. I used a soldering iron on a cool chunk of bark I’d found in the park.



Some marks I’d found
Mockup of how I envisioned it up on the stage



If you’re wondering why it wiggles, its because I place it at a slightly different spot on the scanner bed each time. Even if I align it later as perfectly as possible, the different placement on the scanner glass leads to a slightly different perspective of the object being captured.



And then I took inspiration from leafminers, who eat cool squiggly trails into leaves. Again, I used a soldering iron to actually burn the trail into the leaf frame-by-frame.




After consideration, I inverted the leaf in order to make the bug trail light coloured. This gave the whole leaf a qualiy that felt relevant to the world as well.



Lastly I took inspiration from caterpillars and dragon flies. I realized that the corner of a leaf skeleton really resembles the veined wing of some insects, like dragon flies. Caterpillars often eat away at a leaf’s flesh, leaving just the skeleton. I picked away at the skeleton and reversed it, making it appear as though an insect wing is regenerating. 








Index ©2026 All Rights Reserve
Nik Arthur (he/him) is a Canadian experimental animator and filmmaker, interacting with organic matter, objects, and physical materials.





About

Resources





IG, ARE.NA, SUBSTACK