Strangely – the same thing holds true with animation. I should like to astonish with mere shapes. I should like to astonish with simple forms. And the most astonishing moments in animation are the subtle ones. As much as Michael Bay likes throwing giant robots right into the camera, it’s well known the magic really happens with we have to make things act, feel, take a breath before the leap, or reflect before saying something.

I thought of Cezanne, when we purchased fruit this weekend. I even got a whole pineapple. Before we enjoyed the fruit, I set it up in a bowl and thought it would be fun to do a still life – even if it’s just a sketch with my kids Crayola colored pencils rather than Prisma Color. I even had the kids join me in drawing the apples, oranges, and bananas.

My apples are unlikely to astonish Paris.
But the still life tasted great, and we all had fun.

I posted a couple of images of Cezanne apples as well, courtesy of paul-cezanne.org

The first couple years of the Cassandra Cain Batgirl were awesome. Almost 90% silent storytelling. Not cluttered with dialog like many comics. If you didn’t read the visual language you really missed a lot.

My boards here reflect the low-dialog purely visual storytelling style of those early comics.

-Elias

With some pro quality colored pencils you can softly blend colors like paint and get amazingly realistic results.

Just like painting, however, I equally enjoy when you can reveal the brush strokes… or in this case, pencil strokes. I didn’t fill an area of skin tone or dress in one solid single flat color. Variations of that color, or opposing colors are not blended in – but scattered throughout.

The line art was in black ink.

-Elias

An odd experiment into oddly depicted animals in silhouette.

Nothing generates creativity in illustration more than keeping it simple, stripping away as much of the line art and detail as possible, and make it read in solid black.

Then take it and try, when it strikes you, to structure the animals in an abnormal way, and you get one wickedly whacked out pachyderm, or a twisted, angular, maze-like rattler.

-Elias

Oh course there are many we left out. Some not mentioned on the list would easily include South Park, Futurama’s many DVD releases, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Blenders “Big Buck Bunny”, Kung Fu Panda, and Corpse Bride among others.

And that’s before we start talking about tv commercials. How could we not mention Red Bull’s wings, Charmin’s bears, or the strangely large number of financial institutions that use cartoons, like Principal. What about UPS’s cardboard world animations? And let’s also not forget about the crazy world of the web. Do yourself a favor: if you want to have your mind blown, surf around on vimeo some.

Bottom line: this is a good time to be animated.

So, we pose this question: what’s on your list?

Enough talk. On to the list..

Our picks for: THE BEST ANIMATION of the DECADE

–Elias Dancey

Enjoy this cartoon: “The Great Turkey Chase.”

Just click the “PLAY” button on the video below!

Originally created for Crosscards.com in 2005 – and still available there to send as a Thanksgiving Day eCard!
Take a peek: Crosscards.com

A small discussion also included anime influences vs. Japanese art. Ultimately a soft blend between the two was used. Enjoy the Hibachi video below!

Decision Virginia from Eastwood Media on Vimeo.

For some added fun, I’ve included the rough pencil test animation below.

You can see how it is not fully smoothed out with inbetween animation. This is for posing and pacing and acting. I enjoyed playing the character of the two, and attempted to make their motions and speech interesting beyond simple mouth movements.

Once the staging was complete I would go on to finish the inbetween frames to get the animation looking smooth.

Then I would go over everything a final time in full color.

After that each character was output in full on it’s own. They would be reassemble later in post production where the whip-pan and other motion effects were added.

-Elias

Decision Virginia – Pencil Test from Eastwood Media on Vimeo.

It was drawn on paper using pencil…. and, believe it or not, at times – straight in ink! How crazy was I?

Some fun facts:

1) I took a generic character design on mine and did a “Reverse Popeye.” Popeye, of course, has tiny biceps and giant forearms. In this case I did pencil thin thighs and giant calf muscles. This made the character design more unique.

2) The project was shot on a film stand. 16mm film stock.

3) Yes, that is a mushroom character that is dragging his sword around as a squire.

Enjoy.

Celestial Knight – Pencil Test from Eastwood Media on Vimeo.