Studio Zmei
- Open roles
- 0
- Founded
- 2015
- Employees
- 11-50
- Offices
- 1
About Studio Zmei
Studio Zmei is an independent Bulgarian animation and storytelling studio founded in May 2015. Based in Sofia, it develops original intellectual property and provides animation services for international productions. Its work combines digital cutout, traditional hand-drawn and hybrid 2D animation, with a particular creative interest in Balkan and Eastern European folklore.
The studio supports projects from early development through finished animation. Its capabilities include character and environment design, visual development, design bibles, color scripting, storyboarding, animatics, layout, background painting, clean-up and compositing. It works across animated television, feature films, shorts, commercial advertising and game trailers, combining commissioned production with international co-production.
Original storytelling and international production
The studio’s founding project, The Golden Apple, drew on Bulgarian folklore and developed through crowdfunding, an animated short and a television pilot supported by Bulgarian National Television. The property subsequently evolved into Vihra and the Golden Apple, with French producer and distributor Dandelooo involved in its international development. Its original projects also include the animated comedy series Mila and Marko, developed with support from the Bulgarian National Culture Fund.
In 2018, Studio Zmei secured its first major long-term international subcontract on I, Elvis Riboldi, producing more than 90 minutes of broadcast animation. It later contributed subcontracted 2D animation, clean-up and color to Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, working with Studio La Cachette. Its co-production credits include Once Upon a Time... The Objects! with Samka Animation and Procidis, and The Crunchers with Je Suis Bien Content.
By 2026, the studio had expanded into feature animation through Dungeons & Kittens: Long Live the King, an international co-production involving Watch Next Media, Mélusine Studio and Lunanime. Alongside production services, it helps structure co-productions supported by Bulgarian and European public funding. This combination of original development, service work and co-production connects its locally rooted storytelling with the wider European animation industry.
More about Studio Zmei
Founders and management
- The founders are Dimitar Petrov, Stanislav Tsvetkov and Momchil Myasischev. Petrov previously studied animation at the University of Westminster and worked as a layout and background artist on The Amazing World of Gumball at Cartoon Network Studios Europe.
- The report identifies Dimitar Petrov Petrov and Stanislav Tsvetomirov Tsvetkov as the company's managing directors and legal representatives.
Production practices
- The studio uses Toon Boom Harmony, Adobe Animate and TVPaint across its animation pipelines. It states that its animation is human-created and excludes generative AI tools.
- Its operating model combines a permanent production and administrative team with additional artists engaged during larger episodic and feature productions.
Education and industry participation
- Through Zmei Academy, the studio hosts masterclasses, provides vocational instruction at Sofia's 51st Secondary School, and collaborates annually with EDHEC Business School and the University of Dundee.
- It participates in the Association of Bulgarian Animation Producers and CEE Animation.
Early development
- A 2015–2016 crowdfunding campaign raised 64,000 BGN for pre-production on its founding project. The early work also led to an illustrated children's book with Egmont Bulgaria.
Notable credits
9 creditsOffices
Where Studio Zmei is based
- 71 Vladaiska Str., Floor 4, Sofia 1606, BulgariaSofia, Sofia City Province, Bulgaria
Sofia office
HeadquartersOverall company headquarters and main animation and visual development production facility.
Open roles
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