Showing posts with label Character Design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Character Design. Show all posts
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Ralph Bakshi: James Hound/ Mouse Trek
I love the designs in Ralph Bakshi Terrytoons like James Hound and The Mighty Heroes. It's very distinct, very cartoony and very appealing. The style seems to have been influenced by the early MAD, especially Don Martin and Wally Wood, mixed with Weird-oh's model kits and maybe Chuck Jones' angular late- 1950's style. Wherever it came from, they are just fun to look at.
Most people skip over this stuff when discussing Bakshi, but I love these cartoons. The documentary on the new Mighty Mouse dvd has some pristine clips of The Mighty Heroes, so I hope someone is working on getting them out on dvd.
These grabs are from the James Hound cartoon "Monster Master", available on youtube.
Mouse Trek:
Most people skip over this stuff when discussing Bakshi, but I love these cartoons. The documentary on the new Mighty Mouse dvd has some pristine clips of The Mighty Heroes, so I hope someone is working on getting them out on dvd.
These grabs are from the James Hound cartoon "Monster Master", available on youtube.
Mouse Trek:
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Bil Baird 2: The Sound of Music
These are great to draw from- the big, blocky shapes really help you to see the form and perspective.
Bil Baird
I picked up an old vhs tape at Goodwill recently called "Davey Jones' Locker", featuring Bil Baird's marionettes and I can't believe how awesome the designs of the puppets are. They look like they were designed by Roy Nelson and Vernon Grant, which may not be a coincidence since Baird attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts around the same time as both and they clearly share a similar design sensibility.
I couldn't find any clips online and because It's a vhs tape I can't make any frame grabs, but I'm attaching a few Baird images found online (there isn't much) to hopefully motivate you to check out more.
I wish the current cgi movies had this variety in design. I can't figure out why all the girls in cgi movies have the exact same round head- the girls in Bolt, Monsters vs Aliens, and Cloudy Meatballs all seem like the same design, and the neck never attaches to the head right. Maybe it's a limitation of the technology, because the best character designers in the world worked on those movies.
You can buy a dvd of some of Baird's early films here. I recommend it highly.
S.
I couldn't find any clips online and because It's a vhs tape I can't make any frame grabs, but I'm attaching a few Baird images found online (there isn't much) to hopefully motivate you to check out more.
I wish the current cgi movies had this variety in design. I can't figure out why all the girls in cgi movies have the exact same round head- the girls in Bolt, Monsters vs Aliens, and Cloudy Meatballs all seem like the same design, and the neck never attaches to the head right. Maybe it's a limitation of the technology, because the best character designers in the world worked on those movies.
You can buy a dvd of some of Baird's early films here. I recommend it highly.
S.
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