Rotoscoping

For this charity animation I wanted there to be a clear connection with reality even though it's an animated film. Rotoscoping seemed like the best technique to use to give credibility to the images I was creating, as it is so recognisably based on life. There is also a more 'professional' quality to rotoscoping, as it's so precise, and very aesthetically pleasing to most audiences (younger and older). I sometimes feel like rotoscoped footage can be a bit clinical when used on it's own though, in a way it's a bit too smooth sometimes, which is why I'm interspersing other elements into my film, such as looser abstract moments based on children's drawings and doodles, and smaller, more playful characters. The elements I am rotoscoping are all moments of playfulness, human gestures to increase the audience's engagement and energetic movement.

Isabel Herguera

It's only recently that I've begun to step away from the idea that art needs to be serious to be taken seriously. I'm not even entirely sure where I got that misconception from, because the most widely-appreciated, highly lauded artists were the rule-breakers and experimenters... People like Picasso, Hockney, Hundertwasser, Quentin Blake etc all seem to be kids masquerading in adult costumes.

Isabel Herguera is an animator who seems to have playfulness ingrained into her work, even when the subject matter is delicate. The link below for Bajo la almohada shows a film she created using children's drawings as a launchpad.

I love the approach here; she spent time with the children in the clinic in India where they live, she played with them, got to know them, drew with them and so the whole film is automatically imbued with integrity but also a playful, childish innocence. There's something really lovely about getting the kids involved in the creation through more than just an interview. I think if I could do some future projects with Claire House (or another children's charity) it would be great to incorporate workshops into the creation of the piece. It's a two birds, one stone scenario as the activities feed the film and vice versa.

Bajo la almohada / Under the Pillow

Art School Adventures in London

A couple of weeks ago I went on an unofficial art school trip to London with some friends from the course. We were packed off with a list of must-sees and a hand-drawn map in my friend Dom's pocket, and the vague hope of being able to understand the tube system.

The resultant weekend consisted of some beautiful and interesting artwork (original illustrations for Alice in Wonderland, cardboard Themerson characters etc), some baffling (a pile of sand in the corner of a room entitled, Tonne??? Still getting my head round that one...), some unexpected Czech, Swedish and French friends,  general architecture and market appreciation and a healthy dose of graffiti art.

The Camden Arts Centre was possibly the best exhibition I attended over the weekend for it's collection of Themerson's illustrations, doodles, film and theatre work. I loved the playfulness of it all.

(Another post on the way soon about the illustrator/animator I befriended down in Elephant and Castle.)