EVANGELINE THAN

Julia made My First Crush as as her final film project at Kingston University in 2007 (do correct me if I’m wrong). I’m very fond of anthropomorphic animals, and the voices (voice acting? Well, they’re real accounts, so I suppose they’re not acting. Hum.) are superb. Scenes flow so nicely into each other (I know this sounds so mumsy and boring, but they do) and the light music in the background creates the perfect atmosphere.

Poignant, funny, tender, and full of simple and heartfelt appeal, this is one of my favourite animated shorts. It makes me smile whenever I watch it.

Sources: embedded video from Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY4Epc2XSGc. I first read about it in Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog at http://drawn.ca/2007/12/26/my-first-crush/ (posted December 26th, 2007).

Cedric Hohnstadt examines classic Popeye cartoons and shows how a lot can be said about a character’s personality through their poses.

According to Hohnstadt, good poses will possess the following traits:

Clarity: “A clear pose will pass the “silhouette test”: If you colored in the entire pose solid black you could still tell just from the silhouette exactly what the character is doing and/or thinking.”

Physicality: “Notice how every movement Popeye makes involves his entire body … Every pose is pushed for maximum visual interest.”

Line of Action: “In almost every pose you can draw one smooth imaginary curve from Popeye’s head down through his torso and into his leg. Cartoonists call this the “line of action”. In a good pose the line is one simple and clean swoop (mimicking a “C” or an “S” shape). In a bad pose the line is twisted and kinked. Every Popeye pose has a simple and clear line of action.”

Source: “Give Your Poses Clarity and Interest”, posted by Cedric Hohnstadt on December 11, 2008 to his blog, at http://cedrichohnstadt.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/give-your-poses-clarity-and-interest/

Update (21/04/2009): Keith Lango also emphasises the importance of a clear silhouette in poses. Read all about it in “Silhouette”, URL: http://keithlango.blogspot.com/2009/03/silhouette.html (posted March 16th, 2009)

Birds of a Feather from Dan Sheppard on Vimeo.

I really like the fabric collage he’s used for the birds. See how the frayed edges look like soft down? Sweet, soft and subtle.

P.S. I love the high quality of Vimeo files. I love that the community here is (for the most part positive, supportive, discerning, gracious and non-sheep-like. It’s a classy act that others could learn a lot from.

Sources: embedded video from Vimeo at http://vimeo.com/2262440. I first read about this on Ticklebooth at http://ticklebooth.com/2008/12/birds-of-a-feather/ (posted 3rd December 2008).

Beautifully fluid collage-like animation, straight from someone’s imagination into yours with no apparent effort or middleman. Any of the stills from this would translate into a breathtaking illustration. (That’s a sure sign of the good stuff.)

And I’ve discovered a new breed of dog! The xoloscuinle. What an awesome name.

Austin TV / Shiva from Alberto Cerriteño on Vimeo.

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Animators! Go to http://www.vimeo.com/1564876 to see the animatic for this, where they use pencil roughs to work out the timing and lay out sequences. I really like it when they post this stuff; it’s great seeing other people’s processes.

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The blurb from where Ticklebooth first linked to for this video (http://dekku.blogspot.com/2008/10/austin-tv-shiva.html) reads:

“An old man, named Mario Lupo González Fábila, and his xoloscuincle dog, Kerdoc, accidentally fall in a hidden magic forest which turns out to be the devil’s cave.

Austin TV is a mexican indie instrumental band comprised of Chiosan, Oiram, Rata and Xnayer.

Shiva is the second single from their latest album, entitled Fontana Bella and released for Prodisc in January 2008.

The booklet of the album comes with a bunch of pages with sketches and stories written by this fictional character named Mario Lupo, and the video tells just one of these surreal stories.

The music video is a collaboration between director and illustrator Alberto Cerriteño with animator and designer Diego Huacuja.”

Sources: video from Vimeo at http://www.vimeo.com/1556032. I first read about this on Ticklebooth at http://ticklebooth.com/2008/10/shiva/ (posted 27th October 2008).

White Winter Hymnal from Grandchildren on Vimeo.

I know I’ll sound like a total fangirl, but I love this song, and I love the wistful and uplifting animation that was made for it and complements it so beautifully.

The White Winter Hymnal music video for Fleet Foxes, was directed by Sean Pecknold, whose brother, Robin Pecknold, provides lead vocals and guitar for the band.

Source: embedded video from Vimeo at http://www.vimeo.com/1309452 (posted July 9th, 2008).