Animation from America to Japan

Today's post will be a bit more of an intellectual one.  I have put together a term paper for one of my classes focusing on an aspect of animation I have been interested in learning more about, and will present it here as a post.  I hope you find it interested, and please feel free to contact me with questions or feedback.

Animation from America to Japan and Back

by David Hixon, © 2011

As early as 1915, Japan has been creating their own animations for public display.  However, despite these early films, animation in Japan didn't really come into its own until after WWII.  Anime as it is viewed today around the world really began with artists such as Osamu Tezuka, who created a series of manga which eventually became animated in a unique style.  However, if it wasn't for the animation from other countries and artists, in particular Walt Disney, he may never had inspired the anime genre as we know it.

I will explore the international influences that shaped anime into what it is today, and how that unique animation style has begun to affect mainstream media throughout the world.  Many people believe that the essence of anime has changed due to western influences, but I argue that western influences have always been strong in Japanese animation, and it is this clash of cultures that creates what is exciting and different.  I will begin by exploring how Western artists have influenced Japanese animators, focusing specifically on the works of Tezuka Osamu.  I will then explore the ongoing influences that go between eastern and Western artists, and how the cultures of these artists have begun to globalize.  I will finish by showing how the Japanese style of animation has invaded what we watch in theaters and on television today around the world.

The roots of anime really begin with early animators from America and Europe, such as Blackton and McCay.  In fact, by 1915, there were 21 foreign animations played nationally in Japan.  Both American and German artists, such as John R. Bray, the Fleischer brothers, and Lotte ReinigerIt, were strong inspirations for early Japanese animators.  A slew of animators emerged in Japan, including Shimokawa Oten, Kouchi Junichi, and Kitayama Seitaro, the earliest Japanese animators.  While they pioneered the techniques and genre, there was little they produced which was particularly worthwhile.  Shimokawa Oten was  trained as a caricaturist and cartoonist before being hired by Tenkatsu Studio to animate specifically in the style of Émile Cohl, while Kitayama Seitaro was particularly experienced with the Western style of painting.  Already, in the earliest years of anime, the Japanese style of animation was heavily influenced by the works of Western artists, not merely the techniques they pioneered.  These Western style influences were not limited to the origin of anime and continued into the 1930's.  Artists such as Ikuo Oishi broke away from other contemporary Japanese animators' styles, and modeled his characters after American animations such as Felix the Cat.  Yokoyama Ryuichi founded the Otogi Studio in Japan after having fallen in love with animation through Walt Disney's Skeleton Dance, which aired in Japan in 1930. He created several animations and manga, and would appear in the Mainichi newspaper.  He had the privilege to visit the Disney Studios in 1955, and met Walt Disney himself.

In the 1930's and 40's, the many Japanese animations were made as propaganda films during World War II, which probably caused a strain on the animators in terms of inspiration.  It seems likely that could they directly copy the styles of Western animators now that they were at war. And yet even during this troubling time, the animators would sometimes portray American soldiers as recognizable characters such as Bluto from Fleischer's Popeye as seen in Mitsuyo Seo's Momotaro, Eagle of the Sea released in 1943.  Political references like this continued throughout the war and beyond.  Even after the war, the government of Japan encouraged animators to make films that showed the possibilities of the West, such as the 1946 film by Masao Kumagawa, The Magic Pen.  However, this had little to do with the style of the animation, and more to do with propaganda.

It wasn't until a medical student decided in the 1950's to try his hand at manga and eventually anime that the modern style of anime was born.  Tezuka Osamu was privileged in his youth to have access to both manga and film, including animation.  Tezuka is said to have watched films like Felix the Cat in his youth, and was also influenced by Disney films, and French New Wave Cinema.  This lead to his unique way of looking at animation and manga as a cinematic experience in terms of film editing, camera work, and other cinematic devices.  His love of art and film from around the world gave him a unique viewpoint into the world of animation.  Even the character design of Astro Boy was an homage to the early Walt Disney character styles.

On the first day of 1963, Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atomu) was aired in Japan, and in America soon after, which was during a time when there were limited channels and airtime on television.  One of the more interesting facts about this relationship between America and Japan was that Astro Boy would regularly mirror the civil rights struggles in America of the day, adding to the relations between the two countries and furthering the expansion of anime into the American market.  While Astro Boy started off roughly, it soon became a world famous show, spreading the art of Japanese animation early, and invading the homes of people around the world.  Tezuka produced several more series both before and after Astro Boy, which made big waves in America and abroad.  Of these, Kimba the White Lion (Jungle Emperor) was among the most popular on American television. 

In1967, Yoshida Tatsuo's Speed Racer (Mach Go Go Go) was aired in America as well.  It gained popularity on American television, and eventually the original manga it was based on was released to western audiences as well.  It became an icon of Japanese animation in its own right.

We can clearly see here that the Japanese styles used in animation were heavily influenced by their American and Western colleagues since the earliest days of Japanese produced animations.  These influences continued throughout the decades, culminating in the cinematic styles that Tezuka adopted.  While it is clear that the origins of anime were influenced as such, the American audience was also being slowly introduced to the phenomenon known as Anime, and despite the often controversial and bizarre shows, it became engrained in the minds of future American film makers and animators.

Astro Boy has been translated into over a dozen different languages, and Tezuka himself was one of the first Japanese artists to attend international festivals for comics and animations.  He not only pioneered airing his shows in America, but around the world, and was critically recognized for his work.  The influential styles of Japanese animation were not limited to Japan, and had already been seen by artists and future animators around the world.  One film which shows this obvious cross-pollination of story telling and visuals is Disney's 1994 hit movie The Lion King.  Many critics have pointed out the many similarities between this film and Tezuka's Kimba the White Lion.  Kimba aired on American television stations in the 60's and 70's, and many of the animators who worked on The Lion King would have grown up watching Kimba on television.  Critics have claimed Disney heavily “borrowed” from Tezuka, and controversy over the idea of homage versus plagiarism sparked.

While the films and animations of Japan continue to spread throughout the world, both the styles and culture of Japan spread with it.  Historically, Japan has been heavily influenced by Western cultures, and yet continues to hold onto their own unique perspective and cultural identity.  It is this mix of West meets East, tradition meeds modernization, that has shaped the very soul of modern day Japan.  Japan is becoming a country of a globalized culture, where they struggle to find their own identity and a place to fit within the world.  Anime is one way in which Japan has turned the tables, and allowed their art to influence other cultures more than their own, and yet it also conforms to many globalized standards.

Characters in anime productions are often depicted with large eyes, multiple colors of hair and eyes, and even skin.  While the characters are not always intended to be from another country, they are more often than not Western looking, copying the styles and appearance of Western cultures and people.  Characters often have blond, brown, or even red hair, as well as a slew of eye colors, which directly mimic these foreign people.  On the other hand, many anime characters also sport blue, green, purple, or even pink hair, as well as red or purple eyes, and even blue or green skin.  This seems bizarre, but is one of the defining characteristics of anime, and brings it out of any particular culture and into something all it's own.  By adopting a non-Japanese, or even “stateless” look in the characters is part of what makes anime so easily acceptable by cultures around the world.

Such mixing of ideas and styles goes both ways.  Several television shows and movies in America directly reflect the Japanese style, and even the anime characteristics that define it.  Avatar: The Last Airbender is one such show.  The directors and producers not only copied themes, styles, and designs as well as cultural references for their series from Japanese animation, but they also researched what studios to use, and chose a Korean studio that had previously worked on Japanese anime and were familiar with the style and demands of the process.  And it is not alone.  Several studios are adopting an anime style for certain shows, in order to reach the demographics they are looking for.  They are not just trying to mimic the look either, they are looking to emulate the style to a point where it is impossible to tell the difference between “Anime” produced in Japan versus America, at least in terms of quality and story-telling.  At the very least, studios are trying to take visual and stylistic cues, and leave the real anime style to the Japanese masters.

Many American and Japanese comics are already cross-pollinating, and both manga and anime are becoming less and less a product strictly of Japan, even if the primary demographic is Japanese.  The majority of Japanese anime with Western money backing it seems to be from making sequels and projects that did poorly in the Japanese market.  The West's desire to acquire or produce Eastern, and particularly Japanese art dates back to the 19^th Century.  Anime shows a mix of traditional Japanese art that was so fascinating to the people of the time, such as Kabuki and Woodblock Prints (Ukiyo-e), and modern and even experimental cinema and artistic tools.

While many American studios have shied away attempting to emulate the Japanese style, and others have tried to make it their own, there have been several projects developed that are joint-projects between Japanese and American groups.  Warner Brothers Studios  commissioned a series of short animations from various anime studios and producers in Japan on more than one occasion, each time with a different movie they are to be based on.  Animatrix, released to home video in 2003, is a collection of short animations, each with a different Japanese director, focusing on telling more of the story of the Wachowski Brother's Matrix.  Again in 2008, they released Batman Gotham Knight under the same pretense.

These collaborations have extended into full length films as well.  Several remakes and re-imaginings of different anime and manga stories have been produced in America, and several more are in production and planning.  In 2009, a mainly American produced version of Astro Boy was released to theaters, with some limited interaction and approval by Tezuka Productions.  This followed the 2008 release of Speed Racer, and several other anime-to-live-action remakes.  This trend, to turn anime into live-action films, tends to produce mixed results, and yet there are several more films in the works for the next few years.

Beyond remaking anime series and movies for a Western audience, either through live action or animation, the most notable influence of anime in western cinema is the style it inspires in original Western works.  Blockbuster films, such as 300, The Matrix, Kill Bill, and even Up, and Ratatouille, are directly inspired by the cinematic and visual styling of anime.  Kill Bill went so far as to include an animated sequence produced by a Japanese animation studio in the middle of the film.  However, the most interesting influences are those between anime and animation.

Hayao Miyazaki fell in love with animation in 1958, when he was in high school, and went on to create one of the most influential animation studios in the world.  His first major motion film, which was Castle Cagliostro, made way for his much more epic masterpieces, such as Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, that defined his style and the studio he started, Studio Ghibli.  He was not a fan of Disney-style animation, in both the use of cinematography, and rotoscoping.  He wanted to create a truly Japanese style of animation which focused more on the essence of animation in expression and motion, rather than smoothness of motion.  However, he was still heavily influenced by western cartoonists such as McCay, Fleischer, Back, and Norstein.  Because of his unique way of looking at animation, from writing the telling the story to the art style and visuals, his animations have influenced artists world wide.

Many artists, including those at Pixar Studios, grew up watching Miyazaki's films as a children, and continue to draw inspiration from him in their movies.  Many have studied the drawings and animations Miyazaki made, and used what they could learn from him to his work in films like Up, and Ratatouille.  Miyazaki himself became friends with John Lasseter of Pixar, visiting him at Pixar Studios on what Lasseter announced was “Miyazaki Day at Pixar”.

This type of international relationship between East and West are becoming more commonplace, and as a result, the highly stylized art and often adult and mature themes of anime have begun to spread globally and permeate cultures around the world.  As a result, it can be said that Japan is losing its singular unique identity, but replacing it with a unique cultural identity of contrasting elements of society and art.  Japan is both traditional and modern, conservative and edgy, and this contrast is reflected in the animation they have produced.  As a result, it is easily accepted in many cultures around the world, and has influenced the artists, cartoonists, sequential artists, and filmmakers of tomorrow, and today.  While the rest of the world struggles to keep up with the style of anime, the Japanese artists have drawn on inspirations from other cultures to make their art more unique and universal.

The future for anime is bright, and with international collaborations, it will prove to be even brighter.  Anime was born from the unique perspective of Eastern artists studying Western art, while drawing upon their own past and experiences to support it.  Thanks to efforts from artists such as Tezuka and Miyazaki, anime will continue to be an international influence on film, pushing the envelope and advancing what is possible on film, by unleashing the imagination.

Bibliography

Cavallaro, Dani. (2006). The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki.  Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co.

Drazen, Patrick. (2003).  Anime Explosion!  The What? Why? & Wow! Of Japanese Animation.  Retrieved from

Kime, Chad. (n.d.).  American Anime: Blend or Bastardization?.  Accessed on October 9^th, 2011.  Retrieved from

Koyama-Richard, Brigitte. (2010). Japanese Animation: From Painted Scrolls to Pokémon. Paris, France: Flammarion.

Lamarre, Thomas. (2009). The Anime Machine. Minnesota, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Lu, Amy Shirong. (2008).  “The many faces of Internationalization in Japanese Anime”.  Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal.  Retrieved from

Miyazaki, Hayao.  (January 28^th, 1988).  “About Japanese Animation”. Course Japanese Movies 7: The Current Situation of Japanese Movies. Iwanami Shoten.  Translated by Ryoko Toyama.  Accessed on November 5^th, 2011.  Retrieved from

Napier, Susan J. (2005) Anime from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle.  New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Sharp, Jasper.  (2004).  Pioneers of Japanese Animation at PIFan.  Accessed on November 5^th, 2011.  Retrieved from

Van der Lugt, Peter.  (n.d.).  Exclusive Interview with Pixar Storyboard Artist Enrico Casarosa.  Accessed on October 9^th, 2011.  Retrieved from

Zahed, Ramin. (November 2004). “Astro Boy's American Cousins”.  Animation Magazine, vol 18 (no. 11). 

Filmography

  Bender, Lawrence (Producer), Tarantino, Quentin (Director).  (2003).  Kill Bill Volume 1 [Motion Picture].  United States: Miramax.

Bird, Brad; Pinkava, Jan (Directors). (2007).  Ratatouille [Motion Picture]. United States: Walt Disney / Pixar Animation Studios.

Black, Christopher (Executive Producer), Somers, Karen I. (Director).  (2007).  Anime: Drawing a Revolution [Television Documentary].  United States: Starz Entertainment.

Bowers, David (Director).  (2009).  Astro Boy [Motion Picture]. United States: Imagi Animation Studios / Imagi Crystal / Tezuka Production Company.

DiMartino, Michael Dante; Konietzko, Bryan (Producers).  (2005).  Avatar: The Last Airbender [Television Series].  United States: Nickelodeon Animation Studios.

  Disney, Walt (Producer), Iwerks, Ub (Director).  (1929).  Skeleton Dance [Animated Short].  United States: Disney.

Docter, Pete; Peterson, Bob(Directors).  (2009).  Up [Motion Picture]. United States: Walt Disney / Pixar Animation Studios.

Fleischer, Max (Producer). (1933).  Popeye The Sailor [Animated Short].  United States: Fleischer Studios/Paramount Studios.

Hanh, Don (Producer), Allers, Roger; Minkoff, Rob (Directors).  (1994).  The Lion King [Motion Picture]. United States: Disney.

  Hidehiko, Takei; Yamamoto, Satoshi (Producers), Ishiguro, Noboru (Director).  (1963).  Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy) [Television Series]. Japan: Mushi Productions.

Kumagawa, Masao (Director). (1946). Maho no Pen (The Magic Pen) [Animated Short]. Japan: Kyoto Eiga-sha.

Melniker, Benjamin; Thomas, Emma; Timm, Bruce W.; Uslan, Michael E. (Executive Producers).  (2008)  Batman: Gotham Knight [Animated Film]. United States: Warner Home Video.

Miyazaki, Hayao (Director).  Katayama, Tetsuo (Producer).  (1979).  Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (Lupin III: Castle Cagliostro) [Motion Picture]. Japan: Tokyo Movie Shinsha (TMS)

Miyazaki, Hayao (Director), Takahata, Isao (Producer).  (1984).  Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind [Motion Picture].  Japan: Studio Ghibli, Disney.

  Seo, Mitsuyo (Director). (1943).  Momotaro no Umiwashi (Momotaro, Eagle of the Sea)  [Animated Short] Japan: Geijutsu Eiga-sha / Zakka Films (USA distributor).

Tezuka, Osamu; Yamamoto, Eiichi (Producers).  (1965-67).  Janguru Taitei (Kimba the White Lion) [Television Series]. Japan: Mushi Productions / NBC Enterprises.

Tezuka, Osamu (Producer).  (1967).  Mach Go Go Go (Speed Racer) [Television Series].  Japan: Tatsunoko Productions Company.

  Wachowski, Larry and Andy (Producers).  (2003).  Animatrix [Motion Picture].  United States: Warner Brothers.

Wachowski, Larry and Andy (Producers).  (2008).  Speed Racer [Motion Picture].  United States: Warner Brothers.

Supplemental Material

Anderson, Craig. (November 2009). Kimba the White Lion's Corner of the Web.  Accessed on November 5^th 2011.  Retrieved from

Anime_Nanet.  (n.d.). The Anime History - origin and roots from 1900 to the 21st century.  Accessed on November 5^h 2011.  Retrieved from

A Slew of Pencil Tests

Today I'd like to thank everyone so far who has helped me out with getting into SCAD and helped me in Georgia. I would like to welcome all my new readers, and hope you all enjoy my Blog, and my "occasional" appearances on 7th Row Center. You may be seeing more of me up there, but for now check out the latest podcast at www.7throwcenter.com.

Now for more cool animation stuff! Today I'd like to present not one, not two, but 3 pencil test animations. The first I showed last week was intended to be looped (which i never figured out with YouTube), while these are not.
The first is a short pencil test of a bouncing ball. I've done this exact exercise before, except in a computer using Adobe After Effects. While After Effects works great with this type of situation, it kills the entire point of the exercise. You will notice in this one that there is a "squash and stretch" involved as the ball bounces. When played at full speed it looks natural, but frame by frame it looks odd. This is a standard technique to show movement in animation, and mimics how a photograph or live action film blurs movement. The important thing here is to get the timing and make a realistic looking bounce. Doing this in the computer lets the the computer do ALL the work. You give it a few commands, it does the rest. But by doing it by hand, you really have to learn how to draw, how to figure out the timing, how to adjust the speed of the ball, etc. One thing you have to do here is learn when and how to use Ones and Twos in animation. (see previous posts about Ones and Twos).

 

Next is a variation of the same thing.  Instead of just being a bouncy ball, it is a Bob-omb, with a cute twist ending.  I took a loot of effort to get the roll of the bomb just right, and I think it works out well in the end.  UNFORTUNATELY... youtube is crap, and has managed to destroy the file.  You can not see the joke, or even half the animation.  What you are suppose to see is a match fall on the left hand side of the screen just before the bomb is thrown.  Then as the fuse goes down, the match explodes instead of the bomb, waking up the bob-omb who is confused by the whole thing.  Sorry for the bad quality, I'll see what i can do to fix it later.

FINALLY... This last one is a pencil test of Timothy the mouse from Dumbo.  All the Key frames (which are the most important frames showing the extremes of the motion) are photocopies of the actual pencil tests of the character.  All the inbetweens are drawn by me.  In total, I drew 10 images out of the set of 16.  It is my favorite of these so far, and is really exciting to see.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to the character, Timothy is owned by Disney.  I have posted this as a student project in the pursuit of studying the animation.  As a Disney employee, if anyone has issue with this, please contact me directly.

 

Well that is all for now.  If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.  I hope to soon post a review of the Lion King in 3D, with a focus on the stereoscopic 3D, but also on the movie as a whole.  Be sure to check out Dumbo on Blu-ray and DVD!  Till then...

Sayounara!

7th Row Center podcast

I am still having some technical difficulty with my latest YouTube video... I apologize for not being able to see the short animation. I will fix it as soon as I can figure it out.
Until then, I'd like to let everyone know about a few things that are happening.
First, Check out "7th Row Center" to hear a podcast all about animation, or more specifically about Disney, featuring yours truly. I'd like to welcome everyone who was directed to my humble blog thanks to the podcast. Feel free to leave comments, questions, or anything else int he comments section below or through email (cptgreedle@gmail.com). It is an excellent podcast, even when I am not in it, and will keep you entertained and informed about movies.
Next, I have 2 new animations to post, but I will do that on my next update. I only hope to fix the issue with youtube before I post them.
I should have another animation or 2 next week as well, including a test involving Timothy the mouse from Dumbo. I still need to make sure it is ok to post it, but I'll post something.
Also, anyone that might be tuning in from SCAD, if you are reading this, I hope you are interested in animation, and perhaps in the animation field. If so, be sure to check out the SCAD Atlanta Animation Society (SAAS), which will be having its next meeting soon. It is a worthwhile society for anyone interested in going into animation.
There is a chance that I will also have a very good short video to show next week, as part of a collaborative project, which I will post more details about later.
That is all for now, thanks again for tuning in, and be sure to check out Alex "Da Movie Guy" and his podcast at www.7throwcenter.com/

Au Revoir

SCAD so far

Well my first week of the fall quarter at SCAD is complete, and I must say I am enjoying all my classes! My first class is an introduction to 2D animation. I have done 2D animation before at GMU, where I used After Effects to animated a bouncy ball, a scrolling background, and even a walk cycle. Problem is, it taught me next to nothing about actual animation. The computer did almost all the work. I just told it what key frames to use and it did the rest. In the real world of animation, if you don't have a solid foundation in hand-drawn animation, you aren't going anywhere. This week, we've already drawn a swining pendulum. This was a simple timing exercise but it is essential for new animators to learn how to time an animation and how to make something flow smoothly. It wasn't as much work as I was expecting it to be, but I did have experience in animation, music, and timing before.
I've had a great time drawing it out, and once I grab a copy of the simple pencil test animation I did from the computer at school, I will post it here.
My next class is an introduction into screen design, aka making it look good. This is about the layout of objects on a screen, how to make a cinematic experience really work, and the rules of camera work and so on. We are studying movies and animations to get an idea of how to make a scene logically flow, as well as the tips and tricks film makers use to achieve the desired effect. Watching the opening scene of Laputa, Castle in the Sky, we learned in the first class how important these tools are, and how effective.
Finally, the history of animation class finishes my day. Literally.. all my classes are the same day, and give me almost no time between them. Nonetheless, I finish up with history of animation which is fascinating and has more to do with film and actors like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd than you'd expect.
I will be viewing the Lion King later, and will post something reviewing the new Stereoscopic version in theaters this week.

ADIOS!

Bambi II, no more Mr Nice deer

Ok, so this is going to be a short post.

Essentially, one thing I've noticed about animation, both hand drawn and CG, is that the better the budget and quality, the better the actual animation.  I don't mean special effects, I don't mean story, I don't mean film quality.  I'm talking about the more effort the artists put into the movement of the characters.  If you take a look at a low budget cartoon, such as many of the Saturday morning cartoons on TV (going back as far as I can remember), you will see a series of characters with stiff movements, extremely limited movement, or no movement at all.  To put it simply, if you can't afford the quality, you don't get the quality.  Cutting corners is a very popular and well-practiced skill in animation, often leading to misconceptions that all animations are cartoons and for kids.

Now look at a high quality move, like one that Disney makes, or Dreamworks, or even a Don Bluth film.  These have far more actual movement of the characters, and often more interaction with the environment and other characters.  You can see subtly of movement with the characters, sometimes easy to miss, but drawn out none-the-less.  Often, with CG, studios will use Motion Capture to get around having to animate a character with all these subtle movements.  This is in some cases cheating, since Disney and Pixar have proven you don't need Motion Capture to create exceedingly wonderful moving characters.  In fact, I prefer Motion Capture to be limited to movies that are either using a digital character mixed with live action (such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc.), or realistic CG movies (like Beowulf), and leave it out of traditional animations (such as Tangled, Toy Story, etc.).  You can always use references, Walt Disney has been doing that since Snow White, if not earlier.  It isn't exactly rotoscope, but it is a similar idea.

Why do I bring all this up?  Well, you can often see the quality of an animation just by looking at the way a character moves.  This does not speak at all about the story, the acting, or even the cinematography or any other aspect of the film, but if they have a decent budget, seeing a very well-animated character usually means they put an effort into the movie, and probably also other aspects of it.  Now, granted, the movie could still be bad, it could still be lacking in other areas, but for a visual sense, it has potential.  A specific case in point for me is Bambi II.  I have not seen this movie, and I am not one for sequels for the sake of making a sequel.  However, after looking at a few short clips of Bambi II, my jaw hit the floor.  I was instantly impressed but the subtlety of the movement of the characters.  From the way Thumper's ears flop around to the way the deers slightly bob their heads as they walk, these subtle cues along with an unexpectedly impressive visual appeal (color, lighting, etc) show that Disney put more effort into this sequel than some companies put into their headliners.
Plus it has Patrick freaking Stewart as the Prince of the Forest!

Now since I haven't seen this yet, I cannot give a real review, but I will say this: I am unexpectedly interested in checking out this movie in HD, and seeing for myself just how good the animation quality is, as well as the story and acting.  I hope this is a decent movie, but I will expect it to fall short.  If anyone has any comments or questions, or has seen Bambi II, please leave a message on the board.  Also, if you know if this was actually based on part of the book (which I have never read), could you let me know.  I've been trying to figure out if they made all this stuff up, or if they just filled in where the original movie skipped.

Check out the clips at the link below.  ADIOS!

Bambi II Clips

Public Speaking, Disney, and Albers

DId you hear?  Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen and buried at the bottom of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland!  Well, if you heard this and thought it was true, you'd be wrong.
I recently did a lot of research about Disney for one of my classes at SCAD, my Communications Public Speaking class.  I always hated giving speeches, but perhaps bad experiences in the past tainted my view of it.  I decided not to let these bad incidents affect how I perform, or at least let me learn from them for the better.  To this end, I made sure to write a kick ass speech (which I would have sworn then was not worth the 100% my professor gave me), and prepare a really kick ass presentation, complete with visual aids and more.  I wish I could have done even more, but my time limit really cut down how much I could do.
Regardless, I gave my speech on Thursday, and it was recorded to DVD, which I have just watched and ripped to my computer.  I will now present it to the world to see my speech, so they too can share in my experience.  I wonder if this now qualifies this as a mass communication and not a public speech?  Or maybe both...

Anyways, here is my speech, enjoy!  Oh, and CONSTRUCTIVE Criticism is ALWAYS welcome.

Thank you, thank you.  I know I could have done better, but you should have seen some of the other speeches that day.  Lets just say I may have set the bar.  (I swear I sound like I'm rushing this, but I went 43 seconds overtime with was a penalty!)

Now besides my speech, which is done and over with (yay!), I have 2 new assignments which I find both annoying and fascinating at the same time.  First, my color theory class is going over a topic I am very interested in, Josef Albers and his study of the Interaction of Color.  I have actually studied this before, and find it fascinating.  Essentially, Josef Albers, and experimental artist of the 20th century, discovered through observation that the human eye or mind will perceive color different depending on the other colors surrounding it.  Usually we do not notice this in everyday life.  However, by isolating colors, you will see things that aren't really there.  Take a look at this:

The X shape in the center of each square is actually the same color.  Don't believe me, look at the center of the top of the image, you'll notice the X's link, and the color never changes.  The surrounding color affects the way we see the color of the X's.  Here is another:

The little green boxes in the middle of the image are the same color also.  Even harder to believe isn't it, but it is true.  Albers was a genius that didn't teach art so much as he taught perception and observation.  He taught how to really see, something no one ever really thought about before.  We are currently studying Josef Albers in Color Theory class, but this is a very hands on class.  As I mentioned before, these assignments are both fascinating and annoying.  Well now you've seen the fascinating in my color theory... the annoying is that we have to make these ourselves, and not just one kind.  We need to make 2 different ones, 2 or 3 of each.  I am now going through hundreds of samples of color (via color-aid), trying to match them up to achieve these effects.  Thrilling...  I sure as hell better be a master is color by the end of this class.

My other class, Drawing, has be drawing a hand, my own in fact.  While this is a fun exercise (although not nearly as fun as a figure drawing), it is a bit tedious.  My professor also wants me to do this large format, and with color pencil.  Now I am in trouble.  That will take me days to finish.  Seriously, I will not finish in the normal 8 to 10 hours we are suppose to finish in (like I am ever that fast anyways).  To top it off, I am covering someone's shift tomorrow, leaving me very little time to myself to draw.  Great.

Well, that is my summed up week from SCAD for today.  I would love to go more into animation, especially since I actually have a few things I would like to talk about, but it will have to wait till next time.  It is late, and I need sleep while I can still get it.

Oh, and about Walt Disney, if you didn't watch my speech, he's cremated and buried at Forest Lawn National Memorial Park in Glendale, California.  No frozen Walt Disney zombie for you.

Tangled Review

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for!
/drumroll/

Another excuse as to why I'm not reviewing Tangled yet!  Kidding!  Just kidding.  Today I will present to you my review of Tangled.

BUT FIRST:
Let me report of my progress at SCAD.  Last week I wrote a paper about the innovations of Disney, with the intent of making this paper into a speech.  Well, I got a 100% on the paper, now I just need to not screw up the actual speech.  I not only have to make my speech this Thursday in class, but I also have a midterm quiz on Tuesday in the same class.  To top that off, I have a series of drawing I need to make by Wednesday, including a contour drawing of a skeletal system, as well as a detailed drawing of a planar head.  For those who have no idea what I'm talking about... I need to draw this:

Ok, so it isn't actually Kryten, but it looks remarkably like him.  I have to draw with tinted paper and white conte with charcoal, and I need to focus on the shapes of the planar face in the classroom.  So next time you are watching Red Dwarf, think of me.
Needless to say, this is going to keep me up late.  I have a lot of work ahead of me, and now I have another at-home project for that class for the following week.  They like to really pile it on don't they?  I sure as hell hope I have time to practice my speech, get some sleep, and get my visual aids ready (and practice with them too!).


So despite my busy busy schedule, and Kryten's pretty little head, I am going to write a review right now on Tangled.  Enjoy!  Oh, and lots of pretty pictures!  And without further ado:

Story

The story of Tangled vaguely resembles that of the original story of Rapunzel.  Girl stuck in tower, evil woman keeps her there, man find girl, something something... that is actually where it all breaks down.  In the original story, well, I'm not really sure which is the original since I've heard different takes on it.  But usually they go something like this:  Pregnant mom wants a Rapunzel plant from an enchantress's forbidden garden.  Husband steals it.  He gets caught, agrees to give her his unborn child, and actually hands her to the enchantress himself.  She keeps her in a tower... who knows why.  A prince comes by one day and hears her sings.  After seeing the enchantress use Rapunzel's hair to get in, he does the same.  From here... he wither gets her pregnant, or she is too ditsy to remember not to tell the enchantress that she's been sneaking a man in.  Either way, she gets her hair cut off and is thrown to the wilderness while he gets thrown from the tower and goes blind.  Months later, he hears her voice again, and her tears bring back his sight... awww.  In all, rather un-gruesome for a Grimm's Fairy Tale.  They actually have a happy ending.  And in some tellings, the enchantress accidentally locks herself in the tower instead... sweet irony.

Well, forget everything I just said.  Cause it ain't in this movie.  BUT, that isn't to say this isn't a good story, it is just a different one, with some similarities.

This story is actually not called Rapunzel, not because the character doesn't use that name, cause she does, and not cause it isn't suppose to be a variation of the Rapunzel story, cause it kind of is.  In fact, they were originally going to call it Rapunzel, and later changed it to Rapunzel Unbraided, before deciding to settle with Tangled.  The reason why apparently isn't because they wanted to appeal to a different market, but rather they wanted to point out that their version of Rapunzel focuses on the 2 characters of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, not just her.

The main characters: Rapunzel, Pascal, Flynn, and Maximus

This story starts with a back story.  A drop of sunlight gave birth to a magic flower, whom Mother Gothel coveted and hid from the world for its magical properties, healing the injured and restoring youth.  When the queen almost dies during pregnancy, they find this flower and grind it into a potion to save the queen.  As a result, their baby girl was born with magical hair.  Yes... magic hair.  It glows when she sings and has the same healing properties as the flower.  Mother Gothel, now without the flower, kidnaps the infant, and raises her as her own, in a tower hidden in the forest, to keep her away from everyone for herself.

18 years later... Flynn Rider, a thief, who steals a crown, stumbles upon the tower, and thinking to hide there, is overpowered by Rapunzel, who hides the crown and tricks him into taking her to see the annual floating lamps that she sees from her window every year on her birthday.  She doesn't realize they are actually for her, sent out in mourning for their daughter by the king and queen every year, as well as the villagers who lost their princess.

Hilarity ensues as Flynn tries to trick her into going back and giving him the crown, and failing, only to be confronted by singing thugs with dreams, ex-partners out for revenge, an over-enthusiastic horse bent on justice, and a chameleon with attitude.

Think of her shampoo bill

The story is very sweet, well put together, and is full of excitement, character development, and actual plot!  Yay plot!  The one caveat I have is at the end of the movie.  I don't want to spoil anything, but there is one point where Flynn is convinced Rapunzel is in danger, life-threatening danger, and he runs to her rescue avoiding his own fate.  Only problem is, she wasn't really in the danger he thought, and I don't see why he would think so either.  Sure, she'd be a prisoner, but there was no way for him to know she was going to figure out her past suddenly, or for him to even know what that past was.  He had no reason to think the over-protective mother she had for all those years would try to kill her.  But it makes for a good story anyways and I can easily overlook this one minor flaw.

Pascal has his eye on Flynn

Graphics

This movie has perhaps the most impressive graphics I've seen in a very long time.  I dare say they are the best I've seen, and are very impressive.  The motion of the characters is fluid, natural, and perfectly characterize each character.  Mother Gothel has this stage presence and old world feel about her that the other characters don't, while Flynn has the very sly and dashing thing going on, while Rapunzel is often shy, but always a sweet character and easily makes friends with even the most unlikely people around.  Even the animals have great character animation, with amazing facial expressions.  And thank god none of the animals talk.

The Smoulder

They put a ton of detail into the modeling as well.  The clothing of the characters are designed specifically with that character in mind.  For example, Mother Gothel is suppose to be very old, so they designed her dress to be in the style of a dress about 400 years before the style of Rapunzel's.  The detail and quality they put into every aspect of this film was amazing, and worth watching again and again.

The most impressive thing I think about this movie though is the lighting.  Somehow, they managed to make this CG film look more like a painting than I thought possible.  The tower that Rapunzel lives in looks like it came straight out of a romanticism period oil painting.  The skin on the characters has a certain translucent quality that looks fabulous and really softens the feel of the movie.  The actual stage lighting (as in the light rigging) is amazing!  There are no scenes that aren't interesting to look at, with appropriate lighting for the mood, and a soft and natural feel that really ties the entire film together.

And of course there is the hair.  Wow.  Hair is usually a very hard thing to control in a movie, especially when it is 70 feet long!  They did a fantastic job getting the hair down just right.  Being magical, I guess it never needs to be washed after being dragged through the forest, because it always looks fabulous on her.

If for no other reason, see this film to appreciate the amazing work they put into the visuals, which are top notch!  The lantern scene is simply AMAZING!  They rendered over 10,000 lanterns to make these scenes!

Best scene of the movie, hands down

Sound

The sound in this is, again, top notch!  Not only did they get talented actors who really pull off these characters, but they got ones that can sing!  All the music is by Alan Menken, and god of Disney musicals.  All the Disney princess owe him their music.  (Them and a big scary plant that eats people :P)  I was so glad to hear that this movie was bringing the music back to the Disney films.  It has been too long since we last had a good Disney musical, and this one is a great addition.  The duet is beautiful, and the other songs are catchy and fun.  Perhaps they aren't at the same level as some of the other Disney songs, like those in The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast or Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I for one enjoy the soundtrack and find myself humming the songs.

Rapunzel amuses herself

Blu-ray

The Blu-ray release, which came out a few weeks ago, is an excellent release.  The quality is as good as it can possibly get.  For those who noticed the aliased hair in Monster's Inc, you will be glad to see there is none of that in Tangled.  I have watched this movie several times now, and can not find a single flaw in the graphics or the sound.  It is flawless, and a true treat for the eyes and ears.

There is one problem with the Blu-ray release though, there aren't enough extras.  I for one wanted a really comprehensive making of, and perhaps more deleted scenes or something.  However, they fit all the content on one disc (which is not a bad thing, but limits what you can put on it), so they didn't have the room to put much more on it.  I wish there was a bonus features disc, but this film does not have one.  But David, you say, there is a 4 disc set out!  Sure, that's true, but the only difference is that it includes a 3D Blu-ray of the same content as the standard Blu-ray, a DVD, and a separate Digital Copy.  In other words, it is 4 copies of the same thing, nothing more.  No bonus disc.

Boys being boys

Conclusion

I have to say this is one of Disney's best released movies in a long long time.  It is definitely worth watching for so many reasons.  The graphics are out-of-this-world gorgeous, the characters are fun and likable, the story is fantastic, and the music is great!  For an animated film that cost $260 million to make, they definitely showed how to make a CG film right.  Perhaps the ending could have used a little more work.  Perhaps the songs weren't as epic as other Alan Menken songs, but considering the direction Disney has taken with this film, they are officially out of the gutter of mediocrity and back in the saddle again!  I HIGHLY recommend this movie.  5 of 5 stars.  You must see this.  Excellent movie, worth every cent!

Go.  Buy.  Now!  If not, Max is going to find you...

A different perspective of an uncanny valley

It's that time again!
Time for another post.
For those you are not in the know... check out the other blogs attached to my right column here...  specifically Yet Another Writer's Blog, which is made by my brother.  I point this one out for 2 reasons.  First, he is my brother.. and he just had a baby!!  YAY, I'm an uncle, he's a dad, and the pressure is off me to have a kid :P.  Second, and more related to the topic of this blog, he has recently been writing about.. well..  writing.  Specifically, writing in comics.  He has talked about DC and the DC universe, about Comics in general, and has some good books listed on his site.  Check them out.  If you are interested in learning to draw your own comics, use both his and my blogs to get both aspects of comics, the writing and the drawing.
Now... to talk about this last week.  I made the "mistake" to be social last weekend with some new friends. I met with a fellow cast member (by that, I mean employee of Disney, the Disney Store in our cases), and we went to the GA Renn Faire.  I posted some pictures I took on their facebook page, so take a look!  I planned to get a lot of homework done before, and spend one night working on homework after.  Well... that plan didn't exactly work as planned.  I got tons done before, but I didn't get as far as I wanted to.  Then, another project I thought would take maybe 2 or 3 hours took about 8 to finish.  SO in the end, I went 2 nights in a row with no sleep, and one of my projects suffered from it.  My bad.
However, do not fret.  I have been getting Bs and As in all my classes so far.  The project that suffered from my lack of time and sleep was my drawing of perceptive.  We were to draw a 2 point perceptive of a hallway on the floor of our classroom, and insert 3D words in the space that described us.  I chose the word "TALL" and drew my perspective close to the ground looking up, in an attempt to make the letter look like they came straight out of the 2001 movie.  I think I did very well on this.  I spent a long long time working on the letters, the perceptive, the distances and sizes and relationships.  It looks awesome.  Except for one thing.  I spent so long working on these complex elements, I forgot to do the ceiling until the last hour.  I rushed to add some sort of ceiling there, but in the end result is flat, lacks any shading, and is in the wrong perspective.  It isn't too bad, and can be fixed (I plan to fix it cause it is too cool a drawing not to make look complete), however, I will not be graded on any fixes I make to it now.  I have to live with what he gives me.  I hope it is a B, since I spent SO long working on it and showed of some very powerful perspective skills in the most complex areas of the image.  While most people were busy eye-balling distances to make it look good and then started shading, I was literally measuring the sizes of objects in relation to each other and calculating ratios and such.  I mathematically improved the accuracy of my image, and it really worked well in it.  I just didn't have enough time.  Another hour or two would have completely saved me.
That was the bad news... the good news is that the project I was working on the first night, which I didn't expect would take nearly as long as it did, got turned in on time and completed.  I decided to write a speech about Disney, specifically, the Disney Company, specially the Innovations of Disney, in an attempt to limit my topic and talk about the highlights of the company.  I could not find all the information I wanted.  I was ready to delve into more research papers about the parks and the films, showcasing the imagineering and even the artistic techniques used in the various films to really drive home the innovation aspect.  However, thinking back on it, I am a total Disney and animation nerd, and all that would have been too much shop talk for most of my classmates.  It was good I couldn't find the really geeky stuff, it would have been too much for this speech.  I was still convinced I did an awful job writing this thing out though.  I thought my transitions needed more work, and my points were not defined clearly enough, etc.  But going a full night without sleep messes with your head... sometimes for the better I guess.  Today I got my paper back, and I got 100%!  He LOVED it.  Now the pressure is really on to make the speech kick-ass too!  I am preparing visual aids and I need to practice practice practice!  Maybe when I'm done, i can post a video of it on here (if I do well), since they will all be recorded.
I also finished the painting, and everyone loved it too.  I think that for the time I had, I did the best I could, and 2 out of 3 ain't bad.  I am convinced I did the right thing by hanging out with my friend at the Faire, since it not only helps build friendship, but it also helps me meet more people.  I met more SCAD alumni, and tons of people at the Faire, and I'm glad I went.  I wish I spent more time on my drawing, and maybe an hour less resting between classes... but I did damn good.  Granted, I will not be going to the faire again until this is all finished.
Now I am working on some drawings, and preparing the speech and visual aids.  But enough about SCAD et al, on to the topic at hand.


I said I would do a review of Tangled this week, and I am going to!  But not at this post, I will post that tomorrow or Saturday.  I'd also like to mention I finally saw Rio, and I liked it!  It wasn't perfect, and it needed some reworking of some of the characters, but I'll go into that more later in another post.  First I will sleep on it and think about the film some more. Before I get to my Tangled review later this week/weekend, I am going to go over something I have talked about a few times now with family and friends about a specific phenomenon in animated movies...  the uncanny valley.

The Uncanny Valley is a theoretical graph that essentially shows how much we like something (or have familiarity with it) based on how human it is.  This graph is really only meant to be applied to robots and animation, specifically in regards to human-like characters and machines.  It starts with very non-human things, like industrial robots.  We are not that familiar with their form, even though they often have some similarities, like an arm, and therefore we like it a little or have no emotional familiarity with it at all.  As the character becomes more human-like, it gains in our familiarity, and we like it more and more.  However, before it becomes totally human, it reaches a point where the familiarity of it plummets.  As something gets too human, but not quite human enough, it enters the dreaded uncanny valley.  This is traditionally where zombies and dead bodies lie.  They look human, but not.  It is disturbing, and throws us off, and the last place a director wants their characters to be.  If you start to look more human again, then you begin to enter a peak of familiarity again, meaning we love it even more than before.
For the most part, animation directors want their characters to stay just to the left of the valley, at the peak where they can stylize the character, and get the emotional and acting performance from the character that they need.  A good case in point here is The Incredibles (recently re-released to Blu-ray).  These characters are easily recognized as human, and yet are not lifelike at all, and have a very specific style to them.  This is the safest place to be, since it is easy to stylize the characters and over-exaggerate movements, while keeping the character likable.  Some directors want to reach the other side of the valley.  Sad to say there is no bridge over this valley, you have to fall down and climb your way back out the other side.  The only film I can think of that starts to do this (and I think is an awesome film too and will probably review at some point also) is Beowulf.  This film has managed to make the characters as lifelike as possible, dropping down the uncanny valley, and back out the other side, through not only awesome special effects that do a wonderful job of mimicking the look and motion of a human, but also through the acting.  By hiring mainly theatrical actors for motion capture, they could achieve the right level of over-the-topness that they needed for such a theatrical production.  For these reasons, and many more, I believe that this is one of the only movies ever to come back out of the uncanny valley triumphantly.  That isn't to say there aren't characters specifically in other films that do the same thing.  Dr Manhattan and Gollum are perfect examples of this as well.  In fact, Dr Manhattan goes all the way over the peak to the OTHER SIDE of the chart (not shown on this page).  He is not human enough to be human, he is more like a post human, being too perfect, almost god-like.  Is has gone past human and starts to drop down a similar peak on the other side, but luckily he does not do this, and he is still a familiar and likable character (if you get over the nudity already geez people!).
So why do I bring up the uncanny valley?  Simple!  There are several movies that have been released that have suffered from this.  Often the characters are described as being like "zombies" or "just-off".  2 cases in point would be the Polar Express (which only went down the valley a little in my opinion), and the much more recent Mars Needs Moms.  Mars Needs Moms seems to have fallen right down to the bottom of this valley.  The human characters are human enough to look human in single frames, but just off enough to look creepy and disturbing.  I have heard many people complain about these characters, and on top of a weak story, it suffered at the box office for it.  Despite the failures in these movies, i have to applaud them for one thing, being brave.  They know about the uncanny valley (or at least they should know), and they chose to dive in head first, hoping to rise up out of the other side again.  They were not really able to get out of it, but they are taking those first steps in, in an attempt to make ultra-realistic human animations.  I look forward to the day directors have the choice of making entire animated films that look either like The Incredibles in stylization, or to look absolutely human.  To have the freedom is exactly what the industry needs in a post-Avatar special effects world.  With such advanced graphics from Avatar, everyone is going to expect other movies to meet, or even raise that bar.  Well that is a high bar to reach, and there are many reasons why Avatar didn't suffer from the uncanny valley.  Most of the humans were humans, actual actors on sound stages.  The CG characters were not human, and were just not human enough to look good if they were slightly off.  Despite that, audiences are expecting miracles now in all animations, and some directors are pushing that envelope to meet those demands.
Now the studio behind Mars Needs Moms may be closing down, ImageMovers.  Sadly, they are the same studio that made Beowulf AND Polar Express.  They had big successes, and big controversy, and I was looking forward to seeing more on their remake of The Yellow Submarine.  As it stands now, Disney is no longer producing these, as ImageMovers is (or was) a Disney studio.  Whether or not ImageMovers is going to be picked up by a different producer remains to be seen, but I have my hopes that they continue to make these movies, despite the failures, in hopes of pushing the envelope further and making more great hits like Beowulf.

There is another side of this entire Uncanny Valley thing, and it involves character relationships.  I don't mean emotional relationships, I am talking about character design relationships.  Usually in a movie, specifically animated movies, you do not want some of your characters to be stylized, and others to be ultra-realistic.  Usually they don't mesh well.  Films like Roger Rabbit and Cool World do not fit into this category, because these humans are interacting with very non-human things, and the differences between the cartoons and the humans is part of the stories of each.  However, you usually want to stay away from mixing realistically drawn/rendered characters with stylized ones.  There are 2 interested exceptions in my opinion, and for opposite reasons.
First is Shrek.  In Shrek, there are characters that are both ultra-realistic, such as Fiona (who does NOT enter the uncanny valley herself since she is stylized enough, especially through her movements), and then there are the very stylized and non-human characters, such as Gingy, Pinocchio, the blind mice, and all the fairy-tale creatures.  Usually this would be weird, having these stylized character clashing with such human ones, but I feel we have a savior in our midsts.  Shrek himself is a bridge between the two worlds, not only in the story, not also in the character designs.  While he himself is not a human, he is very close to being a human (far more so than Donkey :P), while still being a fairy-tale creature.  The way I see it, Shrek has enough human qualities and realism to him, and yet enough stylization to be considered in both camps.  It is his presence, as the main character, that really brings together these 2 worlds in such a wonderful way that you hardly notice the odd miss-matched nature of the designs.  In the latest film, the witches also manage to fit into the same category.  They are very human, but just stylized enough to make them not human.
The second film is a classic, Snow White.  Here, the characters of Snow White, the Prince, and the Evil Queen are all very human and realistic.  In fact, Disney used a form of rotoscope that they developed themselves to use live action footage as reference materials for the artists.  They would use these live performances to make the animated ones all the more realistic.  To contrast this, we have the 7 dwarfs.  These little guys are so stylized, they really clash with the realistic look of the other characters.  Some people have said that this is a place where it does not work, but I disagree.  As I understand it, Walt knew that he needed the dwarfs, not for the story, but for the human element.  He realized early on that the acting of the human characters would be very limited, and it would be difficult for people to really engage with them.  If the entire movie had been made with only these human characters, it would not have been nearly as impressive as it was.  However, the stylized dwarfs were capable of far more expression, with exaggerated movements and acting.  Because of this, Walk knew people would be able to engage with these characters the most.  By using these contrasting characters, there were several different subtle effects presented.  First, you are more able to get sucked into the story of these realistic human characters on an intellectual and emotional level.  Second, you see the entire chain of events more from the dwarfs point of view, giving you a stronger emotional attachment to them, so when they get sad at their loss, you do too.  Third, the queen, prince, and princess traditionally are characters in stories and real life seen from a distance, through a looking glass.  They are idolized, iconic, and glorified.  By allowing the audience to see the story as it happens, but to feel it emotionally through the dwarfs, you get the same sense of how ideal Snow White and the others are.  You feel that they are above you, they are the iconified vision of how you think a princess and a prince and a queen should be.  As soon as the evil queen sheds her beautiful and vain body, she replaces it with one that better fits with the dwarfs, stylized and less human.  This makes her unique in that you see her as the trickster, hiding her true nature to try to appeal to your emotions, or at least Snow White's emotions.  You have now related the stylized dwarfs with the emotional aspect of the film, and seeing the witch in this form has made her all the more despicable to you.  Because of these drastic differences, and the distance between the designs of the characters, Snow White is a huge success in balancing contrasting character designs.

Now I'm sure I bored you with my geeky analysis of Snow White, Shrek, the Uncanny Valley, etc.  However, that is what I do... bore you.  No!  I mean.. geek out about animations and such.  I love to analyze and re-analyze these films, seeing them for not only their face value and their artistic worth, but also for their subtleties and complexities that are easily overlooked by your average movie goer.  The next time you hear someone talking ill about animated films as though they are "kids" movies... remember how complex these films can actually be, and how much work goes into not only the art work, but every single step of the way.

That being said, I am off to bed!  :p
I will be going to some drawing sessions later this week and next week, and I plan to have more posted soon.  Look forward to it!

Ta Ta!