Jamie Hewlett – Gorillaz

Here’s a feature on Gorillaz, one of the world’s most popular virtual bands. As in, the band of 2D characters you see (2D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel) don’t actually exist in real life. The concept behind the band was developed by two flatmates, Damon Albarn, a musician, and Jamie Hewlett, a comic book artist. It came about because at the time, Hewlett and Albarn were watching MTV and felt it was getting too manufactured. They observed people didn’t like bands for their music, they just liked whatever their favorite artists produced, even if it wasn’t good. Albarn then became in charge of music, with Hewlett creating the iconic figures of the band. The art style of Jamie Hewlett’s character design for Gorillaz is highly recognizable, and has continually evolved over time as the characters grow with each album. He’s published books with full character and story arcs between and for every comeback they’ve had. The video talks about their story and about how they execute their live shows. Here’s a section from an interview they did when their most recognizable album, Demon Days, came out. For the full interview click here.

“The paradox is that by being completely artificial, Gorillaz is a lot less artificial than a boy band or any of these other constructed entities we’re all used to. HEWLETT: Exactly. If you’re going to pretend to be somebody you’re not – which is the whole point of being a rock star – then why not just invent fake characters and have them do it all for you?ALBARN: I hope we can keep doing it this way – making music and art that are pure products of our influences while not really having to let the whole celebrity side of it get in the way. Then maybe more virtual bands will come out and do the same thing. And then hopefully there will be so many of us that people will ask themselves, What in the world is going on here? We’re buying magazines full of cartoons!”

Bendy and the Ink Machine – Fleischer Studios

Not quite an animated piece, but this video features some animation history featured in a game that’s been out for a little while now, Bendy and the Ink Machine. The video is by MatPat, a YouTuber that runs the Game Theorist channel where he takes questions and theories about games and uses science, math, and evidence to prove or disprove them. The game Bendy is about a cartoonist who’s invited to visit the old studio he used to work at by former boss, Joey Drew. It turns out Joey’s been experimenting with ways to bring his cartoons to life, and he’s succeeded to sinister degrees. The history MatPat theorizes is the basis of the game is namely the little known rivalry between Disney and Fleischer Studios we discussed in class. He draws parallel’s between Joey Drew’s failing company, his staple characters, his dedication to bringing characters to life, and the other story elements to Fleischer’s life and history as an animator. MatPat compares the dark nature of the game vs the darker tone of Fleischer’s cartoons, using Bimbo and Betty Boop as examples. He even uses the short “Bimbo’s Initiation” as evidence to tie in the cult like vibes of the game. He does make some guesses about Max Fleischer’s feelings about the rivalry, which I’m not sure are as intense as he posits, but it’s great to see something feature animators stories so heavily.

Batman of Shanghai – Chinese Style Animation

This is a gorgeous animation that was featured on Cartoon Network by Cloud Yang Hancheng and Clover Xie Xianhui of Wolf Smoke Studios. Because of the success of this animation, they actually got the backing for their first feature film, Kung Fu Cooking Girls. This particular short features Batman set in the 1930s in Shanghai. The style mimics older Chinese animation but with the action, fluidity, and speed of a modern day Japanese anime. What I really like that I noticed about the animation is the combination of the sound effects and the animations style. Specifically, you can see the line quality of the characters  mimics Chinese ink strokes, and when the characters land hits on each other, the sound that accompanies it is an almost wet thud. I think it’s to simulate the inky look of the motion lines and characters while they’re fighting, and it’s a beautiful detail I really appreciate. There’s another detail that I’ve observed but I’m not quite sure if it’s accurate. It looks like the sparse dialogue in the animation doesn’t quite match up to the voices, and it reminds me of Chinese dramas with dubbing that doesn’t quite match. What do you all think?

Pixilation- Ryan Higa

Hey all! Get ready to be spammed because I forgot to post. Back in the day when we watched Norman McLaren’s video “Neighbors”, I remembered this video from a little while back by YouTuber, Ryan Higa, aka nigahiga. It features an advertisement spoofing the popular Hoverboard/FloBoard trend with his version: the CardBoard! He does a small section of pixilation animation (starts at 2:22), demonstrating the CardBoard’s features, and you can see from his various locations changes that it was really tricky to get some of those shots. And not only does he animate himself moving, but also the board itself, sometimes when it’s attached to his body. The cardboard transforms from a board to a jetpack, even to a full body Transformer. Below is his making of/process video, where you can see how they did some of those amazing tricks. He’s holding himself up on the banister to take the shots needed on the stairs, and later cramping up his body to continue the skateboard trick. You can tell how much time and energy the crew dedicates to this short as you see the sun go down throughout.