Interior design

Interior design

Spaghetti Western Poster Art

I've been looking for some inspiration fort art style I want to use, in particular colour schemes and found some pretty cool 60's spaghetti western poster art. I like the bold colours and the thick outlines suit my drawing style. Also the high contrast and use of abstract imaginary suits the overall aim of the project. I need to complete some media tests first to see if I can actually make it work.

Storyboard:- Alternative Opening

These are some of the storyboard drawings I did for the original opening scene for my animation. I haven't included any annotation but the basic idea is you have this old guy sitting on porch with the sun beating down on him. He's looking around the barren wasteland and trying to keep cool in the midday sun. He decides to have a little nap only to see this ominous figure appear from nowhere. The figure reaches towards the old man, who understandably freaks out. Instead of hurting the guy the stranger reaches past him and grabs a wanted poster that's pinned up behind him which is supposed to introduce the main antagonist and set up the big gun fight at the end.

It became apparent as I continued with the storyboard that the animation was running too long and I was therefore obliged to redo the opening scene completely which is a pity as I was quite pleased how it came out. I was trying to emulate the long build up in the opening scene from Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time In The West" but sadly it would have been too much work. The new version is much shorter and doesn't include any real set up but rather just features the stranger walking through the desert with the famous Monument Valley style background. I'll be posting the finished storyboard and animatic shortly so you can see which version is best :)

Pose Sheets

I've already done a few pose sheets to help me with the storyboard but time allowing I'm hoping to do a a couple of them again. The art style I originally used for the first versions was quite realistic, or as real as you can get when you're depicting a gun-toting octopus. I looked over some of Jamie Hewlitt's stuff since then and have sketched out a few its and pieces and decided the art style need to be a bit more dynamic. I've looked at some examples which I've posted here and I should be posting up some work of my own soon.

Pink Panther: A shot in the Dark animated intro

A pretty cool title sequence for the Pink Panther film A Shot In The Dark. It created by UPA studios so check out the link below


Dailymotion - A shot in the Dark - Pink Panther intro theme - Film & TV Kanalı

Howard Pyle

Howard Pyle's artwork is utterly staggering! Much like John Watkiss' his work fills me with a mixture of despair and inspiration. As one of the great artists from the golden age of American illustration I'm sure his work would have been an inspiration to Watkiss amongst many others. Pyle was clearly a tremendous draughtsman but I admire his use of colour, in particular the pirate ship featured in the bottom picture. This is just a small sample of his work, I could have posted literally 20 to 30 images but check out the link below to see a little more :)





Howard Pyle Biography

Reading List:- The Storyboard Design Course" by Guiseppe Christiano

I really enjoyed this book, so much so I read through the entire thing in one sitting. Storyboarding is one of the area's I've wanted to develop with this project and this book is useful for anyone who's interested in it. It covers everything from developing basic drawing skills to storyboarding for different media such as games, films and animation. In the summer once uni is finished and providing I still have my sanity I'm aiming to go back over this book in a lot more detail.

Making of Worship: Digital Painting Tutorial

Making of Worship | Painting.DTuts - Free Tutorials by Digital Painting and Mattepainting

I'm finding that as I complete my storyboard that I really need to work on my environment art skills. Although limited animation often uses simplified or abstract backgrounds I feel the environments will be important to enhance the atmosphere. I am considering the possibility of using photographs altered in Photoshop as I've seen this used in stuff like the Gorillaz videos to good effect although I haven't made a decision. This is a decent tutorial which breaks the scene down into shapes and basic shades :)

Does Anime Continue to Use Limited Animation?

An interesting little blog about the use of limited animation in modern anime.

Does Anime Continue to Use Limited Animation?

Special Agent Erin Esurance 2007 (music video)

The Flintstones smoking

Oh how times have changed! An early example of mainstream limited animation in the U.S. and also of Hanna-Barbera's "necktie technique" where the body and head where seperated by the collar and tie and only the head and facial features where animated. This was a technique which was later used in everything from Yogi Bear to Top Cat and eventually became partly responsible for limited animation's association with cheapness and crudeness.

Oban Star-Racers Opening

OBAN STAR-RACERS

OBAN STAR-RACERS

A lot of my posts so far have be about Anime but this is a really cool Japanese/French animation series which blends eastern and western styles. I especially like the mixing of 2D and 3D animation as well as the art style.

Storyboarding:-A quick intro

History of the Storyboard

The idea of storyboarding was developed at the Walt Disney Studio during the early 1930s. Disney credited animator Webb Smith with creating the idea of drawing scenes on separate sheets of paper and pinning them up on a bulletin board to tell a story in sequence, thus creating the first storyboard (Christopher Finch, The Art of Walt Disney, Abrams, 1973). The first complete storyboards were created for the 1933 Disney short Three Little Pigs (The Story of Walt Disney, Henry Holt, 1956). According to John Canemaker, in Paper Dreams: The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards (1999, Hyperion Press), the first storyboards at Disney evolved from comic-book like "story sketches" created in the 1920s to illustrate concepts for animated cartoon short subjects such as Plane Crazy and Steamboat Willie.

One of the first live action films to be completely storyboarded was Gone with the Wind. William Cameron Menzies. Storyboarding became popular in live-action film production during the early 1940s, and grew into a standard medium for previsualization of films: "We can see the last half century .... as the period in which production design was largely characterized by adoption of the storyboard", wrote curator Annette Michelson in a 1993 catalog for the Pace Gallery exhibit Drawing into Film: Director's Drawings, which featured storyboards of popular films.

A Brief History of Japanese Animation

Origins

In 1918, an anime short titled Momotaro (Peach Boy) was created based on the Japanese folk tale of the same name. The first feature length anime film was Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors (1945) which was produced during World War II as a propoganda film.
Toei Animation and Mushi Productions

In 1956, Toei Animation was founded and produced the first color anime feature film, The Tale of the White Serpent, which was released in 1958. This film was more Disney in tone than modern anime with musical numbers and animal sidekicks. It was released in the US as Panda and the Magic Serpent. Throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s Toei continued to release these Disney-like films. Toei's style was also characterized by an emphasis on each animator bringing his own ideas to the production. The most extreme example of this being Takahata Isao's film Horus: Prince of the Sun (1968). Horus is often seen as the first major break from the normal anime style and the beginning of a later movement of "auteuristic" or "progressive anime" directors such as Hayao Miyazaki and Mamoru Oshii (the film involved Miyazaki as Scene Designer).
A major contribution of Toei's style to modern anime was the development of the "money shot". This cost-cutting method of animation allows for emphasis to be placed important shots animating them much fuller than the rest of the animation in the work (which would often be limited animation). Toei animator Yasuo Otsuka began to experiment with this style and developed it further as he went into television.
Osamu Tezuka started a rival production company called Mushi Productions. The studio's first hit Astro Boy became the first widely popular anime television series in 1963. Contrary to popular belief, Astro Boy was not the first anime series broadcast in Japan, an honor that falls to Manga Calendar which began broadcasting in 1962. However, Astro Boy was the first series to feature regular characters in an ongoing plot. American television, which was also still in its infancy and searching for new programming, rewrote and adapted Astro Boy for the United States in 1964. The success of Astro Boy in Japan opened the doors for many more anime titles to be created, including Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Tetsujin 28-go (later released in the U.S. as Gigantor), Tezuka's Kimba the White Lion and Tatsuo Yoshida's Mach Go Go Go (later released in the U.S. as Speed Racer).
By the late 1960s anime began to branch out into new areas. Tezuka began with several adult oriented films known as Animerama films. These films are characterized by eroticism and artistic experimentation. The three films are 1001 Nights (1969), Cleopatra (1970), and Belladonna of Sadness (1973). Belladonna is the most experimental of the three, providing an inspiration for the later work Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997). In addition the first adult oriented TV show Lupin III (1971) was broadcast around this time.
The 70s

During the 1970s, the Japanese film market fell apart due to competition from television. In addition, Mushi Pro went bankrupt spreading many animators into new studios such as Madhouse Production and Sunrise. As a result of these two events many young animators were thrust into the position of director before they would have normally taken the position. This allowed for a wide variety of experimentation.
A big example of this experimentation is with Isao Takahata's 1974 television series Heidi. This show was originally a hard sell because it was a simple realistic drama aimed at children. Most tv networks thought the tv show wouldn't be a success because children usually needed something more fantastic to draw them in. "Heidi" wound up being an international success being picked up in many european countries and becoming popular there. In Japan it was so successful that it allowed for Miyazaki and Takahata to start up a series of literary based anime called World Masterpiece Theatre. Even though Miyazaki and Takahata left in the late 1970s this series lasted until the mid-1990s.
Another genera known as mecha came into being at this time. Some early works include Mazinger Z (1972-74), Gatchaman (1972-74), Space Cruiser Yamato (1974-75) and Mobile Suit Gundam (1979-80). These titles showed a progression in the science fiction genre in anime, as shows shifted from more superhero-oriented, fantastical plots to relatively more realistic space operas with complex plots and fuzzier definitions of right and wrong. One famous example would be that of Char Aznable from Mobile Suit Gundam who changed from antagonist in the original series to tenuous ally in the sequel series, Zeta Gundam and back to the villain for the movie Char's Counterattack.
The Golden Age of Anime

This shift towards space operas became more pronounced in the late 1970s due to the commercial success of Star Wars. This allowed for the early space opera "Space Battle Cruiser Yamato" to be revived in a theatrical version. This theatrical version of Yamato is seen as the basis of the anime boom of the 1980s, referred to as the Golden Age of Anime.
Two events happened at the time of this shift from superhero Giant Robots to elaborate Space Operas. A subculture in Japan (who later called themselves Otaku) began to develop around animation magazines such as Animage or later Newtype. These magazines cropped up in responce to the overwhelming fandom that developed around shows such as Yamato in the late 1970s.
In addition a major component of anime from a technical perspective developed with Yoshinori Kanada an animation director (who worked on Yamato) who allowed individual key animators working under him to put their own style of movement as a means to save money. In many more "auteristic" anime this formed the basis of an individualist animation style that is unique to Japan (in commercial animation). In addition Kanada's animation was inspiration for Takashi Murakami and his Superflat art movement.
In the United States the popularity of Star Wars had a similar (but much smaller) effect on the development of anime. Gatchaman was reworked and edited into Battle of the Planets in 1978 and again as G-Force in 1986. Space Cruiser Yamato was reworked and edited into Star Blazers in 1979 and finally, and perhaps most infamously, Robotech (1985) was created from three anime titles, Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada. The first organized American "otaku" developed as fans of these series.
The Otaku culture became more pronounced with Mamoru Oshii's adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi's popular manga Urusei Yatsura 1982. Yatsura would allow Takahashi to become a household name in anime despite her humble origins as a doujinshi artist. As for Oshii he would begin to break away from fan desires and expectations and take a more auteuristic approach with his 1984 film Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer. This break with the otaku culture would allow Oshii to experiment much further later in his career.
The Otaku subculture began to have an effect on people who were entering the industry around this time. The most famous of these people were the amateur production group Daicon Films which would become Studio Gainax. Gainax began by making flims for the Daicon Scifi conventions and were so popular in the otaku community that they were given a chance to helm the biggest budgeted anime film (at that time) Wings of Honneamise (1987).
One of the most influential anime of all time Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (1984) was made during this time period. The film gave extra prestige to anime allowing for many experimental and ambitious projects to be funded shortly after its release. It also allowed for its director Hayao Miyazaki and his long time colleague Isao Takahata the ablity to setup their own studio under the supervision of former Animage editor Toshio Suzuki. This studio would become known as Studio Ghibli and its first film was Castle in the Sky (1986).
Around the same time as Nausicaa a new medium was developed for anime the OVA. These OVAs were direct-to-home-video series and or movies that catered to much smaller more niche oriented audiences. The first OVA was Moon Base Dallos' (1983-1984) and it was directed Mamoru Oshii. This OVA was a flop, but Megazone 23 (1985) was the first real success in this market. Shows such as Patlabor had their beginning in this market and it proved to be a way to test less marketable animation against audiences.
The period in the late 1980s from 1984 onwards saw an increading number of high budget and/or experimental films. In 1985 Toshio Suzuki helped put together funding for Oshii's experimental film Angel's Egg (1985). The OVA market allowed for short experimental pieces such as Take the X Train, Neo-Tokyo, and Robot Carnival(all three 1987).
Theatrical releases became more ambitious each film trying to outclass or out spend the other film all taking cues from Nausicaa's popular and critical success. Night on the Galatic Railroad (1985), Tale of Genji (1986), and Grave of the Fireflies (1987) were all ambitious films based off of important literary works in Japan. Films such as Char's Counterattack 1988 and Arion (1986) were lavishly budgeted specticles. This period of lavish budgeting and experimentation would reach its zenith with two of the most expensive anime film productions ever: Wings of Honneamise (1987) and Akira {1988}.
Most of these films didn't make back the money that it cost to produce them. Both Akira and Wings of Honneamise when they were first shown in Japan flopped. As a result large numbers of anime studios closed down, and many of experimental productions began to be favored less over tried and true formulas. Only Studio Ghibli was to survive a winner of the many ambitious productions of the late 1980s with its film Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) being the top grossing film for that year earning over $40 million at the box office.
Despite the failure of Akira in Japan, it brought with it a much larger international fanbase for anime. When shown overseas the film was a cult hit that would eventually become a symbol of the medium for the west. The domestic failure and international success of Akira, combined with the bursting of the bubble economy and Osamu Tezuka's death in 1989, brought a close to the era.
The 90s to present

After this boom some people perceived a decline in overall quality of anime. Budgets fell and many ambitious projects weren't funded. There was a brief renaissance after the success of Hideaki Anno's Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) but things still aren't going very well in the Japanese market. Most of the attention and consequently the more ambitious projects are being aimed for the west. Starting in 1995 with Macross Plus, Memories, and most famously Ghost in the Shell (1996), there was a rush to get a prestigious large budget anime film to US audiences. Memories was unable to be released even though it was intended for international audiences because the liscensor in Japan wanted too much money for the American distrobution rights.
The Aum Shinrikyo cult seirn gas attacks in 1995 were a major blow to the otaku culture. This group had some pop-culture affiliation and the otaku were blamed for the incident. In the same year Hideaki Anno directed what is probably the most controversial anime show ever written, Neon Genesis Evangelion. This show became increadibly popular in Japan reaching record numbers of people for an anime TV show. Anno originally wanted the show to be the ultimate otaku anime, but midway through production made it a savage critique of the culture eventually culminating in the controversial but quite successful (it grossed over $10 million) film End of Evangelion (1997). Anno would eventually get so fed up with the anime industry that he'd go on to produce live action films.
Many scenes in the Evangelion TV show were so controversial that it forced TV Tokyo to clamp down on censorship of violence and sexuality in anime. As a result when Cowboy Bebop (1998) was first broadcast it was shown heavily edited and only half the episodes were aired. The censorship crack down has relaxed a bit, but Evangelion had a major effect on the television anime industry as a whole.
In addition Evangelion started up a series of so-called "post-evengelion" shows. Most of these were Giant Robot shows with some kind of religious or purposely "difficult" plot. These include Raxhephon, Brain Powerd, and Gasaraki. Another series of these are late nigh experimental tv shows. Starting with Serial Experiments Lain (1998) late night Japanese television became a forum for experimental late night anime with other shows following it such as Boogiepop Phantom (2000), Texhnolyze (2003) and Paranoia Agent (2004).
An art movement started by Takashi Murakami that combined japanese pop-culture with postmodern art called Superflat came into being around this time. Murakami assert that the style is an analysis of post-war Japanese culture through the eyes of the otaku subculture. His desire is also to get rid of the categories of 'high' and 'low' art making a flat continuium hence the term 'superflat'. His art exhibitions are very popular and have an influence on some anime creators particularly those from Studio 4C.
The late 1990s and 2000s saw the increased acceptance of anime in overseas markets. Cowboy Bebop was widely popular in Japan and attracted attention in the West. Miyazaki's Spirited Away shared the first prize at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003, and Oshii's Innocence: Ghost in the Shell was featured at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Osamu Tezuka:-A brief history

Osamu Tezuka is as much a household name in Japan as Walt Disney is in America. An artist, animator, and med school graduate, he created a number of award-winning comics during his lifetime.

Commonly known as the Godfather of manga, Tezuka's first work, a strip called Diary of Ma-chan (Maachan no Nikkichou) was created in 1946 when he was only seventeen. His most well-known work is Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atomu), which debuted in 1952 after the popularity of Captain Atom, in which the main character first appeared. It tells the story of a robotic boy with a human soul who was created by a mad scientist in the image of his deceased son, but rejected shortly after. Atom becomes faced with the burden of being a mediator between robots and humans and longs for a true family of his own. Stories focusing on androids have continued to be popular manga themes since the birth of "Mighty Atom," who spurred a fandom that lives to this day and contributed to Japan's strong affinity for robots.

One of Tezuka's most obvious contributions to manga was adapting the style for which Japanese comics have become known. Though he was originally influenced by western artists himself, the impact of Tezuka's large-eyed characters can be seen in almost every Japanese comic that's been drawn since then, regardless of genre. In turn, many comic artists and animators around the world today are now influenced by the Japanese style he helped establish.

Tezuka's works also played a major part in the development of the various genres of manga, especially science-fiction. Metropolis is one of the works that has become well-known in the United States. Inspired by Fritz Lang's Metropolis and adapted into an animated movie in 2001, Tezuka tells the story of Kenichi and his detective uncle who are investigating dangerous sunspots and encounter Mitchy, an android whom they mistake for being human. While the three search for her family, Mitchy discovers that she was built as a weapon for the Red Party and leads the robot population to destroy the city of Metropolis. As it turns out, Mitchy could switch genders and was built as a replacement for the deceased daughter of Duke Red, leader of the Red Party. Androgyny, a threatened Earth, heated politics and large robotic populations have remained common themes in manga to this day.

In addition to influencing the evolution of manga and, consequently, anime, Tezuka's influence has managed to reach the west. Many of the comics and animations created in the United States and other western nations today are stylistically similar to the Japanese standard. Tezuka's stories are believed to have influenced the west as well--Disney's The Lion King is believed to have been inspired by Kimba the White Lion, also known as Jungle Emperor (Janguru Taitei).

Tezuka has created hundreds of works spanning over more than 100,000 pages. He died in 1989 at the age of sixty. Though several of his works are only available in Japanese, manga lovers around the world continues to enjoy what he created and feel the influence he had on those who followed in his footsteps.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

An interesting old article from 1937 about the Disney release of Snow White which I found while looking at some full animation examples. It contains a few interesting facts like it taking over 1.5 million individual pen and ink drawings to create the film but mostly I think I like it just because of how quaint the article looks. You may notice it also features an ad on the last page for vegetable laxatives...oof!

Reading List:-"Art In Motion" by Maureen Furniss

This is a really useful book which looks at some of the aesthetics and history of animation. Here is a small excerpt with helps briefly explain some differences between full and limited animation

"Full animation is all about having every drawing of an animation be distinctly different or there is no cycling or images, and limited animation has the reoccurrence of many sequences of images, also known as cycling. Full animation also uses more metamorphosis of shapes and sizes, playing with the z-plane, while limited only stays within the x and y planes. Full animation uses the most fluid motion whic comes with 24 images per second, but limited animation tries to reduce the number of images per second, as much as possible, usually using about eight per second. Limited animation includes lots of different camera movement because it makes the image seem more dynamic even if the movements being made aren’t. Full animation has its focus placed on visuals, while limited has the much of the animation based in sound with voice over, narration,and dialogue.

One animator that became very well known for his use of limited animation is Osamu Tezuka. Originally, he went to school to be a doctor, but he established his stance as an animator with his synthesis of 500 to 1000 page cartoons. He has also been noted for his use of cinematic techniques within his animations He created a series called ‘Astro Boy’, which aired in Japan in 1963 and was a great success. He also did a feature length film called ‘Onboro Film’. In The Birth of Astro Boy it’s easy to recognize the limited animation within it because of the cycling in images of the still crowd and the repeating of the cars passing by.

One of the studios in competition with Disney was United Productions of America. Much of this company was made up of former Disney employees, which is because of the many strikes that Disney endured. UPA’s films were minimalist with very little shading to show depth, as well as the lack of perspective linesUPA was also different from Disney in their choice of story line with films like Gerald McBoing Boing, Rooty-Toot-Toot, Madeline, The Tell Tale Heart, and Mr. Magoo."

Takeshi Koike

Another example of Takeshi Koike's work. Very reminiscent of Peter Chung's "Aeon Flux" I think.

Jamie Hewlett

I'm big fan of comic art and Jamie Hewlitt is one of my fav's. I've loved his stuff ever since Tank Girl and I would say of all the artist's that have influenced me his style is closest to me own. One of the things I like about Hewlitt is how he contrasts cartoonish action and art with a more detailed style. It's something used a lot in the Gorillaz art and videos to great effect.

Takeshi Koike-『REDLINE』 予告編

In a lot of ways this is the antithesis of what my my project is about since it features virtually no limited animation whatsoever. It is however and amazing piece of work, or I hope it will be whenever I get to see it. The European premier showing was in Glasgow a few months back but I wasnt able to get through and I've been itching to see it for a while. Takeshi Koike is one of my favourite animators although I'm no anime buff. I love his high contrast and twisted animation style. It is projects like this that have made me believe that 2D animation may be due for a bit of a resurge in popularity. Certainly I think Koike's work is an example of some of the things that just can't be done in 3D.

Heavenly Sword Animated Short: Legend of the Sword

Since the start of term I've been looking at a lot of motion comics and so on for inspiration. A friend on the same course is making a motion comic and we had a discussion a few months ago over a few pints as to what the differences are. It seems to me that with the advances in software and the increasing popularity of motion comics in general the line between the two is becoming increasing hard to distinguish. I think this example from the PS3 game Heavenly Sword shows how techniques from the two worlds can sometimes collide. From a personal point of view these clips have been a major inspiration to me and have been extremely helpful in helping me understand how I might put my own project together.

Hedgehog in the Fog

What's not to like about Yuri Norstein? This is probably my favourite animation of his. I was originally considering trying something similar to this for my personal project using cut-out animation and creating the elements using Illustrator. I was a big influence in my first project idea which I have now abandoned. It just goes to show with something like this how to get a performance and create an atmosphere in this style.

Takeshi Koike ANIMATRIX WORLD RECORD

Toy Story Script

Decided I'm going to write a script for pre-production, even though the story itself features virtually no dialogue. I've been looking at some sample scripts, specifically for animation and found this.

TOY STORY

Kick Buttowski

A good example of limited animation techniques applied in a contemporary story and created using computer software.

The Wonderful World of Dopesheets

I've almost finished my animatic and need to do a proper dope sheet. It's not much fun :( This website is quite useful but I would suggest the title is something of an exaggeration.

The Wonderful World of Dopesheets

Tell Tale Heart Animation

A great example of limited animation by UPA. It uses virtually no full animation at all yet you hardly notice. A good example of how to build tension with this style.

World of Tomorrow storyboards by John Watkiss

I learned a bit about this guy when Fraser took one of the pre-production tutorials and was totally blown away. We were shown some concept art he had done for Disney's Tarzan and I think everyone in the room was amazed by him. The guys understanding of anatomy, lighting, colour and composition is unbelievable. I would like to say I'll be incorporating some of his techniques into my own pre-production work but alas I'm along way off this sort of ability. Nevertheless looking at his work is inspirational and makes me want to improve my drawing skills and knowledge.

Hell-Bent For Election Part One

Another example from UPA who were probably the main exponent of limited animations in America.

Hilton - Jordan

More limited animation

Hilton - Jordan 30 on Vimeo

Kamishibai master Yassan

"Kamishibai (紙芝居), literally "paper drama", is a form of storytelling that originated in Japanese Buddhist temples in the 12th century, where monks used e-maki (picture scrolls) to convey stories with moral lessons to a mostly illiterate audience. It endured as a storytelling method for centuries, but is perhaps best known for its revival in the 1920s through the 1950s. The gaito kamishibaiya, or kamishibai storyteller, rode from village to village on a bicycle equipped with a small stage. On arrival, the storyteller used two wooden clappers, called hyoshigi, to announce his arrival. Children who bought candy from the storyteller got the best seats in front of the stage. Once an audience assembled, the storyteller told several stories using a set of illustrated boards, inserted into the stage and withdrawn one by one as the story was told. The stories were often serials and new episodes were told on each visit to the village."

An example of Kamishibai storytelling which was an important influence in the development of Manga and subsequently animation in Japan.

Hideaki Anno Daicon IV

Soulful Bodies:Limited Animation

A very good article on limited animation.

Soulful Bodies:Limited Animation…

Astro Boy:- The Birth Of Astro Boy

Although my project isn't strictly about Japanese animation you'll notice there I've posted a lot of examples of Anime on this blog. The reason I'm so interested in Anime is really down to how they use cost saving techniques so effectively while still depicting such dynamic stories. One of the most influential figures in Japanese animation was Osamu Tezuka who moved into animtion from Manga comics. Tezuka was hugely influenced by American comics and animation such as Disney and Max Fleischer and he is largely responsible for developing much of how Manga and Anime looks today. In the late 50's Tezuka moved into animation with the goal of emulating the Disney studios however since he did not have either the budget or enough experienced animators he was forced to improvise. Astro Boy was his one of his first forays into animation and shows how limited animation and also some Manga techniques have been developed to overcome some of the problems he face.

Sergio Leone Tribute-Arcade Fire "My Body is a Cage"

Over the summer I watched a whole bunch of Sergio Leone films. It had been something I'd been meaning to check out for ages and when I spotted the dollars trilogy for a tenner (bargain!!) it was something I just couldn't say no to. I'd already seen Once Upon A Time In The West and was already a convert but really studying his style made me more determined to understand visual storytelling. Along with Alfred Hitchcock, Leone must be considered one of the great visual directors. Like Hitchcock he came from a background of silent films (his father was a silent film director) and both were masters at framing and setting up shots to the point where dialogue was not required. The opening scene in Once Upon A Time In The West is a good example. The film features no dialogue for the first 7-8 minutes but is no less enthralling for it. It's fair to say that watching his films has had a major influence on my personal project and his style is something I'm currently trying to emulate through animation. One of the things that I find interesting is how he uses stillness or silence as a means to build tension. It's something that is also used in Japanese Anime to build up to some kind of dramatic or frantic piece of action and it is these to things primarily I want to hopefully reflect in my own project.

The video below uses footage from the aforementioned Once Upon A Time In The West along with a rather fitting song by Arcade Fire. Even if you're not familiar with Leone's films this vid does a pretty good job at summing up what his films are about. Enjoy :)

eBoy

As you may have noticed already, I'm interested in artists who manage to bridge the gap between illustration and animation. Although primarily an illustrator this guy also dabbles in animation too. God knows how long it took him to create these massive cityscape posters (I have 3 of the and they're huge!) but I admire anyone who can put that level of detail into their work.

Link:- eBoy Blog

Zuttoworld

Another excellent artist here. I really want to get to a decent level using Adobe Illustrator by the time I've graduated. So far my experience is pretty limited, mostly as I've only just got my hands on the software. Even so, I can see some obvious benefits of becoming competent using it. This artist is a good example of someone who's style I admire and who has mastered Illustrator.

Link:-Zuttoworld

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU

This has nothing to do with what my personal project is about. I'm posting purely because its awesome :)

Abandoned project idea

For the first 5 weeks or so I had been working towards making an animated music video for my final year project. I had done some initial sketches and design work and produced a rough animatic. The basic aim was to create an animation using a demo that my friend had recorded. I wanted to use cut out animation only primarily as a way of making sure I could complete it (the song is 4 minutes long which is a lot of animation) and also because it would be more focused on the illustrative side of things which is one of my goals. In the end I abandoned it because I didn't feel it had enough depth in terms of development. I wanted get into the character design side of things and also build on my storyboarding skills which I didn't think I would get a chance to do with this idea. Although I've had to start my project from scratch I'm still glad I made the decision to change it. Hopefully I'll be able to go back to the idea in the future and perhaps develop it as a personal project.

Kung-Fu Panda Opening Sequence

Possibly the main motivation for deciding to do an animation for my final project came from watching this opening sequence from possibly my favourite animated feature; Kung-Fu Panda! Besides being an awesome movie the opening sequence is really something that inspires me. In this sequence they manage to make use of both cut out and hand drawn animation while blending them together seamlessly, primarily using After effects I believe. I've studied this 2 minute piece probably more than anything this semester and I'm finding myself continually going back to it as a source of inspiration as I'm fascinated by this new take on what is essentially "limited animation". I also like how they use the stillness with this style, something the Japanese have perfected, where there can be very little going on in terms of actual animation but where tension and drama are still being built up. A key aspect of my project at the moment is looking at how far this technique can be stretched.

Alberto Cerriteño

Another artist I really like who seems equally good with illustration and animation. He has a really interesting style, a sort of mix of traditional and modern which I like plus he uses texture very well which is something I'm trying to add to my illustrative work.

Alberto Cerriteño | Illustrator • Animator • Director

Rex Crowle

P.S. He's also done a rather nice little animated story for BBC Wales called "Becoming Merlin" which is not far off what I'm aiming for in my own project in terms of art and animation style. Hopefully mine will be as good as this :P

BBC - Wales - History - Myths - Becoming Merlin

Rex Crowle

I love this guy!"Visual playfullness" is a phrase he uses and it pretty obvious why. Over the summer I got into illustration quite a bit and this guy's not only a great illustrator but a great animator too. When I see his stuff it reminds me to always try and keep things fun :)

Rexbox. Graphic & Animation Designer