Renowned animator Ryan Larkin, whose tumultuous life played out in Chris Landreth’s Oscar-winning short Ryan, died on Feb. 14 in St- Hyacinthe, QC following a battle with cancer. He was 63.

‘He was a great artist, and a great craftsman up until the end… he had not really lost any of his artistic passion or talent,’ says Landreth.

Larkin’s career took off in the 1960s at the National Film Board, where he studied under Norman McLaren, and rose to fame in 1969 when he was nominated for an Oscar for his short film Walking.

‘He brought to the animation scene some real craftsmanship about human beings and the human form,’ Landreth notes.

But in the late 1970s, Larkin became heavily dependent on drugs and alcohol, which led to a life of panhandling on the streets of Montreal.

Larkin was thrust back into the spotlight in 2004 when he sat down for interviews which provided the basis for Landreth’s CG animated short Ryan, which picked up nearly 40 international awards, including the Academy Award for best animated short in 2005.

He later began working on original material for the first time in more than 20 years, and created three five-second bumpers for MTV Canada in December. Larkin was also working on a new film entitled Spare Change, about his life as a homeless person.