The end

These last days I have worked a lot on the final sequence, I got to say that I encountered some difficulties during the ending phase due to some technical problems regarding my personal computer. As I have dealt with a previous problem like this, having deleted a lot of work from my animated video equals long hours spent staring at the computer screen and recreating frame by frame again. What have I learned so far? Always, but always backup your work, save a copy on every disk you have and make sure you follow your plan accordingly.
As a whole, I believe that this course gave me good insights about the animation industry, therefore I gained more skills and technical dexterity that pushes me forward in following this path, in other words, my aim is to continue working on my technical development and aesthetics. Hopefully I will come up with fresh and innovative concepts and visuals.

Project development last phase

Today I am working on the last part of the animation , the last two verses from the chosen poem which I found pretty challenging to animate. Having only one day left until the deadline, I feel a little worried when I comes to the ending of my animation. I believe that the latter can rather let the audience impressed or leave a question mark about the aesthetics. I will not choose the "to define is to limit" conclusion but one that communicate a surrealistic concept that leave space also for the imaginary.
Here is a screenshot of my workspace where I tried to produce an infinite door animation by using only the tools from after effects.

Good morning, life!

Logorama from Marc Altshuler - Human Music on Vimeo.

Since everything is advertising, people tend to think in representational identities and standardized and materialistic concepts that have become our priorities. Here is an epic and rebellious critique of the culture we live in.

Learning

Some months ago a media tutor asked me what is an aspiration for an artist. At that time I didn't acknowledge this side of a person, the side of begin-progress-end  and the point hard slogging. When the courses had started to push us to a demanding  field, the one that includes animated video, my artistic curiosity   pumped up and lined my priorities in a manner that since then I have started to not only watch a piece of work by great animators but also perceive what a difference does it make within my personal stimulation regarding creativity. Hence I sort of received a mindful mind that nothing will take the place of persistence throughout the process of my work.

Creativity consumes us.Let it out and to something with it.

I have started to "consume" my ideas 4 days ago, therefore my animation project is going slowly but also surely. I worked on my techniques with masks manipulation and 3d camera mapping so now I can easily and pleasantly spend my time working hard on my project.

Inspire

Animation can have different forms, different vibes and rhythms. What is important is how you perceive it.

STOPCYCLE from ducroz on Vimeo.

Thought of You

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

Thought of You LYRICAL CHOREOGRAPHY, GORGEOUS ANIMATION, AND A TALE OF LOVE AND LOSS FROM ANIMATOR RYAN WOODWARD.

 This mesmerizing animated short, which I called the most spellbinding short film of 2010, was born out of animator Ryan Woodward‘s fascination with the motion of the human body in dance and his nostalgic soft spot for the 2D animation styles of his childhood. The confluence of these two infatuations is the breathtakingly beautiful blend of figurative work, visual Fx, animation and choreography. The film embodies the cross-pollination of disciplines that is often at the root of the richest forms of creativity. Equal parts tender visual poetry about love and bold creative experiment in animation techniques, Thought of You is the kind of film that grabs you by the heartstrings with quiet visual simplicity and unfolds into incredible emotional range.


Here is the making-of:

  
Thought of You - Behind the Scenes Preview - ROUGH CUT from Cambell Christensen on Vimeo.


Source material: http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/03/13/thought-of-you/

Sounds

Sounds, emotions, and vibes for a better understanding of the real meaning, the one that I aim to exhibit through my animation:

Shine your little heart out!

When you finally realize that part of the reason you chose to do this, to work hard on a project, even if it was meant to be for everybody in your course of study, was to progress and change and not to success from the first try. Therefore, having to cope with a bad situation concerning my animation project which I had to have it finished at this moment, I came to the conclusion that there can be a plan B. As a result, after my computer crashed and all the work i have done so far is completely unrecovered, I took the 7 days extension which my uni allows me to have when you don't finish in time for the deadline your assignment. 
So, here we start again! On the good side, I am looking forward to creating something better than I did before, something fresh even if I am experiencing a real challenge here. I will keep you updated as soon I get back on track and manage to stop myself worrying about the bad consequences regarding the final mark :( .

I AM INSPIRED!

"A SHADOW OF BLUE" from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

"A touching story in which fantasy and reality merge to make dreams come true. How determining can reality be, and how can fantasy unleash an unexpected freedom? Can a fragile world of lights and shadows show us more than a silhouette drawn against the sunlight? A mixed-technique animated short film, by Director Carlos Lascano"



What happens to things when we aren't looking at them? They evolve, they follow a trajectory and become a shade of a shape, they follow you even if your consciousness does not pay any interest to be awake and sensible to the wonder of those invisible things. There is no existence without perception and hence, objects disappear and come  into beings again with more powerful manifestation. That is how the artist of the "A Shadow of Blue" animation has planned to expose. It is a touching and captivating story, made out of several techniques that altogether create 12 minutes of complete illusion . If you watch it, you will end up hoping that everything around us is a playing field. 

The first action to achieve results: start doing, stop thinking!

The proper time for putting my plan in action has arrived for me as well. Here is a screenshot of the intro part of my animation. I tried to keep it simple but effective. 
For the Title and credits I chose an online free font called DENNE SHUFFLE which caught my attention while I was surfing on the internet for inspiration. Hope it works with the intended animation as well.

Expressing the contemporary art through animation

      How to get the inspiration you new from the creative minds in our contemporary world:



Have you ever sensed that feeling of artistic pleasure when you get trapped in one's imaginary sphere of continuous expression through colours and surrealistic shapes? That is called animation in today's cultural society, the word that compresses the beauty of human mind with the surprising technique of showing the emotion within art. Two days ago, when i was stuck in one spot behind all the inspiration I received, when I could not find a motif behind my ability to create something for the animation course, I came across a superb spirit of an artist, Carlos Lascano that has been surprising my expectations ever since.
The first short film of his that I watched with continuos wonderment was LILA, a thrilling video and animation brought together in one piece of art that Carlos Lascano have created in the continuation of an aesthetic trilogy.
Have a look, be the spectator for the gifted imagination of an artist that aims for the best fantasy of a teenage girl, the one trapped between a world of colours and a world of continuous sorrow.

http://vimeo.com/carloslascano/lilafinal




"LILA" from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

Practice, learn, create

Playing with shapes and vector is like playing with words and manipulating what your mind tells you what you should do. I believe that my shortcomings when it comes to being the actual artist, to creating something for your own goal and ambition, is the fact that i experiment more. While i am writing this, a moment from one of my animation seminars comes to attention: one of the first things that my tutor advised us to do or not to do is "stop from experimenting too much". I tend to go against what is rational so that is what I sometimes find myself lying still in front of my monitor while my attention is being kept alert by different video tutorials, online review or long article about animation techniques. This is why I have started this post, just to express what I believe it is wrong for self-efficacy regarding the process of the intended project. Here are some examples of experimentations, tutorials or just simple techniques that caught my attention:

DEAD…

SOURCE: (http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2014/01/06/dead/) DEAD… A LITTLE LAD CONTEMPLATES THE DEATH OF HIS FAMILY. With a narrative revolving around what filmmaker Joe Bichard describes as the “biggest theme for any story after love”, the aptly named DEAD… provides a rather playful look at grief and bereavement. Employing an exuberant animation style and a vibrant colour palette to visualise his dark and poetic tale, Royal College of Art student Bichard provides a fresh and surprisingly enjoyable angle on a much covered subject. Like recent Short of the Week pick Karaoke, DEAD… avoids the dramatic, sorrowful approach usually seen in cinema when tackling concepts surrounding loss. However, where Renzi’s film opted for a more restrained representation of dealing with death, Bichard’s short employs polar opposite methods, utilising comedy and absurdity to create a surreal look at mortality. Inspired to tackle this somewhat taboo subject by his own thought process after a friend’s father died, Short of the Week spoke to filmmaker Bichard to find out why he chose the themes portrayed in his film and why he employed a comical approach to telling his tale: “I think it’s all too easy to think of a death in terms of how it affects you and I think people do so more than they might be willing to admit, which is pretty disgusting, but I suppose we humans can be. Humans love attention of any kind, even if it is sympathy or pity. So this idea coupled with death being a pretty all-inclusive theme will hopefully make a reasonably interesting film for everyone to watch. The playful tone is partially stemmed from my own approach to life. Not to take things too seriously and to see the funny side of just about everything, even death! The tone is also a more palatable way to express some of us human’s less desirable egocentric tendencies.” Adding to the playful narrative of ‘DEAD…’, Bichard utilises a bold and eye-catching colour palette to inject even more fun into his portrayal of his some serious issues. But it’s not just the visuals that add to the comical feel of this animation, Oswald Skillbard’s (who also worked on Alex Grigg’s Late Night Work Club film Phantom Limb) vivid sound design also plays a large role in adding an extra layer of humour to Bichard’s short. As his crunching and squelching foley sounds (apparently Skillbard got through a lot of courgettes recording audio for Bichard) magnify the exaggerated, surreal comedy that makes Bichard’s short such as success. Eager to examine Bichard’s directorial decision, we quizzed the animator on his use of colour and the importance of sound design in his film: “Making rules for yourself like limiting your colour palette when making stuff, forces you to make more interesting decisions. Who would have thought space was red? Because the story is told by a child it was supposed to add to the childlike (or playful) quality of the film. One of the biggest challenges was to get the dialogue working around all the sound design. We didn’t want the sound design or dialogue competing with each other or else some of the wonderfully acted narration might get lost in Oswald’s amazing custom made foley sounds or vice versa. Sound is so important when it comes to understanding the action depicted in any film, particularly an animated one, so it is an element of film making that should never be overlooked!” Inspired by the dark humour contained in the films of David Shrigley and Chris Shepherd and the visceral energy of Tim Hope’s work, Bichard states that he wants his work to “feel distinctly English and silly” – something we feel he achieves perfectly with his latest short. With DEAD… now released for all to enjoy, Bichard is already working on his next Royal College of Art short – “My next film is about the next biggest theme in stories after death; love. The narrative follows the trials and tribulations (mainly trials) of an armless man who is kept against his will as a pet by a big green botanical forest monster lady”. Once again, it sounds like another film set to match the criteria he strives to achieve with his filmmaking. ~

Technical Experimentation

Tumbleweed Tango Animation

Tumbleweed Tango is an animated video of the most beautiful effect in which a balloon dog runs with his partner in a sensual tango to avoid being pierced by all cacti that surround it. A very successful creation proposed by Humble TV to discover in the future.

Inspirations ( source: http://motionpoems.com/)

DOSHI | BAKER | “The Dream” Babe Elliott Baker’s surreal collage of images gives Indian poet Tishani Doshi’s folksy “Dream” a futuristic resonance. HICOK | MOLLER | “Circles in the Sky” Seeing beauty in vultures, poet Bob Hicok and filmmaker Keri Moller circle back to the living in this quiet, tenderly wrought motionpoem.

Choice of Animation

Extracts from reflective essay:

The animated infographic and animated story stage two opposite forms of animation materials. One draws upon realistic data and knowledge, the latter plays with motifs and dynamic imagery, targeting the diversified audience to relish "surface pleasures and hidden depths" (Wells 1998, p.6). Being fascinated by fantasy, by the creation of uniqueness and manipulation of visuals that can be acquired in an animated dimension, I looked up carefully at the surrealistic spirit, the making of limited animation in particular, so that my first choice of brief was the animated story.


To further my choice of style, I will exemplify on of my inspirational material, an animated translation of the poem "Night" by the Greek poet Tasos Livaditis, carefully illustrated in a computer processed manner by the greek designer Afroditi Bitzouni.    

https://vimeo.com/83619776

Tutorials for the animation sample

PHOTOSHOP // AFTER EFFECTS // FRAMEbyFRAME CREATING STOP-MOTION/CELL ANIMATION from creativMotion on Vimeo.

AFTER EFFECTS GLITCH TUTORIAL // Creating a custom designed data glitch without Plugins from creativMotion on Vimeo.

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Styles of Animation

I’ve been trying to study the styles of animation from quite long time, but couldn’t actually found some core material on it. So I decided to write an article by my own. I have gone through lot of animation materials, so I am jotting it all down here by adding my own view point towards it. Visual appeal of the movie depends on the character design, style of animation, cinematography, etc. Character designs can be realistic, semi realistic, caricatured, etc. Same way animation also differs in styles like semi real, real, hyper real, cartoony/snappy, stylized and limited animation. The style of animation depends mainly on the subject matter of the movie, director’s choice and the medium for display. Animation director’s concern is to get the idea right through the motion. Basic understanding about styles of animation will increase our knowledge. Styles of animation: Semi-Realistic Animation: The idea of animation is not to make things real but believable. We take references for movement from real life but in many cases director wants to accentuate some idea or exaggerate some action to get registration or wants some gag to produce out of it. So we are snapping some actions or making it look bit more cartoony. For example Shrek. In this movie the movements feels real except from some shots. I remember one when Fiona is fighting with guards. She is having The Matrix movement (trinity’s pose, with camera rotate 90 degrees). Is timed cartoony where Fiona kicks the guard in just couple of frames. Overall the style of animation for the movie is semi-real. Realistic: The character’s movements will feel real here. This mostly gained with the help of motion capture. Here the devices are used to capture the motion & later animators are there to clean it up for the production. Many times in realistic motion character feels stiff. If the director is very fussy about the actions or one is making movie on subtle topics, they don’t want to exaggerate the actions much. That’s why most of the fairy tales, mythological movies are realistic in motion. Movies like The Polar express, Final Fantasy, Barbie movies etc. Many 2D movies are having realistic actions too like Prince of Egypt. Directors don’t want to make it cartoony because it will lose the sincerity of the movie. Again this is a choice one can make it cartoony & hold the subtlety of the subject. Hyper Realistic: Taking it beyond realistic motions. Audience will see muscle level animation here which is not easily visible in real life. Energy level of the characters will differ then real. The character designs for this style are unique too. Usually this includes characters which are not seen in real life but director wants them to come alive on the screen like creatures, dinosaurs, dragons, Aliens. Lots of animation & dynamics are used to make them believable on screen. People believe those actions & enjoys because of their hyper details. These are the best examples of hyper real, The Incredible Hulk, Avatar… Hyper detailing in these movies will not look foolish or cartoony but will add the appeal and strength. Cartoony Animation/ Snappy Animation: Some movie did attempt to achieve 2D feel with CG puppets. We all have seen Tom and Jerry and loved it too. This type of animation in 3D is cartoony or snappy animation. For example Madagascar, over the hedge, etc… These movies attempted to get that old classic animation feel in 3D and they succeed too. Over all style is snappy but all characters don’t move fast or snap in same rate, they behave according to their personality. In the movie over the hedge I remember human characters are moving differently & that little squirrel behaves differently, of course because of their characteristics. but idea for motion was exaggerated to add that cartoony effect. Stylized Animation: Stylized animation is like adding cherry on top of the cake. Pixar guys are experts on this. They take real performance and make it worth pound. i.e. by adding and exaggerating animation principles on top of the original videotaped realistic performance. The best examples are Ratatouille, Horton… You will see lots of squash and stretch and arc… in almost all parts of the body in the character, where in realistic you won’t see much of it. We do see that these movements and actions can’t be true in real life, we are watching CG puppets but we do believe them and enjoy their performance on the screen. Exaggerating the real and adding more entertainment value to it by playing with the animation tools (principles.) To exaggerate motion to the extent which creates an animation style, need great sense of design. Limited Animation: This applies to 2D animation only. As a rule not more than 6 drawings are produced for one second of animation. Limited animation requires almost as much skill on the part of the animator as full animation, since they must create an illusion of motion in limited drawings. Examples are old series of Flint stones, Yogi bear, Manga anim etc… Here repetitions of the actions are acceptable. Timings for hold are increased. Many times we see character delivering dialogues with stiff body (single pose) & mouth opening and closing. SOURCE: (http://animationsupplement.com/index.php/articles/39-styles-of-animation )

The Poem for the animated sequence

Discharged into Clouds

On the fifth floor I spent 10 days
learning how to walk never far
above the earthworms, never far
below the sky. The darkness there

had nothing to do with an absence
of light and it wasn’t a voice
calling me. Now I’ve been awake
a thousand years, wouldn’t be surprised

to find a forest fire in my closet
or an eye in a cut-open apple. All night
passing cars throw luminous figures
against the wall that flee like angels

given the wrong address. All night
a woman down the hall screamed how
a wound wanted its knife back.
Magnificent must have been the bird

whose claws dropped me, magnificent
my scars. The old heart, cut apart
and out, they wouldn’t show me.


—Dean Young

CHECK THIS LINK OUT! pretty cool drawing animation based on the virtual space

Get inspired!

DreamGiver from Tyler Carter on Vimeo.

Animation Styles Guide (source:http://www.kanzenshuu.com/)

This guide has been years in the making, although not actually in the written form as you see it now, but through our work on the “Production Guide”. If you have never spent too much time in that guide, it is highly recommended you at least slightly familiarize yourself with it, specifically the “Animation Process”, before diving too far into this one. Most animation these days is now drawn using computer tablets, and although the techniques used in digital animation are essentially the same as traditional animation of the past, the true art of animating on paper and celluloid sheets is now a mere memory. This guide is meant to honor and display the artistic styles of these men of the ink and paper days, and not just entirely to judge them. It should be noted that due to the nature of this guide there are some personal artistic opinions stated. While some opinions stated may not match your own, it should be clear that a great effort has been placed on avoiding the use of personal opinion and such statements are instead based on artistic facts. To also help offset any straying personal opinions, a more general fan opinion has been incorporated based on observed community discussions over the years. It should also be noted that you will often see the “Animation Supervisor” credit translated as the “Animation Director” on other sites, but since these animators only oversee the key animation aspects in Dragon Ball it seems more appropriate to use the title of “supervisor”, which like “director” is also an accurate translation of kantoku (監督). The Overall Look of an Episode Unlike the manga — which for the most part was drawn by one man — the anime adaptation of the series was drawn by numerous animators, each with their own artistic styles. Some were known for perfectly mimicking Akira Toriyama’s art style, while others added their own twist, and some never even came close. Just who were the animators behind the actual look of the three series, and more specifically, each episode? The obvious answer you will get from most people is that it is the animation supervisor, and while that is correct, we should not be too hasty to toss the key animators out of the picture. Masaki Satō sketching a key frame for Dragon Ball You will often hear fans of any anime series, not just Dragon Ball, blame the look of any episode on a specific animator, most commonly the animation supervisor. Unfortunately these statements are quite misleading to fans with a limited knowledge of the traditional animation process, as it can leave the impression that each episode is being animated by a single person, when in actuality multiple people are responsible for animating these episodes. The animation aspects of an episode begin once its story has been established. At this point, the animation supervisor assigned to that specific episode determines the number of key frames needed to animate each scene of the episode based on the storyboards available. These key frames are then distributed to key animators working under the animation supervisor to be drawn. Throughout this process the key animation frames are overlooked and corrected by the animation supervisor, essentially shaping how they want the episode to look. Since all other frames and coloring will be based on these completed key animation frames, these elements naturally take on the look of how the animation supervisor corrected the key frames. While the process discussed above is typically the norm, in some instances the key animators were actually more talented than the animation supervisor, and in this case were the ones who would depict how an episode looked. One major example of this is the Last House studio, whose animation got noticeably worse throughout Dragon Ball Z as many of their more talented key animators were promoted. Many talented key animators can often hide deficiencies of their supervisors, but it is often hard to track down who was responsible for what in this case. Overall though, the final look of the episode hinges on the artistic abilities of the animation supervisor who has ultimate control over establishing the key frames. Animation Supervisors The following is a table of every animation supervisor involved with the various TV series as organized by their studio affiliation and period of involvement. You can click on each animation supervisor (at some point in the future) for a more detailed look at their specific style, animation team(s), and general series involvement. While this table does list every animation supervisor, some of them were simply key animators that filled-in for their respective supervisor. Therefore they do not have their own individual page, but are instead discussed along with their normal animation supervisor. Studio Animation Supervisor Involvement Studio Junio Minoru Maeda (前田　実) DB 1 – DBZ 164 Masaki Satō (佐藤正樹) DBZ 64 Seigasha Tomekichi Takeuchi (竹内留吉) DB 2 – DBZ 63 Masahiro Shimanuki (島貫正弘) DBZ 68 – DBZ 225 Kazuya Hisada (久田和也) DBZ 98 – GT 63 Last House Masayuki Uchiyama (内山正幸) DB 3 – GT 62 Tai’ichirō Ohara (小原太一郎) DB 76 – DB 98 Studio Live Yukio Ebisawa (海老沢幸男) DB 4 – DBZ 290 Toshiyuki Kan’no (菅野利之) GT 4 – GT 21 Shindō Productions Mitsuo Shindō (進藤満尾) DB 7 – DBZ 116 Tadayoshi Yamamuro (山室直儀) DBZ 122 – GT 59 Freelance Katsumi Aoshima (青嶋克己) DB 14 – DBZ 30 Toei Animation Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru (中鶴勝祥) DBZ 44 – DBZ 120 Takeo Ide (井手武生) DBZ 129 – GT 61 Naoki Miyahara (宮原直樹) DBZ 159 – GT 64 Akira Inagami (稲上　晃) GT 11 – GT 35 Studio Cockpit Keisuke Masunaga (増永計介) DBZ 174 – DBZ 279 Doga Kobo Ichirō Hattori (服部一郎) DBZ 177 Noboru Koizumi (小泉　昇) GT 36 – GT 54 Studio Carpenter Yūji Hakamada (袴田裕二) DBZ 182 – GT 60 K-Production Shingo Ishikawa (石川晋吾) DBZ 216 – GT 5 Kino Production Ichio Hayashi (林 委千夫) DBZ 245 Naoaki Hōjō (北條直明) DBZ 252-267 Being “On Model” Before we can truly discuss and compare animation quality, we must first discuss the term “on model”. This term is sometimes carelessly thrown around, but what does it truly mean and in what applications is it truly appropriate. Essentially, the term “on model” refers to how accurately the animation reflects the character model designs set forth by the character designer. In our case, Minoru Maeda was the character designer for the entirety of Dragon Ball and up through the Freeza arc of Dragon Ball Z, while Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru and Tadayoshi Yamamuro took over the role for the remainder of Dragon Ball Z and Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru retained the role for the duration of Dragon Ball GT. DB – Minoru Maeda DBZ – Tadayoshi Yamamuro GT – Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru The purpose of the character model designs is to maintain continuity in an effort to make it look as if one artist created the animation. Model designs also provide notes that present specific information to the animators on how to develop particular features of the character, such as his or her head shape, hair length and style, size and position of the eyes and the mouth, and relative size to other characters. Many of these model designs were later printed in the “Library of Adventure” sections of Daizenshuu 3, Daizenshuu 5, and Daizenshuu 6 (movies and TV specials). The quality of the animation will often times be confused with a character not being “on model”, or “off model”, which is not really always the case. As an example, let us compare Son Goku as seen in Dragon Ball episodes 139 (Minoru Maeda) and 140 (Masayuki Uchiyama). Dragon Ball Episode 139 Dragon Ball Episode 140 While Maeda’s version will be considered superior by most, the only true difference is the attention to detail. More often than not any lack of detail is misconstrued as the character being “off model”, but as we can see in the above example it is fair to say that both characters are technically “on model”. Again, which one you prefer is really up to your personal artistic likes and dislikes, but their similarities are hard to deny. Unfortunately, the animation under Uchiyama’s supervision would become less and less “on model” as the series progressed, which you can see visually below in the animation quality comparisons. To truly reinforce the concept of non-detailed animation being “on model”, you will find six model comparison examples below (click to view larger image). Each character model comparison is comprised of six screen shots of the same character from back-to-back episodes, each supervised by different animators. The interesting thing to note is that most fans will naturally pick out their favorite screen shot right away based on what they perceive to be of the best quality, which also typically corresponds to the episode with the highest animation budget. However, there are many episodes so near to this “best quality” episode that most fans do not actually notice any drop in animation quality from episode-to-episode. It is only when a character is so different from what they are used to seeing that they will typically notice this difference, and this is truly when a character can be considered “off model”. Unfortunately in Dragon Ball, these differences are sometimes quite obvious. Piccolo Model Comparison Vegeta Model Comparison Son Goku Model Comparison Freeza Model Comparison Trunks Model Comparison Cell Model Comparison Animation Quality Comparisons It is no secret, even to non-Dragon Ball fans, that the animation quality throughout the series is quite variable at times. If there are two things fans complain about the most it is the length of Goku’s battle with Freeza on Namek and the series’ animation quality. Ultimately this drop in animation quality reached its peak during the Artificial Human and Cell story arcs with the variability being drastically noticeable. The following examples serve as just a small collection of these differing animation qualities. In these examples you will see that Masayuki Uchiyama is going to take the brunt of these comparisons, which was done intentionally. His animation is known for being some of the worst in the series, specifically in Dragon Ball Z, and therefore it is easiest to compare other varying animation qualities to his work. In addition, and unfortunately not to Uchiyama’s advantage, most of the episodes he animated either directly preceded or followed superiorly animated episodes. Comparison #1 — Some do quality. Some do quantity. These first comparisons match up a few shots of Son Goku drawn under the supervision of Minoru Maeda (left) and Masayuki Uchiyama (right). The most obvious difference is the size of Goku’s hair, specifically how large it tended to sometimes get under Uchiyama’s supervision. At this point in the series Uchiyama heavily relied on his animation team (Last House) to animate episodes and was simply supervising their work. It would not be until later that Uchiyama himself became very “hands on” as a key animator, and subsequently when the series’ animation quality took a severe hit. Besides the loss of detail, another main difference is the rather “cartoony” (non-realistic) look of Uchiyama’s animation. It really should not be too surprising that some of his work looks very slapped together when you realize his animation team was responsible for animating every three to four episodes of the series. Dragon Ball Z Episode 28 Dragon Ball Z Episode 29 Dragon Ball Z Episode 95 Dragon Ball Z Episode 96 As a quick tidbit, it should be noted that while the above shot of Super Saiyan Son Goku in Dragon Ball Z episode 95 was supervised by Minoru Maeda, that specific key frame was drawn by Masaki Satō. Unfortunately it is not actually known whether or not Maeda ever altered or adjusted Satō’s key frame of this shot, but we do know that Satō was skilled and trusted enough as an animator to fill in for Maeda during his absence. Comparison #2 — The “Triangle Guy”? Throughout most of Dragon Ball Z animator Yukio Ebisawa was one of Masayuki Uchiyama’s main rivals when it came to giving us some bad looking animation. The main difference between the two animators is the more angular look of Ebisawa’s animation, so much so that it has led to his fan-title as the “Triangle Guy”. However, many of the episodes cited as examples of this “triangular” style were actually supervised by Masayuki Uchiyama and therefore this uncomplimentary title should be thought of as more of an encompassing style rather than something attributed to just one animator or studio. Nevertheless, both of the men’s animation often has little shading, which combined with their lack of detail, makes them very unappealing more often than not. Ebisawa was also one of the few animation supervisors that was also a key animator in every episode he supervised, so much of the downfalls in his episodes can be directly attributed to himself. Similar to Uchiyama, we see that Ebisawa’s animation team (Studio Live) was responsible for animating nearly every six episodes of the series, a much higher rate than many of his superior quality animation counterparts. Dragon Ball Z Episode 84 Dragon Ball Z Episode 88 Dragon Ball Z Episode 131 Dragon Ball Z Episode 132 You may notice that Ebisawa’s work differs in these examples from what is shown in Trunks’ model comparison image shown above, yet looks very similar to his work in both the Vegeta and Goku model comparison images. This difference is largely attributed to the specific key animators working with him. In some episodes you can actually notice the animation style changing throughout the episode. Part way through the Cell story arc, Hideki Inoue and Yūko Inoue joined Ebisawa’s animation staff, ultimately increasing his episode’s animation quality from there on out. Comparison #3 — The best of the best. While Dragon Ball Z episode 161 is one of Masayuki Uchiyama’s poorest looking episodes in the entire series, it certainly was not given much of chance. The preceding episode was supervised by Masahiro Shimanuki, whose animation gives us much more detail and depth, which in this situation really puts Uchiyama’s work to shame. Shimanuki’s animation is quite close to Toriyama’s in some respects and falls in line with other great animators, such as Tadayoshi Yamamuro, Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Masaki Satō, and Takeo Ide. There is not much more to say about them, except that they were all some of the best animators in the series. However, since they were the best and most likely more expensive to hire, fans would unfortunately get stuck with cheaper studios like Last House and Studio Live animating the majority of the series. Dragon Ball Z Episode 160 Dragon Ball Z Episode 161 Dragon Ball Z Episode 168 Dragon Ball Z Episode 169 Comparison #4 — This one’s different. In a completely opposite turn from the previous examples we have Keisuke Masunaga (right), whose animation took quite a deviation from Toriyama’s artistic style. While it was not the typical animation style seen throughout the series, it was well executed with a sharp, detailed look that was a major contrast to many of the other animators’ styles. Masunaga’s animation team (Studio Cockpit) made their debut near the end of the Cell Games and remained on staff throughout the remainder of the Dragon Ball Z TV series, with much of their work taking place during action-oriented episodes. While his studio’s animation did not exactly fall in line with the series’ overarching artistic style, its unique dramatic style did inject something different into the series and seemed to appropriately intensify the action found in this portion of the series. Dragon Ball Z Episode 183 Dragon Ball Z Episode 184 Dragon Ball Z Episode 278 Dragon Ball Z Episode 279 Comparison #5 — Doesn’t look quite, right. Noboru Koizumi (right) and his animation team, Doga Kobo, joined the animation staff for Dragon Ball GT and left quite an impression, and some would even say gave Masayuki Uchiyama a run for his money. Koizumi’s animation often contained significant detail, although the characters’ faces were often distorted with sharp, pointy eyes. Unfortunately, like Uchiyama, most of the episodes supervised by Koizumi were followed or preceded by animators like Tadayoshi Yamamuro who had become well established as a quality animator throughout the previous two series. However, in most cases it is simply the fact that most fans are very familiar with how certain characters should look, such as when two of the previous series’ main villains make an appearance in Dragon Ball GT. Dragon Ball GT Episode 42 Dragon Ball GT Episode 43 Dragon Ball Z Episode 90 Dragon Ball GT Episode 43 Comparison #6 — The same thing, twice. There are multiple ways in which the production staff decides to end an episode, including an artistically painted scene, a narrated overview of the heroes’ situation, or even a simple zoom-in on a character’s reaction to something. However, in some cases an episode simply ends right in the middle of the action. It is in these instances that the closing scene is sometimes re-used as the first scene of the following episode. However, this re-used scene is typically duplicated by that episode’s respective animation supervisor, giving their own take on that specific scene. Unfortunately, they sometimes do not turn out quite as good as you once remembered them. The following examples showcase animators Yukio Ebisawa and Masayuki Uchiyama falling victim to this nearly unavoidable trap. Dragon Ball Z Episode 120 Dragon Ball Z Episode 121 Dragon Ball Z Episode 232 Dragon Ball Z Episode 233 Other Styles While there are many other minor styles, most of which are slight variations on Toriyama’s style, these are the major ones that most fans point out due to the major contrasts between so many of them. For information concerning these and other animation supervisors, you can check out their more in-depth individual pages as linked above. The Main Culprit It is hard to actually pin these variations in animation quality on just one single aspect, but rather, more of a combination of aspects. The following list provides a brief examination of these main aspects: Budget Restrictions The most significant factor in the series’ variability in animation quality was the set budget. Animating a single episode was not cheap and often required advertising partnerships with leading businesses. Toei Animation would often hire less expensive animation studios in order to not go over budget. These less expensive studios could pump out episodes at a much faster rate, sometimes animating four out of every six episodes, with a more economical price tag. Numerous Animators Each episode was animated by numerous people, all of whom had their own unique artistic styles. It is the job of the animation supervisor to seamlessly meld these varying styles into something cohesive. However, no matter how talented the animation supervisor was, it was not always possible to create such completely uniform animation. Conversely, it was sometimes the animation supervisors that had dificulties removing their own personal styles from the animation, and would even go so far as to alter the key animator’s superior drawings to match their own. Animation Seniority In Japan it is common for animators to be promoted to more significant roles simply based on their seniority and not their actual skill. Some of the animation supervisors in Dragon Ball were only animation supervisors because they held seniority over younger, more talented, animators. That is not to say this applies to all of the animation supervisors — just some of them. It is because of this that some of the animation supervisor’s work varied so much, as it was rather dependent on the key animators working below them. When talented key animators would leave their team, the animation quality would drop, and vice versa when talented key animators were brought on staff. In the end, no matter how contrasting some episodes may be, most fans have just learned how to look past it in order to enjoy the series they love, which was ultimately produced on a weekly schedule and required these types of compromises. As much as we fans do not like to admit it, Dragon Ball was and always will be a cheaply produced animated adaptation. Unfortunately, in many cases the cheapness prevailed. However, the series was fortunate in that such cheapness did not always prevail, allowing some of the series’ (usually significant or most important story-related) episodes to receive gorgeously detailed animation from some of Japan’s most talented animators.