A Plethora of Animation Styles!

Hey, do you guys remember Chalkzone? It was a rather obscure cart that aired on Nickelodeon in the mid 2000's. The thing that always interested me about this show was the shift in art styles when they left the natural work and when into the “Chalkzone”. Granted the main characters never changed they appearance but the world around them after they the charted go through the portal turned into this chalk drawn world.

Although this show has been on for a while and is for children yet again, The Amazing World of Gumboil is surprising with its animation style. Although I would assume the set style is that of the main character, each secondary character carries their own animation style with them, ranging from flat 2-D to 3-D and everything in between. The great thing about The Amazing World of Gumball is the way they incorporate as many different animation styles as they can and the result is somewhat disorienting as well as charming! (But again keep in mind this is a children's show so yeah be wary.)

Animation in He Named Me Malala

I am a huge fan of Malala. Anytime I see a news article or a video clip referencing her, I have to read it. I'm currently reading her autobiography (I highly recommend it). Anyone who can advocate for women and their basic rights, such as education, is a hero to me. I've been trying to find the time to see the movie about her. A friend of mine saw it recently and told me there are some pretty cool animated sequences in it. I looked them up and found the opening sequence on YouTube. It's very beautiful, more traditional animation and I recommend you watch it. Enjoy!

Animation Techniques and Terminology

For my blog post this week, I wanted to talk about some really cool animation techniques and the different terminology used by professionals in the field.

As we learn how to use After Effects in more depth, I think it is important to learn more about some of the other techniques used in animation. Some of these are old and some are new but they are all pretty cool.

Inbetweening: Basically inbetweening or tweening is the process of adding animation between Pose A and Pose B of a character or object. It is essentially filling in gaps between two actions. The example below demonstrates it better.

Onion Skinning: In this 2-D animation technique, onionskin paper is used to draw each frame of an animation under a light source. The frames are then placed one over the other to show the different frames. This helps the animator, mostly inbetweeners in this case, see the fluid motion of an object or character.

Moving Hold: This is an animation means that I found particularly interesting. In this technique, a character is given more dimension by making it look more lifelike. It serves to add emotion and in a way show that a character is breathing even when they are standing still. The video below shows how the Moving Hold technique is added to a character in Maya.

There's so many more techniques and means of animation that you can find online and it really shows how accurate and detailed we can get with our work.

Lion King: Different Methods for different animators

The Lion King is probably my favorite Disney animated movie that isn't a Pixar movie. This is a movie that I grew up with (I was born in 1994, aka the year it was released, so I am as old as this movie (WOW)) and it is a beautiful story and fantastic animation! They really did a fantastic job of making each character, each animal, come to life!

I was searching online for some BTS of some animated movies, and I came across this one for the Lion King and their creative processes. I thought this was really cool to see the different methods that they used, from study real animals in the studio to study the voice actors movements and facial expressions to add emotion to the characters, or even just simply walking around impersonating how the animator thinks that particular character they are drawing would move and behave. It was also interesting how each character was designated to a single animator (or some times a pair). But come together in the end to make a masterpiece!

Definitely check out the Lion King BTS video here:

Miyazaki's "Final Film"

After 51 years of writing and animation, as well as thirteen award winning films famed director Hayao Miyazaki lays down his pen for The Wind Rises…for now.  The writer of Ponyo, From Up on Poppy Hill and The Secret World of Arrietty, has claimed these to be his last films before allowing new talent, like his son Goro Miyazaki take the reins of writing/directing the Studio Ghibli franchise. But almost every time he’s said this, the wizard always seems to have one more trick left up his sleeve, and creating his most recent features that continue to astound us. Unlike his previous “last films,” this one seems to be his grand finale, as he returns to the director’s chair after five years. The film is adapted from Miyazaki’s 2009 serialized manga of Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the Mitsubishi A5M aircraft used in WWII. 

Much of the film’s story parallel’s with Miyazaki’s personal journey as a storyteller. Miyazaki and Horikoshi both share an enjoyment craft of what they do and sought to create beauty and art in story, animation and aviation respectively.

Like some some of his other projects it contains the following things one usually associates with a Miyazaki film.

1) Prominent Female Protagonist that resembles the pervious ones

Naoko Saotomi

          2) Fantastical Images 

        3) Highly Detailed Environments

These elements are the main reasons I continue to watch Miyazaki's films. When I found out this film is supposed to be Miyazai's last I was disappointed. Personally I don't think this is the end for Miyazaki as far as a storyteller. But if this is his final film in the director's chair, I think he couldn't have chosen a better story to end his directorial rein at Ghibli. Most likely Miyazaki will continue in the as the mentor for the upcoming directors at Ghibli.

Like his son's film created 2006 where he presented the concept, while his son handled the screenplay and directorial aspects of the project.