Thoughts on Big Hero 6

Feast

I have to say I'm really enjoying how Disney has picked up Pixar's habit of opening their animated films with a short. Mostly because so far, they've all been pretty amazing; Paperman, Get a Horse, and now Feast. This short was just so charming and adorable. It's impossible not to fall in love with Winston right off the bat. The animation and style of the whole thing is just spectacular, I could watch it over and over again.

 Big Hero 6 

When I come out of an animated film aching to get back to my desk and work on school projects, you know it's a good one. This film just made me so excited to be studying animation, and has only strengthened my resolve to work at Disney someday! Or any of those magical studios, really. The story follows young robotics genius Hiro Hamada, and his brother's robot Baymax as they try to stop the evil man in the Kabuki mask. That's the short version. The long version would require some spoilers, but even if those plots points are easily gleaned from trailers, I'd rather not give any of it away, just in case. Either way, the story itself was heartwarming, funny (and I mean, really funny, there was a lot of great humour in this movie), exciting and I gotta say, very well paced. The movie moves easily from action-packed car chases to emotional moments to montages without missing a beat. The whole flow of the film was great, I never wanted it to end.

 The relationship that develops between Hiro and Baymax is really the heart and soul of the film, and boy do the filmmakers know how to tug at your heartstrings. In more ways than one. The connection with Hiro is so easy, even if it may be difficult to relate to a 14 year old robotics genius. He is such an appealing and sympathetic character from the first moment you meet him, you can't help but root for him the whole way through, especially once he begins bonding with Baymax. I love Baymax. Nuff said.

 The rest of the cast, while entertaining for sure, didn't have as much development as Hiro and Baymax. However, I'm very willing to overlook this, as the film is clearly meant to show Hiro's journey and arc (which was great), and was not a superhero team origin movie (unlike The Avengers, in which the team had to learn to work together, and the story focused on their relationships with each other). They are there to support Hiro, and for that I think they are just fine. Their personalities are each unique and hilarious in their own way, and even if they are not vital to moving the story along in some cases, they do a great job of keeping Hiro's journey focused and moving along (and keeping you laughing). As for the villain, he's also really there to help Hiro along his path, and less as an actual threat. His identity isn't too hard to figure out (I called it from the moment we first saw him, it's fairly formula) but the secret isn't really the point of the story either. He's a pretty awesome villain though, and his microbots are sick (just an expression guys, they're not actually ill).

 The whole look of the film was great as well. San Fransokyo was a joy to explore visually, and everything just looked so refined and clean. No corners cut for this one. I also have to mention the design of end credits themselves. I loved how they were simply 2D drawings of the characters and locations. No animation, nothing too fancy. Just wonderful, colourful drawings.

 Overall, I enjoyed this movie so so much. And their overall respect (or disrespect?) of traffic laws. Sometimes its easy to forget it's even a Disney movie, since it's so different from anything they've done before, and I have to applaud them for that. See Big Hero 6 if you are any kind of sane person. It's just awesome.

Heads up, stay until after the credits end, the very last scene is FANTASTIC! I can't believe they put that in there!!

Star Rating:

5/5 stars

Thoughts on The Boxtrolls

I was lucky enough to find some time to go and see Laika's newest offering a few days ago. So here are my thoughts on it!

I really really enjoyed this movie, to be honest. It was charming, fresh, and just quirky enough. Eggs is an endearing and sympathetic main character, and I even liked Winnie, despite the fact that she's a spoiled rich girl from Cheesebridge.  She's no damsel, that's for sure. She knows how to get what she wants, but she's also clever, creative, and sympathetic to the Boxtrolls' cause, and honestly wants to help them (and Eggs). The Boxtrolls themselves are adorable, and fun to watch. Their underground community (though clearly created as a contrast to the shallow upper world) is beautiful and visually great to explore. Their relationship with Eggs is really the emotional core of the film, and the filmmakers did a great job of using this element to carry it along nicely.

The story was also very engaging, and really kept my attention throughout. It moved along at a great pace and had more than enough laughs along the way. I've heard some reviewers thought the character designs too pushed, or too grotesque. They honestly didn't bother me too much. Only the villain really had an extreme design, but considering his personality and role in the film, I think it suited him. He really was a grotesque, horrible man (a fact the filmmakers never try to hide, so no spoilers there. He's villainous from the beginning, although his henchmen did actually have some redeeming qualities)

One more thing: wait for a few minutes after the credits roll, there is an AMAZING little scene featuring two comedic characters in the film, but is absolutely brilliant, especially if you're an animation fan. My favorite scene in the entire movie, my friends and I were cracking up.

I definitely recommend this movie, to fans of animation (speaking of which, it was beautiful. Laika never disappoints in that regard), anyone with kids, or anyone who wants to see a fun, wonderful bit of stop-montion animation!

Star Rating:

4 / 5 stars

Next up, The Book of Life! Which I'm hoping to see really soon. And then… Big Hero 6!! :la:

Chunky-Flies

This is an animation I started over a year ago, about Chunky the Death Cat from Dreamworks' The Croods. Chris Sanders' story sketches and concept work for the film inspired me so much to draw him and the other characters, so eventually I made this little animation.

Here is the rough animation:




And here is the finished version, with colour and background. Colouring took up a lot of time, as in each frame Chunky had to be coloured head to tail, and I made the silly decision to include the colour gradients on his paws, tail and face. Oh yeah, and all those stripes too. So nearly a year later I finally finished all the ink and colour work, so voilà:



And here are some of Chunky's expressions throughout all 14 seconds of the clip:

Review : The Art of Mulan

I was lucky enough to find this gem at my local library a few weeks ago; I've been trying to read as many 'Art of' books as possible this summer, but so far this one has really stood out for me. It's also very difficult to find older 'Art of' books, such as those from 90s films, since most of them are out of print now, so I snatched this one up the minute I saw it. Here are my thoughts on The Art of Mulan:

To begin with, Jeff Kurtti has just such a fantastic job of covering every aspect of the process of creating Mulan, from the production team's research trip to China to animating effects and each individual character. The book is jam packed with artwork of all sorts as well, and did a bang up job of helping the reader in understanding what the creators were trying to convey through this film.

What is so unique about Mulan in particular is that it is based on a Chinese legend, rather than a fairytale (for example, the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson). In essence, it is based on a story that many Americans are not familiar with, and the creators of Mulan had to find the perfect balance between respecting the original tale and adapting it for a more Western audience.

The Art of Mulan begins with a retelling of the original Mulan story, and follows with the creative team's trip to China. It describes each location, and how they would eventually contribute to the film, from inspiring visuals to aspects of Chinese culture as told by its own people. The research into the film takes up nearly a third of the entire book, but it really provides great insight and understanding into where the filmmakers were coming from when they made creative decisions.

One of my favourite parts of the book were the sections on story and character design. I absolutely loved reading about the different versions of Mulan's story, many of them as told by Chris Sanders who was head of story (and, as you probably know, the director of films such as Lilo and Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon). The book describes Mulan's evolution as a character, and how they adapted the many different versions of her story into one that modern audiences could relate to. Many of the final character designs were heavily influenced by the style of Chen-Yi Chang. Included in the book are countless images not only of rough drawings of the characters in their final forms, but of Chang's vision for them as well, making it clear to see how much of an impact he had on their designs. I also really appreciated how the book delves into the slightly lesser known parts of making an animated film, such as hand-drawn special effects, layout design and visual development.

Art by Chen-Yi Chang for Mulan

Most importantly, this book emphasizes above all the strong connection each of the filmmakers had with the story of Mulan, and how dear she is to all of them. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves animation, Mulan, or just pretty pictures in general, as this book is jam packed with everything you'd want to know about the making of Mulan.

Hopefully I will do more such reviews in the future, to keep an eye out!

Pancake Dragon

Ink + undersketch

Ink + final Photoshop colour

Because dragons + pancakes… what's not to like? 

Advice on Getting into Animation

Advice I think I'm gonna take… thank you Dan Krall!!

Read it!

Check it out if you've got a spare moment or two. There are some great insights that in all fairness, aren't at all hard to follow if you're passionate about your work and the animation industry.

Toothless Sketches

Toothless sketches, some old and some new! Suffice to say, it's hard to get this dragon outta my head.

Fun 'Zone

Frozone teaches Elsa how to 'Let it Go' and have some fun. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Sketch

Final 

Merida

Merida, sketch and final

Crayola marker fun

 

Cracked open a new pack of Crayola markers at camp this week. Sharp, clean, brand new markers never fail to get me in the mood to draaw!