Painted Animation – A Scanner Darkly
The more things change, the more they remain the same. Painted animation makes that point. In the 1920s, Max Fleischer created Koko the Clown by filming his brother dancing around in his clown outfit. Basically, he traced the character from the film and filled in the drawings with ink. This was crude “painted animationâ€.
This week the full length painted animation feature, “A Scanner Darklyâ€, opens nationwide. In this modern version of the technique, the film was shot as you would a normal movie. The print was transferred to the computer and laboriously painted to give an animated comic book effect. In essence, CG animation meets Max Fleischer and Koko the Clown. Who says 2D animation is dead? A detailed explanation of the painted animation process is available here.
There are two great things about this movie. First of all, it’s made from a Philip K. Dick story. If you haven’t read his stories, you should. He’s a very interesting character. His later books were weak but, by that stage of his short life, his mind was an EPA superfund site. “A Scanner Darkly†was published in 1977 and was probably written at the peak of his career. Philip K. Dick was the ultimate paranoid living in a paranoid time and paranoia makes for good stories. After all, if you want to hold the attention of an audience, everyone better be out to get ya and everyone IS ALWAYS out to get you in a Dick book. Painted animation is uniquely suited to capturing the paranoid chemical soup of the original novel. And, secondly, it’s 2D animation. This Dimpled guy can’t wait to see the movie.
[tags]A Scanner Darkly, painted animation, 2D animation, Philip K. Dick[/tags]
Arj and Poopy – Flash Animation
Bernard Derriman and Arj Barker have created a wonderful series of animated cartoons about a flatulent cat, aptly named Poopy, and his human pal, Arj. The Arj and Poopy Collection is available at Atom Films. The episode, “Unlucky in Love”, won the Netsurfer’s Award. Now that we have all the background information out of the way, the best place to get to know Arj and Poopy is on their homepage. It’s much more than a site about a great little series of cartoons, it’s a lesson in Flash design. The homepage has a discussion forum should you become an obsessed fan after viewing the seven films. Make sure you click on the link to Bouncy the dog.
[tags]Arj and Poopy, Flash animation, Bernard Derriman, Arj Barker, 2D animation, cartoon[/tags]
Finding a 2D Place in a 3D World – Thinking Animation
Dimples is all about 2D animation but if you look at the prospects for finding a good job in 2D animation in the US of A, you might think the prospects are poor. Every high profile project seems to be from the rubbery cupie doll world of 3D animation. But, where do those 3D characters start? They start as a 2D sketch. Character design begins with a 2D image and this is a career niche for folks like us. Dimples thinks that studios and other folks are beginning to realize that there is still a place for the well trained artist with a pencil and paper. They are the first step. Angie Jones and Jaimie Oliff have written a book that shows that a detailed knowledge and skill-base in 2D animation is essential for success in 3D anmation. Their book, “Thinking Animation”, is an overview of all kinds of modern theatrical animation. Dimples loves it! You can order your copy here.
[tags]2D animation, 3D animation,cartoon,Angie Jones, Jamie Oliff, Thinking Animation, Animation books[/tags]
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