Major Post 15: Jumping and Arthur

Posted on by Sydney McPherson
Figure 1: Jumping by Osamu Tezuka

Jumping by Japanese animator Osamu Tezuka is really interesting because the main character is never shown. The only hint at the character is at the very end, when they leave Hell and land back on the street. Here we kind of hear a “sigh” that sounds like maybe it’s a little girl who has been jumping around. Also it would make sense if it was a child because with all the jumping they do, they must have a lot of energy!

Figure 2: Jumping by Osamu Tezuka

The use of perspective is so precise in the animation. The use of a horizon line and vanishing point is evident in each section of Jumping. In the opening scene, the we see that the streetlights all vanish to the same point in one-point perspective (fig. 1). Also, when the character has jumped above the city, the buildings seem to use 3-point perspective to look down on them (fig. 2).

Figure 3: Arthur by Marc Brown

The style of the drawings in Jumping reminded me of an animated show I used to watch as a child called Arthur. The show used a similar style of hatching marks to show shadows and the colors feel like they were drawn in with a marker, as there is streaking in the colors (fig. 3). Arthur also has a clear use of perspective to create the backgrounds.

Arthur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXgmzGjUKXE

Jumping https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1pThwh2Ves

Sydney McPherson