Tuesday, October 30, 2012

My Animations - Traditional Animation Project

Today I want to wrap up, finally, my university animations here in my blog. So there's only one more to talk about and this one was the one that took me longer to get as far as it is. Just because it's a 2 min short all done with traditional animation, so for those who have experienced something like this, they'll know how long this can take for one person alone to make. And that's why in some parts it isn't finished. Maybe in the future this will be one more project for me to finish, but not right now, as I'm busy with another even more awesome stuff like learning animation from the top animators in the world!

This project was a personal short that intended to honor the animation world. Not only its history and how it grew to be this spectacular art form we know today, but also to make reference of some of the most influential artists in the area.

So in the end what I chose to represent were some of the objects that preceded animation itself, objects that created the illusion of movement through images before it went out onto the screens. Many objects like the thaumatrope, phenakistoscope, zoetrope/praxinoscope, mutoscope are here represented but also the film and paper itself are shown here as methods of creating motion. The whole animation is representing and simulating other objects, but in the end it was made in paper, everything was drawn, so the paper itself cannot be forgotten, that is the reason that the main character, an illusionist, since he is creating the illusion of motion, the illusion of life, is drawn in such a sketched way, and organic drawing that is moving for it's own, has a life but still is a drawing. That is also the reason that the last thing animated is the paper itself.

Not only the objects and methods of animation are represented but also animators and their work. The first representation is a generic bouncing ball, and it's there because it is one of the first exercises a person learning animation must do, so is an exercise that every professional animator has done one way or the other.
Then some artists are referenced, like Winsor McCay with Gertie the Dinosaur, Norman McLaren with Blinkity Blank and Pas de Deux, and also traditional animation studios like Walt Disney Studios with the enchanted broom of the Sorcerer's Apprentice part of Fantasia, and 3D studios like Pixar and Dreamworks animation studios with Luxor Jr. and the fishing rod/line.

(all the links are to images search in Google and Wikipedia, I think all the animations I refer above can be found in the internet if you search for it)

Of course there were many other artists and studios that were equally, if not more, important for the development of this art form, but this was a personal choice, having in mind that when I first planned this short, I was starting my animation studies, so the references are not as knowledgeable as I could have make them today. And also, this was to be just a quick reference to a very few group of artists that were/are in fact important for the evolution of animation. Another interesting aspect of this animation is that some parts I animated when I haven't really animated almost nothing at all before, so I was even more an amateur than I am today, and other parts were animated almost two years later, so the quality in movement is clearly better.


To finish up this rambling, I want to mention that although many parts are made as references to other animations, all the animation in this unfinished short was done by me, and no method of copying animation, like rotoscopy was used at all.

So here it is, the most time I spent, ever, in any kind of project, and still needing more time (maybe in the future, who knows?), one of the animations of my last year of university, this traditional animation project.



Tradicional Animation Project from Rodrigo Costa on Vimeo.


For now on, the animations I'm creating are for the online animation school Animation Mentor which I'm currently in week 6! So stay tuned!

Sharing Animation - The Silence Beneath the Bark (Joanna Lurie, 2010)

Hey animation lovers!

This week I would like to share with you a quite recent, beautiful and very deep short animation I found some time ago when I was in university. We were to look for animations that had different techniques, and I chose to talk about simplicity in different techniques and simplicity in different ways. This short has a simplicity of it's own, mostly in the main characters that although are CG three dimensional characters, are so simple yet so expressive.

There are many aspects of this short that I just love. One of them is the obvious good taste for composition of the creators. Another thing is the incredible script it has, another way to show that no words are needed to tell a good story.

This hybrid animation with CG and traditional mixing together in a perfect and pleasant composition has great texture and it really is a good piece of art.

So enjoy the 2007 Annecy Judge Award Winner short The Silence Beneath the Bark (Original title: Le Silence Sous L'écorce) by Joanna Lurie.




Check out the other short movies from the Sharing Collection HERE!!


See you soon with another beautiful animation short!


No copyright and related rights infringements are intended with these sharings, all these animations are properties from their respective authors or studios always credited in the post.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Sharing Animation - Gertie the Dinossaur (Winsor McCay, 1914)

Here we are for another short animation for you to enjoy, and since last week I posted a recent one (2010 Love & Theft), today I'm posting a really old one (actually, the oldest in my list!)

So, as a really old one, and really influential one, I wish I could give it a special attention and really enhance the incredible work this animator did. His name is Winsor McCay and this animation is called Gertie the Dinosaur.

Before this animation, McCay had already done two other animations, one called "Little Nemo" (which Google celebrated in a Doodle this week) and other called "The Story of a Mosquito". This last one had a problem with the audience, that tought the mosquito was moving through wires (imagine in the very early 1990's thinking that was actually a moving drawing). So in the next animation McCay decided to animate a dinossaur, to prove his drawings were moving.

Ten thousand drawings of Gertie were done for this animation. This is the first time a character is actually given life in a screen, with real emotions and real responces that people recognize and have empathy.


After this animation he made several other animations, including another one with Gertie in 1921, but this one went out to be his masterpiece and one of the most influential animations of all time.

Enjoy Gertie the Dinossaur by Winsor McCay.





Check out the other short movies from the Sharing Collection HERE!!


See you next week with another influential animation!


No copyright and related rights infringements are intended with these sharings, all these animations are properties from their respective authors or studios always credited in the post.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Sharing Animation - Love & Theft (Andreas Hykade, 2010)

Hello peeps!

Since I started AM I haven't actually kept my promise of sharing a new inspirational animation every week, but hey, I'm trying to do my best and today, although I'm quite late with my assignment, I thought I could come and share some other special animation with you!

For this week I bring a recent short animation called "Love & Theft", that is one hell of an artistic piece in my opinion. The creator, director and animator of this wonderful animation is Andreas Hykade.

I think this animation is highly illustrational, and the way he explores the loops is just great! It's somewhat fast, but you can clearly see most of his references to many cartoons of many kinds and also (I've read this in a news blog) some other animators, such as Bill Plympton). Among the many animations that are referenced you can find Betty Boop, The Hat, mickey mouse and donald duck, his own Ring of Fire, Sponge Bob, Droopy, and many many others.

Please enjoy this wonderful digital animation "Love & Theft" by Andreas Hykade.




Check out the other short movies from the Sharing Collection HERE!!


See you next week, or soon =P, with another great animation!


No copyright and related rights infringements are intended with these sharings, all these animations are properties from their respective authors or studios always credited in the post.