Blue Sky Studios Logo PNG
Blue Sky Studios is a US-based computer animation film studio. It was established in 1987 by a team of former MAGI employees. The company is a subsidiary of 20th Century Animation.
Meaning and history
Blue Sky was founded in 1987 by Christopher Wedge, animator, and Oscar winner for Best Animated Short “Bunny”. The studio originally developed commercials and short films, and ten years later, in 1997, the studio was bought by 20th Century Fox, and a year later Blue Sky began producing full-length animation.
At the height of its success – from 2006 to 2014 – Blue Sky was a real rival for Walt Disney, DreamWorks Animation, Pixar, and Illumination. Throughout its history, Blue Sky has produced 13 feature-length projects, including five installments of the Ice Age franchise and three shorts based on it, the animated films Ferdinand, Horton, Rio, and its sequel.
In 2019, the company was acquired by Disney, and Blue Sky Studios’ latest work, Camouflage, and Espionage, was released the same year.
In 2021, Disney announced the closure of the studio. The official reason for Blue Sky’s closure was cited as difficulties related to the pandemic and prolonged quarantine. Thus, in April 2021, the legendary animation studio was completely closed.
The company has introduced at least three distinctive logotypes over its history. All of them have shared the blue color in their palette, although the shades have varied. While there has also been something similar in the typeface, it has not looked the same.
1987 – 2005
The original Blue Sky Studios logo had the most prominent “sky” theme, in comparison with the following versions. It was introduced by an artistic blue stroke below the company’s name. The shape of the stroke reminded a thin, semi-transparent cloud. And also, it was a way to refer to the brand’s specialization and hint on all the artists who worked there.
In a lighter version of this logo, the letters are gray, while the background is white. In the version with the black background, the letters are white, while the shade of blue chosen for the stroke is very bright.
2005 – 2013
The careless “cloud” stroke was replaced by an elegant ellipse. The shade of blue has grown grayer, which made it look more muted and refined. The gray of the lettering became slightly lighter.
The serif type was modified, too. The most notable thing is the different height of the strokes forming the “u” and the “y.” They add some dynamism and playfulness. In a way, they echo the way the strokes forming the oval go from wider to thinner.
There were versions of this logo with additional curly strokes around the oval (you can come across them in “Horton Hears A Who,” for instance).
2013 – Today
The updated Blue Sky Studios logo cries “creative.” The fact that the letters are “jumping” has grown much more prominent. They look as if they have been written on the waves (or the clouds, of course) and are in never-ending motion.
The words have been moved close to each other but they are separated with the help of the color. For the first time, the word “studios” has appeared below the main wordmark. It is very small and features a much simpler type. This version made its debut in Epic.
