Illustration Tutorials and Tips for the Traditional and Digital Artist - Monster Cutie » animation

Takeshi Murakami Celebrates Six Years of Collaboration With Louis Vuitton

Jamie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:34:43 +0000

Known as the father of the “Superflat” movement in Japanese pop art, Takeshi Murakami has worked with fashion label Louis Vuitton. We could spend hours upon hours dissecting Super Flat and still not “get it” so instead, let’s look at “Superflat First Love,” and animated short Murakami created to cellebrate his collaboration with Louis Vuitton.

The Cat Piano

Jamie — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:05:02 +0000

This brilliant 8-minute animated short was created entirely in Photoshop. Each frame was drawn using Wacom tablets. Not only is the animation top notch, but the story is quite good. Narrated by Nick Cave, The Cat Piano is set in a world of musical cats and told from the perspective of a lonely beat poet. When singing cats mysteriously disapear one by one, he goes on a quest to find them and rescue the love of his life. Enjoy!

For more information about the project, visit the website for The Cat Piano. Thanks to reader Tyler Anderson for the link!

White Box

Jamie — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:36:21 +0000

If you were to ask me to visually convey what goes through my head as I draw, I would simply show you this video. Directed by Mokoto Yabuki, “White Box” captures the elegant beauty that even the simplest of drawing can inspire.

The Princess and the Frog Pencil Tests

Jamie — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:16:41 +0000

With The Princess and the Frog, Disney returns to traditional hand-drawn cell animation. It’s about time! I was so excited when I saw the first trailer and I can’t wait to see it on the big screen. If you missed out on this year’s San Diego Comic Con, you would have missed a unique preview of the film. Pencil test scenes from the film were screened at one of the panels.

There’s no audio in the clip below, but you get a great behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to create such wonderfully fluid animation that used to be a hallmark of Disney. I hope this marks a return to traditional animation for Disney and not just a one-off for old times’ sake.

Cutie Flash – Design and Animate a Character in Adobe Flash

Jamie — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:14:29 +0000

This week, we design and draw a cutie that’s ready to animate in Flash. We even sneak in a little animation at the end.

As always, this was recorded in HD. It runs 43 minutes. If you’d like to download the video for later, please subscribe to the iTunes feed. And if you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment.

Ralph Bakshi Says Just Do It

Jamie — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:26:28 +0000

Animation director and producer Ralph Bakshi has a message for young, aspiring animators. Just freaking do it already! With the advances and affordability of digital technology, there’s absolutely nothing holding you back from making your own animated feature film. So why aren’t you doing it?

While I do think that technology has sort of democratized animation and filmmaking, you still need to be able to tell a story. A computer can do all the technical work for you, but it can’t write a better story. Still, I do like what Bakshi has to say. Just get out there and do it already!