Message from the Dark Side…

Ok, having had our tutorials earlier today I have realised the piece I am trying to do is FAR to ambitious for my current drawing skill set and capabilities. As such, I will be re-thinking my idea over the weekend and putting together a new one ready for pitch on Thursday. I am aware this leaves me with very little to no time what so ever but I don’t have a great deal of choice.

The video displayed above was introduced to me by one of our course leaders, John Parry, and it has certainly got me thinking. Whilst the drawing style is incredibly simple it is also hugely effective and I really like the piece. I would be more than happy to do a similiar sort of style and I feel this is well with in my current skill sets. As well as this style, I have also been looking at ‘sprite animation’ (animated created using well known 8 or 16bit computer game characters such as Mario from the Gameboy or Sonic from the Mega Drive). Admitidally I am unable to use the sprites for either of these characters or indeed any others but I am able to make my own and, as stated, I believe this is well within my own capacity. As such, I will do some further research and hopefully form an idea by tomorrow.

 

I haven’t seen this series since I was about 12/13 but have recently ‘rediscovered’ it as a part of our animation course. The video above is one of the many intro videos found at the beginning of each episode. It is a perfect example of the style found inTenchi Muyo as well as some of the character designs.

The backgrounds found in this series are incredibly well detailed and look fantastic; some of the scenes I wish to recreate in my own work and, whilst the intro video doesn’t demonstrate it 100% clearly, I will post a few images of some of the background and settings found in this anime series. The characters, arguably, are of a manga style, a style I am very keen on and would love to recreate in my own work. Much the same as Avatar : The Last Airbender, the story is incredibly well written and the characters are well developed; again, the female characters tend to be far more developed than the male or certainly seem to play a much greater role than the male protagonist, Tenchi himself. Again, I may look in to doing this in my own piece.

Chris

To get this started off I will begin with Katara from Avatar : The Last Airbender. Possibly one of the strongest and most defined characters in the entire series. She is the main female protagonist and is constantly presented as a strong minded, strong willed and an incredibly versatile character. Katara, unlike her later boyfriend Aang (the main character of the entire series), starts the series with very little; her mother was taken from her at a young age, war has ravaged her village and clan and she is forced to play a motherly role for her immature brother Sokka.

The development of this character is so well written that we learn most of this in the first thirty minute episode of the series. We also learn how sensitive, loving and caring she is and, in some respects, how vulnerable she can be. Because of this, we instantly sympathise with her; sympathy is quite possibly the best way for an audience to engage with a character and it is done so well in Avatar : The Last Airbender that we connect with Katara from the very beginning. I would go as far to say that within the first couple of minutes of the opening episode we learn more about Katara than we ever do about some other characters. This serves to demonstrate quite clearly that a character can be incredibly well established even within a very short time limit – in my case, two minutes. I have every intention of attempting to recreate this in my own piece by producing a strong, defined character that an audience can relate to and connect with; I will most likely make one of my main characters a female as I have found, certainly in my own personal experience, that the are far easier to connect with than a male protagonist.

As a summary, to give Katara’s character depth a complication is introduced – in this instance, the story of Katara’s mother being taken from her; this instantly forces an audience to sympathise. This is shortly followed by the introduction of another character, Sokka Katara’s brother, who relies solely on Katara as his mother; again, an audience sympathises. Thirdly, the harsh conditions they live in are introduced and this sets the final part used to create sympathy towards Katara. These are the building blocks then used to continue establishing her personality and traits which overall, creates the fantastic character portrayed.

As a final remark, I have found the style of Avatar : The Last Airbender to be hugely intriguing. I have always had a strong interest in the anime / manga genre and find something aesthetically beautiful and stunning about the style. Whilst I myself am not a particularly strong drawer, I have intentions of recreating this style in my own work be it digital or hand drawn. Admittedly I have a great deal to learn before this becomes possible but I am more than happy to do so.

Would recommend the following link ; it is a very well written evaluation of the ‘modern princess’ found in many of todays animations.

Chris