-- For most artists, creativity begins with inspiration. For Mexican Canadian illustrator, writer, and multidisciplinary artist Abigail Roscoe, it became a lifeline.
This week, Roscoe launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a hand drawn animated proof of concept trailer for The Sixth Sun, an original project inspired by Aztec and Mesoamerican cosmology. Created with Mexican animation studio Viva Calavera, the campaign marks the next chapter of a vision born from one of the most challenging periods of Roscoe's life.
After developing a chronic pain condition in 2021, followed by glaucoma caused by a medical error that led to the removal of her left eye in February 2026, Roscoe experienced a profound change in how she moved through the world. Rather than allowing those experiences to define the limits of her career, Roscoe transformed them into a story about hope, resilience, identity, and the enduring power of creativity.
"The Sixth Sun exists because I refused to stop creating," Roscoe said. "After losing my left eye, I kept asking myself the same question that sits at the heart of the story. Why do we continue creating when the world feels uncertain, fragile, or even on the verge of collapse? This project became my answer."
A Lifetime Shaped by Storytelling
Long before The Sixth Sun began, Roscoe's artistic journey started in Mexico.
Growing up surrounded by Mexican folklore, mythology, art, and cultural traditions, she developed a lifelong fascination with stories that explored humanity's relationship with nature, memory, identity, and transformation. Yet as she grew older, she realized that Mesoamerican mythology rarely received the same contemporary treatment as many other mythological traditions.
"When I was a child growing up in Mexico, I remember the stories and artwork were some of my greatest inspirations," Roscoe said. "I wanted to see bold, modern depictions of our mythology the way I saw other cultures represented. Eventually I realized that, as an artist, I could create the stories I wanted to see."
That philosophy guided her career.
Roscoe later studied illustration and animation in the Netherlands, developing a multidisciplinary practice that blended illustration, storytelling, education, and environmental advocacy. One of her earliest major projects, Yuka's Way Home, was created alongside Indigenous Sámi reindeer herders in Northern Norway, emphasizing lived experience, cultural respect, and environmental stewardship.
Her commitment to meaningful storytelling continued through educational work with organizations including the Caribou Conservation Alliance and the Vancouver Aquarium. Through illustration workshops, educational resources, and conservation-focused artwork, Roscoe has sought to make environmental issues more accessible for children and families.
Across every project, one idea remained constant: stories have the power to preserve culture, inspire empathy, and help people navigate uncertainty.
When Everything Changed
After graduating in 2021, Roscoe’s life took an unexpected turn.
That year, she began living with a chronic condition that caused severe pain and affected her connective tissue, later diagnosed as fibromyalgia and arthritis. What followed was a long period of chronic illness, ongoing pain, and the loss of the health and physical ease she had once known.
Then, in 2026, her life changed again.
After years of complications with her left eye, Roscoe lost the eye completely and underwent surgery to have it removed in February 2026. The experience reshaped every aspect of her life. Alongside the physical recovery came grief, uncertainty, and the question of how to keep building a career as an artist while navigating disability, chronic pain, and vision loss.
Yet creativity remained constant.
The most remarkable moments in Roscoe’s journey came when Episode Four of The Sixth Sun was released on the very same day she underwent surgery to remove her left eye. The timing was never intended as symbolism. It simply reflected the reality of an artist who had already been creating through years of pain and uncertainty, and who refused to stop.
Disability did not end her work. It changed the way she saw the world, and the way she chose to build new ones. She now openly speaks about disability, vision loss, trauma, accessibility, and perseverance.
"I hope my journey reminds other disabled artists that our stories matter," Roscoe said. "The world often tells disabled people what they cannot do. I want my work to show that creativity can continue through loss, through trauma, and through transformation."
The Birth of The Sixth Sun
Those experiences ultimately gave rise to The Sixth Sun.
Set in contemporary Mexico City, the mythology inspired story follows Temo, a queer musician whose life changes after surviving a supernatural attack at Chapultepec Lake. Guided by Ollin, a nahual, and the trickster god Huehuecóyotl, he discovers that the Fifth Sun, the current age in Mesoamerican cosmology, is nearing its end.
As ancient forces reawaken, ecological collapse, colonial legacies, and cosmic uncertainty converge, challenging humanity to imagine what can be created as old systems begin to fall apart.
Drawing from Aztec mythology and folklore, The Sixth Sun explores themes of disability, identity, climate grief, resilience, and hope. Its monsters reflect modern anxieties, while creativity, music, storytelling, and human connection become acts of resistance against despair, echoing the philosophy that carried Roscoe through her own journey of recovery and transformation.
A Human Made Vision for the Future
Every aspect of The Sixth Sun, from its writing and illustration to its voice performances, original music, and animation development, has been created by artists without the use of generative artificial intelligence. For Roscoe, preserving human craftsmanship is inseparable from preserving culture.
The project features original music by Canadian artist Rich Aucoin and is being developed with Mexican animation studio Viva Calavera. The Kickstarter campaign will fund a professionally produced hand drawn animated proof of concept trailer, laying the foundation for a future feature length animated film.
For Roscoe, the campaign represents more than the next step in a creative project. It is the culmination of a journey shaped by vision loss, disability, trauma, perseverance, and a belief that art can help people imagine a better future.
"The Sixth Sun asks what humanity chooses to create when everything seems to be falling apart," Roscoe said. "That question became deeply personal for me. Losing my eye changed my life, but it also reminded me why stories matter. In Aztec cosmology every Sun eventually ends, but every ending also carries the possibility of a new dawn. That is the story I want to tell."
About Coyote Studio
Coyote Studio is the independent creative studio founded by Mexican Canadian illustrator, writer, and multidisciplinary artist Abigail Roscoe. Its flagship project, The Sixth Sun, is a transmedia series rooted in Aztec and Mesoamerican cosmology, now expanding toward a feature-length animated film in collaboration with Mexican animation studio Viva Calavera.
Learn more or support the campaign at The Sixth Sun- Aztec Mythology for the Modern Day by Coyote Studio, Kickstarter. Visit Coyote Studio or follow her on YouTube and Facebook. For inquiries, Abigail Roscoe can be reached at [email protected]. Explore the stories she is telling and be a part of the change she is fostering in the world of art and storytelling.
Contact Info:
Name: Abigail Roscoe
Email: Send Email
Organization: Coyote Studio
Website: https://coyote-studio.com/
Release ID: 89196900
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