My favorite animator of all time or at least one of my favorites would be the late great Yoshinori Kanada who’s bouncy, energetic, and wild animation style influenced animators for generations. My favorite of his works would probably be one of my top 10 ovas of all time simply titled “Birth”. Where this 80 minute movie lacks in plot cohesion it far makes up for this short coming thanks to Kanada’s energetic style and his amazing understanding of form and space. Truly a master at his craft who will be dearly missed.
It is really hard to find an animator or illustrator I favour all time, instead, I am going to introduce an illustrator that impressed me a lot. Meteusz Kolek is an illustrator based in Poland. His work is heavily influenced by his trips around Asia and the culture there. I first noticed his art when I saw how he illustrated Hong Kong. Living in Hong Kong are tough for most of the Hongkongers. Densely populated area brings so much pressure and stress. But In his art, Neon lights in Kowloon are staging an unique atmosphere, crowded streets and narrow roads bring interaction and communication that offer a funny perspective for creating art. Kolek sees how Hong Kong combines traditional and modern, and capture and narrate it with his visual style. Kolek’s style is psychedelic and surreal, with high colour contrasts, impressed and astonished the viewers. I really like how he applies the colours, eye-catching but not jarring. I am also so much innovated by his habit, not using smartphone. Sometimes, things can only been seen when we put down our phones and focus on excavating the details around us.
My favorite illustrator is Claire Keane, who is also an animator and visual development artist. Her father Glen Keane is one of the most well-known animators that worked at many of the Disney classics such as The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.
Claire worked on the designed for Tangled, Frozen, and Enchanted for Disney. I fell in love with her drawings and style since I saw her works from The Art of Tangled. She always did some sketchy designs but it looks awesome and magical. She can also paint characters or background with tones of details and dynamic value. When she was working on tangled, she kept a journal of things she did at home and translated it into Rapunzel’s world . I love what she did with it because it made Rapunzel so much more believable and cute. I also admire how she makes use of colors to make everything so magical.
Shinji Kimura is a Japanese illustrator. He worked in many animated projects as art director and scene designer including Tekkonkinkreet(2006) and Steam Boy (2004). I was amazed by the detail of the scene design in Tekkonkinkreet(2006) when I was watching this animation for the first time. I like the use of color which is vintage and colorful. Everything is well-defined as if he created his world with his visual style and added so many creative elements.
In Tekkonkinkreet(2006), the story is about two boys called Shiro and Kuro they use their way to live in a crowded town where is full of gangster and kids who doesn’t have home and parents to take care of them. Shinji Kimura gave this animation a really strong visual impression, most of the scenes are bright and high saturated which creates childish and pleasure feeling. However, the story is all about how Shiro and Kuro fight against other children and adults to survive in this town. Shinji Kimura‘s illustrations and the story described even we are living in a world which seems prosperous and peaceful, there is still some of us is struggling with how do they survive in this world.
Last but not least, I would like to recommend others to watch this amazing animation. It is very different from other Japanese animates and I found that it is so inspiring.
My favorite illustrator is Wlop from China.
Wlop studied information engineering in university. He learned digital art by
himself without any foundation or guidance. He spent a lot of time practicing
painting, just to express the world he imagined. Because he has always regarded
painting as a hobby, his style of work is unrestrained and does not need to
cater to other people’s opinions, which means that he can express himself
better.
Wlop’s most famous work is Ghost Blade. I like the wild brush strokes and real colors in his works, as well as the magical world he created. I think his illustrations are not very elaborate, but full of personal style, which is the realm I yearn for. I hope I can create works with my own unique style just like him.
My favorite animator who is Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki is a Japanese animation film director best known for his works at Studio Ghibli, which he co-founded in 1985 with Toshio Suzuki, Isao Takahata and Yasuyoshi Tokuma. His large body of works each contain several, but different messages that concern the world. These themes include nuclear power, the environment, war, morality, friendship, family, and self-identity. Miyazaki’s films are consistently made for children and a large body of those films portray young girl as the main character and hero. Among those works is Miyazaki’s representative film, Spirited Away, 2001. Spirited Away shows the journey of a young girl who feels like she has lost everything to find herself and protect the people important to her. Spirited Away is seen to be one of the greatest movies of the 21st century.
Ami Yamato is an animator on YouTube who I’ve been watching for about 1 year now. She does 3d animation and a running gag in her video comment section is that she is the animation and yet neither she nor her subscribers acknowledge it. Ami is Japanese and lives in London where she produces parodies of her favorite movies and TV shows. Some of these parodies include Breaking Bad, Stranger Things, and Star Wars.
Ami’s ability to entertain is what really inspires me. I have never seen Star Wars, yet each of her videos based on those movies always has me laughing and wanting more. She only uploads once every two months, but that is due to the dedicated time she puts into animating, compositing, and editing each creation. Ami Yamato has also done a wonderful job of making her character “Ami” a likeable and relatable personality, something I will strive to do with my future animations.
As of right now, my favorite animator is both a short film animator and illustrator, based in South Korea, named Puuung. I found her as I was browsing social media, and immediately fell in love with her cute short and relatable films. Although short and quite simple, the message she tries to display is clear and anyone watching can’t help but say “Aww”.
She works in 2D and her whole production is very simple, but as a new animator, still learning the basics, I felt very inspired. That something simple as this can be created and yet still send the intended message and lesson across in the clearest way.
My favorite animator is Hayao Miyazaki, who is well-known for his works as the animation director in Studio Ghibli. His works have inspired me to pursue 2D animation. When he started out as an animator, it was from the 1960s till the 80s and the animations he produced were amazing for the time. After observing his works, his animations had character within the movement of each frame. It was simple yet very complex. To show these movements during this time was really phenomenal. The most notable movies he animated on were Lupin the Third (1972), Doubutsu Takarajima (1971), Soratobu Yuureisen (1969), Nagagutsu wo Haita Neko (1966) and many more. Here is a video featuring his animated works.
Regarding his illustrations, there is something whimsical about it. There are so many intricate details when looking at the world building concept illustrations. One notable thing about his art is his use of ink and watercolor. Through the medium of ink he is able to use hatching to show dimension clearly. In addition, he is very skilled with watercolor which he uses to not only color but show even more demension. Each illustration tells a story, with how the way the setting feels and its composition. There are illustrations that feel melancholic, exhibit curiosity, or even nostalgic. The worlds he creates are full of life. These are seen frequently in his concept art for his Studio Ghibli films such as, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), Spirited Away (2001), and The Wind Rises (2013). These are the films that were directed by Hayao Miyazaki. His films are very well known among different generations of people and have left an impact on them.
Of all the animators out there, I would have to pick James Baxter as my all time favorite. Not just because he inspired me to become an animator but I think his work perfectly embodies the purpose of 2D animation. He is a British animator who worked for Disney during the height of its 2D Era. He is most well-known for his amazing understanding and execution of perspective as well as his ability to keep characters moving in it. He was one of the key animators of the famous ballroom scene from Beauty and The Beast. He also had a hand in many other Disney Classics including but not limited to The Little Mermaid, The Lion Kind, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Recently, he was a featured animator on several Cartoon Network shows that ranges from Steven Universe to Adventure Time. To me his most memorable and impressive work will always be the ball room scene from Beauty and The Beast. I included a video of a rough pencil test from it. https://vimeo.com/78018499
ANIM223 - HISTORY OF ANIMATION - FALL 2019 