Happy Tuesdays Blog

Hand-drawn animation is something that really has a split down the middle in terms of the reception that it receives from audiences. Most people that are keen about animation will marvel simply at the commitment to large hand-drawn projects, but to the layman all of that work and effort could almost go wasted when similar effects could be created using CGI.

Most people who weigh in on this debate will fall on the side of hand-drawn animation with credit given to only a few notable examples from the CG world. Pixar in particular always seems to get a free pass whenever anyone is discussing the quality of CGI; one of the first feature film to use it was Toy Story which really got it right in my opinion. The reason for this is because they seamlessly blended the style into the story. When you’re using a technique that has been criticised for being glossy, stiff and robotic, what better subject to render than a group of toys that are given life?

In recent years a few steps have been made towards trying to reach a happier medium between the two styles. Disney’s feature ‘Tangled’ deserves a mention for its efforts to take stiff CG animation and try a combination of techniques to give the film some of the fluidity and depth that the style can lose; the ambition of Glen Keane, who wanted the characters and their environment to mimic the impression of a watercolour. One feature film that I am looking forward to, from Dreamworks of all places, is called ‘Me and My Shadow’ which is going to feature a real world environment and a ‘shadow world’ rendered in CG and hand drawn respectively. You can read more about it over here

Now comes the part of this post that I was really looking forward to, which is particularly notable examples of incredible hand-drawn animation. Pre-dating modern CGI these sequences were carefully and extremely patiently drawn by hand just by way of necessity, but the detail and the final effect is nothing short of remarkable. First of all, there is for me, one of the greatest chase sequences filmed, particularly in animation at least, which is in the film pinocchio when he is being chased by the whale. When it comes to hand-drawn skill take a particularly close look at the waves and the splashes in the ocean; the fluidity of which is a real credit to the slow ‘piece by piece’ reality of hand-drawn animation.

Another important film to mention here is ‘The Thief and the Cobbler’, the unfinished masterpiece of animation giant Richard Williams. The detail of each shot and the complexity of the style itself took Williams and his team 25 years to create, as well as the fact that Williams was an absolute perfectionist and would repeatedly scrap long sections of work because he wasn’t happy with them. The story itself deserves a much longer write-up, but in the end a lot of the set pieces, character and plot was ‘borrowed’ for use in Disney’s Alladin, much to the chagrin of the animation world who feel very loyal to the efforts of the now little-known Williams against the animation powerhouse. Here is a fan edited trailer for the film itself, made out of the unfinished elements that were left when the project was finally shelved:

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The inspiration for this particular post came to me just the other day when I was out walking with a friend. We came to a long twist of road in front of us leading into the woods and I was suddenly struck with deja vu and I asked what about that image was so familiar. My friend, much to their credit, instantly recognised that the setting before us looked almost identical to the image of the terrifying woods from beauty and the beast and that was what had stuck in my mind for all of these years.

As well as the instantly recognisable characters, the very background itself went into making up so much of the atmosphere of that film scene by scene. I went and did some research into it and came across a lot of artists who had a similar passion for the background art of animation. If you want to test your eye for noticing the unnoticed then allow me to play the following game. Here are several very famous backgrounds in a variety of classic styles, see if you can tell what they are from without any of the characters, if you mouse over, I’ll put the answers in the alt-text, but if you need a big clue you can read my descriptions:

This is a very recognisable image for me and it is wonderfully enjoyable to spend some time picking apart all of the little adornments that make this image as rich as it is. All of the small toys and games in the foreground and the background make a really nice path for the characters to walk down as all around them is the idea of innocent play and adventure. The tree at the top and the branch coming down are particularly iconic for this cartoon, but it is strange because before today, if anyone had asked me what one of the most memorable elements of this cartoon was, I would never have realised it could easily be the style of the trees.

This was not the most obvious image I could have chosen for this animation, but I thought it said more about the style than some of the more stereotypical shots. These are simply meant to be bushes and trees, but the swirling pattern gives and effect of “greekness”, no doubt inspired by art and patterns used from genuine ancient art. It is fascinating to me that this sticks into the mind and creates a really believable world for the characters to live in, rather than just sticking in a bunch of statues, the landscape itself follows the same rules of the style.

This is one of many images that I could have chosen from this film that comes with that psychedelic quality given to everyday objects. The relevant points here are to do with the sizing of the objects within the image, that large towering chair stretches right out of shot, in fact it is enjoyable to see the character that is missing from this image, his relative size to the chair adds a certain charm. I also love the uneven floor that swoops upwards, adding brilliantly to the dream-like image.

Some very interesting things are done with lighting in this image; the large open window as the door into a new world of possibility and the dingy play-room. I won’t say much more about it, but as a film with so many varied set pieces (hint:piarates), something about the play-room always stuck in my mind as a child – I think it has something to do with that carpet, it seems almost rich enough to feel.

This is something that struck me as very striking for an iconic image in this film. As I looked at it I suddenly thought about the artists that designed it, tasked with drawing barren rocks, they managed to create a style for the setting that is incredibly unique (I’m not suggesting that’s all the creative direction they were given, but I don’t know maybe it was).

I found this particularly dive into the world of backgrounds incredibly interesting and it really can teach us a lot about the importance of some well designed settings in animation or cartooning as a whole. All to often it seems artists will spend years and years honing their style until they have the perfect face and character that they want, then the background itself will be a single line, or some basic set-pieces.

For many many many more of these brilliant backgrounds, head over to this blog (where I borrowed these images from) http://animationbackgrounds.blogspot.co.uk/ by Rob Richards. It has sadly stopped updating, but it has an archive of beautiful backgrounds from almost any major animated feature you care to mention, all with the characters themselves skilfully removed with digital rendering.

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Exciting news for keen lovers of stop motion animation and exciting news for everyone as Guillermo Del Toro has been announced to come on board as the director for a stopmotion remake to the classic film about the puppet. Some other exciting announcements and great names for the picture is Mark Gustafson, famed for the brilliant stop-motion for Fantastic Mr fox, as animating director of the upcoming film.

The screenplay is being written by Matthew Robbins, Nick Cave is reportedly in charge of music and Donald Sutherland and Tom Waits are both being considered for voice acting roles. So it looks like it could be set to be something of an all star cast, particularly with the excitement the Guillermo will give to the release.The company that is representing the film is ‘The Jim Henson company’, the same studio who made the muppets, and Labyrinth.

Del Toro is basing his tale on the classic Carlo Callodi and of course his illustrator Gris Grimley This has affected the design of the characters and the set pieces. Mr Grimley unveiled the starting point for Pinnochio character last year and peaked our interest. Here is a twitter pic that Grmiley took  of the puppet last year. The puppet itself may have changed a bit since  it was displayed last year.

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I very recently learned of the BAFTA award winning short film of 2011, The Eagleman Stag; the film was the thesis film of Royal College of Art student Mikey Please, whose MA project had an international premiere at Sundance and went on to win the BAFTA for best animated short film. The short film has just recently been made available to everyone online by Mr Please and it has understandably received a wonderful reception.

It is a fantastic short film, at just under ten minutes, and rather appropriately for a short film, it focuses on the main character’s obsession with the acceleration of time over the course of his life. If you have the time, I highly recommend you watch it (in fullscreen!):

THE EAGLEMAN STAG from Mikey Please on Vimeo.

The material used for the characters and most of the 115 separate sets in the film is a strange white foam that was reportedly found in the back of a cushion that appealed to Michael’s artistic vision. In a statement, Michael said ‘I like to leave imperfections, clues in each image that tell part of the story of how the image came to be’ . Animation lends itself to this quality, particularly in independent films because large features with big production values can often become preoccupied with trying to look very slick and realistic. However, The Eagleman Stag uses rough design, cluttered sets and very short scenes to great effect to get across the message about the plight of the protagonist.

Michael worked with his brother Benedict who composed the soundtrack and created the sound of the film. Also featuring as the film’s protagonist, is British actor David Cann who, along with the excellent writing, allows us to feel the angst and existential dread of the main character Peter Eagleman.

This film is another example of the love that people have for the medium of stop motion animation. This technique can be very low budget when it comes to materials and equipment compared to other choices, but the main element of stop motion animation is the time commitment and delicate care required to achieve the desired effect. These factors make it a very popular technique among independent animators and film makers.

The Eagleman Stag has already made some serious headlines in the industry and it looks like it could be the one of the first of many very exciting developments in the career of the talented young Michael Please.

(As an additional extra, here are some exciting shots of the film being made along with more information about the project: Making The Eagleman Stag)

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The video game company Double Fine owned by Tim Schafer, godfather of old school point and click gaming, have been pushed firmly back into the spotlight recently as their kick-starter project to create a new point and click game received over $3 million in funding from independent donations.

As they embark on this exciting new project, they have become the company everybody wants to work with or for, as their reputation within the industry begins to rival that of Valve or Pixar hen it comes to inspiring creativity through innovation and fun. So with everybody looking for a position, the competition to work with them has become extremely tough. One way that a young developer managed to poke his head above the rest of the applicants was by designing a game in place of sending his CV.

Marius Fietzek designed a game in the classic style of Schafer’s own old point and click games and sent it to the company. Called The Applicant, the game stars Clark the desk clerk at Double Fine, when Marius himself enters and tries to apply for an internship. The dialog options available allow the player to search through all of Marius’ experiences, job history and qualifications as he has a discussion with the sarcastic clerk.

The game seemed to work just as Marius hoped as it landed him the role with the company. Hardly surprising considering the fact that Tim Schafer himself did something very similar back in the 1980s when applying for his job with LucasArts. So a clever combination of nostalgia, evidence of talent and qualifications has won Marius the job. The hiring is a nice move from a company that is already becoming very popular for their alternative slant on the gaming industry, although, it is likely that since this story came to light, the Double Fine offices have been inundated with games from would-be developers hoping to have a similar effect.

If you want to play Marius’ application, you can find it here: The Applicant

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Another sector of the industry that I am keen to cover is to do with photography and animation. At first glance, these may seem to be entirely separate mediums of art, but in reality, the crossover between photography and animation is remarkable.

There are several reasons for this. Animation and moving images are simplistically just a series of photos that move very quickly; seeing so many images at once gives the viewer the illusion of movement. This means that animation and photography adhere to a lot of the same rules and considerations. For example, both mediums have to consciously think about the framing of the image within the shot, and about the lighting or natural light. In animation, shading, colouring and lighting make up an important stage of the production process as the effect of the light on the animated objects has to look real in order to not bother the audience. This means that those artists need to know a lot about how light falls naturally onto an inanimate object, just like a photographer would.

A technique like stop motion animation uses many of the same elements as photography because it is a seqeuence of real life images; essentially just a number of similar photos that have been put together. However, in the modern world the use of photography in animation is changing at an incredibly rate. For example, high speed internet allows us now to see example of animated photos like these cinemagraphs. These images, known as GIFs because of their file format bridge the gap between film and photograph; as technology and techniques develop and change, it allows new artforms like these to open up.

Professional photographers usually specialise in one specific area of photography such as portraits, or food photography. However there are numerous examples of photographers who make a living by producing a variety of different styles of photographs. Many photographers are involved in architectural photography at a professional level and will be able to produce some profoundly striking images of buildings from the exterior or interior.

Photography as an artform itself is still very much in its infancy in comparison to many other parts of the industry and it is still not taken as seriously as other art by many people. With this blog i hope to show some of the incredible and visionary photographers that are bringing new respect to the medium as well as analysing how the impact of photographic technology effects animation

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Film in itself is obviously a massive industry and a huge topic of discussion. I could start a blog just about any one very specific part of the film industry, horror films for example, and would still struggle to keep up with all of the industry news and developments. With that in mind, I intend to focus my coverage of film in this blog to short films and other relevant non-mainstream films that make some form of impact on the animation industry.

Short films lend themselves well to animation because of the huge production costs and time commitment required to make a full feature film with animated images. Additionally , it is an art form that is traditionally related to a short running time; as children we became used to watching short cartoons and various other short forms of animation; as a result, full length animated features can seem very long.

Obviously, this is a gross generalisation if it were applied to all animated feature films, after all, the company Pixar has won countless awards over the years with their animated features which never fail to wow audiences with their wide appeal, comic timing and aesthetic wonder. In fact the mere existence of the ‘best animated film’ category at the BAFTAs shows the respect and consideration the the film industry gives to animation.

However, one of the most liberating elements of short animation, is that it can be achieved on a small scale independent of huge production companies. With the artistic talent, vision and the right software, budding film makers can realise their vision through animation. So with this blog I hope to direct attention towards some small films and important developments within the animated film industry.

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Graphic design is a form of modern art focusing on the clear communication of a message, or perhaps more aptly, it is often the application of art in the commercial market. Graphic designers will produce identity logos, branding, web sites, publications, advertisements and product packaging. The work usually has to convey a specific message and target a specific audience in order to make a sale. It is the embodiment of the idea that ‘a picture says a thousand words’ as the images used in adverts are often required to get across a message instantly.

The term graphic design was first introduced in 1922 by William Addison Dwiggins. Graphic design however has always been present, since prehistoric times. People have always strived and searched for ways to give visual form ideas and to convey their concepts. They wished to bring order and clarity to the information and ideas. People such as scribes, printers and artists strived for this clarity. But so too did industry professionals and salesmen. If you look at adverts from the early twentieth century, they look very different to an advert today, here is a side by side comparison:

This is a clear example of how the techniques of advertising have changed over time, as has the way that we use images. In the early advert the images are simply functional as they depict very basic examples of the product. However, in the modern advert, the image is the main sell and the writing is just to show the audience where to find more information. Because the image has become so important, the company needs an artist that understands commercial marketing, a graphic designer.

To conclude, Graphic design is the most universal of all the arts. We come across graphic design in everyday life. It is often completely unnoticeable, in fact this can be the result of excellent design; the best designed images, such as street signs convey information so intuitively that we don’t even noticing it is happening. It is all around us, without graphic design we would have to receive all our information by spoken word.

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Hello, and welcome to my blog, Happy Tuesdays, a blog on which I hope to cover all of the relevant news and developments in the industry of animation and graphic design. Animation has developed so rapidly over the last hundred years and is now a very broad term that covers a lot of different techniques for practicing art in motion. For the first few posts I hope to just outline some of the different sections of this industry that are of particular interest to me. To start with I’m going to briefly outline the history of animation.

Animation is a display of a rapid sequence which illustrates images of 2-D or 3-D artwork; creating the illusion of movement. Early examples of animation can date back 1000′s of years. One of these early examples was a motion drawing found in Palaeolithic cave paintings; here animals where depicted. Whilst these images attempted to capture movement and action in drawings, they were not animation as we would recognise it because there was no equipment to show the images themselves in motion.

In 180AD a Chinese zoetrope-type device was invented. The Chinese zoetrope is known as praxinoscope, or more commonly the flip book. This was a very early and popular animation device, right through the 19th century. This device produced the appearance of movement, though animation didn’t really develop any more until the year of cinematography.

This animation dates back to 1931, Japan

There is obviously no single person who can be considered the creator of film animation. Around the 19th century there where several people working on projects involving animation. There are a number of techniques, which have been improved, changed and developed over time.

Traditional animation: Also known as cell animation or hand-drawn animation. This process was used for most animated films of the 20th century. This is often hailed as the superior style of animating films as apposed to the computer generated images commonly used in modern film making. It takes a painstakingly long time to do compared to computer animation and the skill and commitment of this type of workmanship is what earns it prestige in certain artistic styles.

Stop motion: this involves physically manipulating real world objects. The process involves photographing the object one frame at a time to create the illusion of movement. The largest name in stop motion animation for many years now has been Aardman Animation, creators of Wallace and Gromit and creature comforts as well as a whole host of other beloved children’s shows and feature films.

Computer animation: This is the most common modern technique for animating images. Animation is created uses a variety of techniques, digitally. It follows a lot of the same style and is similar in practice to traditional cell animation with the most notable exception being that the image does not have to be redrawn completely every time the artist wants to make a small change to the image in a sequence of frames.

Clearly each of these practices of animation is a huge topic to discuss, which is good because I intend to keep this blog very active with all of the updates in these various different sections of the industry. However, to begin with I can’t possibly begin to even scratch the surface of describing all of the intricate details of each. So as I keep on posting I will go more in depth about each of these sections.

As a final note, last month Aardman released their latest feature film entitled ‘The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists”, starring Hugh Grant voicing our swashbuckling bearded hero. I’ve yet to see this film, but according to excellent reviews (like this one in the telegraph), the film contains all of the same quality and style that we have come to love Aardman for.

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