After decades of being out of the public eye -- and enduring years of poverty -- celebrated Canadian animator Ryan Larkin has returned.

The troubled, old-school animator is back with a series of original animated channel ID's for MTV in Canada.

"I am an artists and one of the things I do is make animation films," Larkin told CTV News. "And since I have not made animation films in many, many years, I took this opportunity to come back."

Larkin was a natural choice for the job because several of the channel ID's were already based on Larkin's world-famous animations.

"We are honoured that Larkin agreed to create some original animations for MTV," said Peter Moller, Creative Director, MTV in Canada.

The five-second bumpers will be the only channel IDs to air on December 25 and 26. They will enter regular rotation in the New Year.

Larkin was the focus of a 2004 Oscar-winning animated short called "Ryan," about his years battling drug and alcohol addiction on the streets of Montreal.

Starting in the late 1960s, Larkin became synonymous with excellence in film animation, and his unique style set him apart from others in his field.

His 1969 animated psychedelic film 'Walking' revolutionized his craft and earned and him an Oscar nomination.

Larkin again amazed critics with 'Street Musique' in 1972.

But After the success of those films, Larkin's life began a downward spiral.

For years he struggled with drug abuse, until he lost everything and wound up panhandling for money.

Inspired by Larkin's life, fellow animator Chris Landreth spent time interviewing him and made their conversations the basis for "Ryan."

"He was kind of a rock star with the Canadian animation scene," he told CTV News.

"He was once a real star child with the National Film Board of Canada."

In 2005, Larkin left his life on the streets with the help of music composer Laurie Gordon.

Now the two are working together on the upcoming film 'Spare Change,' based on Larkin's panhandling years.

"There was no Ryan frenzy...It was really just this guy panhandling in front of a deli," Gordon told CTV News.

But despite advanced in digital effects and computer animation, Larkin still prefers the traditional methods.

"I do animation in a very old fashioned style," he told CTV News.

"I am not using computers to generate images. I am doing it all by hand."

With a report from CTV's Scott Laurie