Hazbin Hotel 2! Meet The Art Director Bringing Hellaverse To Life!
The Joe Vulpis Podcast
Joe Vulpis
4.9 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 3 October 2025
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this special conversation, I sit down with the creative force behind the look, style, and personality of two of the most iconic indie-to-mainstream animated series of our time: Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss! Skye Henwood, animation director/writer, and Sam Miller, Art Director, at SpindleHorse Toons, they’ve played a crucial role in shaping the visual world and breathing life into unforgettable characters.
They share the story of how they first met Vivienne “Vivziepop” Medrano, the visionary creator behind the shows, and how that partnership grew into a powerhouse of original animation. With a sharp eye for detail, an innovative approach to character design, and a deep understanding of storytelling through movement, they help guide the studio’s animators in turning ideas into expressive, fully realized legends on screen.
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Episode 377
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hell of her and has been every single time you see Blitz like move or like Charlie like wave. It's like that is like one, like one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Like that, you know, but then you loop it so then it's the same nine. As art director, I kind of, I basically take care of the kids. I'm kind of like their surrogate mom a lot of the time. Viv has a lot that she's doing. So basically my job is to back her up. |
| 0:23.7 | I know. |
| 0:24.1 | The day that I found out that I had to leave Haleva. Is Haleva Boston Hesman Hotel all hand drawn? So excited to hear about your roles and what you guys do at Spindle Horse. So do you mind just introducing yourselves and what you do there? I'm Sam Miller. |
| 0:42.0 | I am the art director for Hasbin Hotel, and I used to be the art director for Hell of a Boss. |
| 0:43.0 | Yippee! |
| 0:49.1 | My name is Sky Henwood, and I am the animation director on Hasbin Hotel, and I used to be the animation director on Hell of a Boss. |
| 0:50.8 | So what does animation director do? |
| 0:52.6 | Like, what is the actual title? |
| 0:53.7 | Directing animation? |
| 0:54.7 | No. |
| 0:55.7 | But basically every time, just everything, like looking over the entire show, making sure |
| 1:02.4 | that every single shot is like perfectly to what Viv wants. |
| 1:07.6 | And that starts at storyboards. |
| 1:09.3 | So at story boards, I kind of step in and I go, oh, I can't animate that. |
| 1:14.6 | You know what I mean? |
| 1:15.6 | Like I helped the whole time thinking about animation is like all I have to do. |
| 1:18.6 | So, you know, Viv's thinking about the grand picture, like, you know, let's say, let's have a box spin around 40 times or something. |
| 1:25.6 | And then, you know, I have to go, hey, can we make him spin like 39 times? Why? Because it's easier, you know? Yeah. So that's my job from storyboards to the end is making sure it's animatable, making sure that it looks pretty, and making sure that like, you know, it's fitting Vib's brief. Because Vib always, you know, she can't be around all the time. So then I step in to be like, like, mini Viv, basically, for the |
| 1:47.8 | animation. What's so crazy is that you guys create a world where these characters just live in |
| 1:52.0 | that world where it's different than like the fairly odd parents or Marvel. So what rules do you |
| 1:57.7 | have to stick to to make sure that those characters stay in that realm? |
| 2:02.6 | That's Sam. |
... |
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