A few months back it was announced that a feature-length version of the Academy Award nominated animated short The Dam Keeper is in development at Tonko House. Today, The California Sunday Magazine published an article about the studio behind the short and revealed a first look at this feature-length adaptation.

The still below features a first look at an early animation test that was made for the feature-length adaptation of the short. The still features the main character of the short, Pig, inside the dam where he lives and works to protect his town.

While the original short was 2D animated, the animation test that this still is from seems to be computer animated. While it’s an unpleasant surprise that they decided to go with computer animation instead of the iconic painterly look of the original short, the decision makes a lot of sense and the computer animation still manages to remain the warmth and beauty of the original animated short.

This test animation was made to present to a major studio executive for the feature-length adaptation of the short. Tonko House is currently also working on a graphic novel series about The Dam Keeper that will begin publication next year and a film adaptation of a popular Japanese children’s book. Tonko House sis collaborating with one of the very few Japanese animation studios that specializes in computer animation.