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audience assembled, the storyteller told several stories using a set of illustrated boards, inserted into the stage and withdrawn one by one as the story was told.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

Hello!

Hello and welcome to my blog which, as you can see from the rather clever title, has been set up to cover some of the research and work I'll be doing throughout my final year at Abertay. It's taken a while but I think I've worked out(more or less)what my project and dissertation are going to be about and I can finally start putting some bits and pieces up. For my project I will be creating an animation of around 2-3 minutes in duration and my aim is to use limited animation techniques, particularly those developed in Japanese anime but in a non-Japanese setting, in this case the wild west. I chose this idea because I wanted to develop my character design, storyboarding and story telling skills.

To be honest I don't have very much experience as an animator even for a student so on the face of it committing to a project such as this doesn't make much sense. The reason for this decision comes really from seeing the 4th year exhibition in the summer. My main interest at this moment is more towards the pre-production side things such as character development, storyboarding etc but looking at last years graduate's work made me want to have something tangible to show for my hard work. I decided to learn about limited animation as it is a style which has evolved primarily within the animation industry through the need to make the process as efficient as possible and was invaluable in the early days of Japanese animation as a way to overcome the lack of experienced animators.

As well as detailing my progress as I go I'll be posting up some of the things that inspire and interest me too. The video below is from a documentary called "From Scrolls to Screen" which appears on the Animatrix DVD and it essentially summarises some of the techniques and influences that will inform my project. I hope you enjoy the blog :)