Friday, June 13, 2008
Madame Tutli-Putli
Stop motion animation combined with live-action eyes:
"The special visual effects were produced in collaboration with acclaimed portrait artist Jason Walker. The puppet eye effects demonstrate a first in the field of animation: a seamless, unnerving integration of human and puppet performance. This innovative process, created by Walker for the film, required meticulous precision and involved the placement of real human eyes onto individual puppets. For each scene, the puppet's animation was analyzed and corresponding human facial expressions were filmed in order to match the puppet's motion. The eye performances required long rehearsal time, great patience and precise notes. Once the live-action eyes were filmed, Walker then individually positioned, digitally scaled, painted and re-timed the footage for nuance and believability of gesture. The extraordinary result of this process is a new kind of puppet: one with the soul and memories of a living being."
The effect is pretty remarkable. I wonder if this technique could be used in cgi animation to overcome the "uncanny valley" effect in movies like Polar Express and Beowulf.
Link: Official Madame Tutli-Putli page.
"The special visual effects were produced in collaboration with acclaimed portrait artist Jason Walker. The puppet eye effects demonstrate a first in the field of animation: a seamless, unnerving integration of human and puppet performance. This innovative process, created by Walker for the film, required meticulous precision and involved the placement of real human eyes onto individual puppets. For each scene, the puppet's animation was analyzed and corresponding human facial expressions were filmed in order to match the puppet's motion. The eye performances required long rehearsal time, great patience and precise notes. Once the live-action eyes were filmed, Walker then individually positioned, digitally scaled, painted and re-timed the footage for nuance and believability of gesture. The extraordinary result of this process is a new kind of puppet: one with the soul and memories of a living being."
The effect is pretty remarkable. I wonder if this technique could be used in cgi animation to overcome the "uncanny valley" effect in movies like Polar Express and Beowulf.
Link: Official Madame Tutli-Putli page.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Divito
Cartoonist Will Finn provides a thoughtful analysis of Argentinian cartooning legend Guilermo Divito. While I agree with Will that Divito's early "Chicas" are pretty wonky, with oddly broad shoulders and eyes that sometimes point in different directions, they improved greatly over time, eventually becoming some of the most distinctively sexy cartoon women ever drawn.
Cartoon Retro features hundreds of high-quality scans spanning Divito's entire career. A Divito relative also hosts an excellent blog with much unique artwork.
Cartoon Retro features hundreds of high-quality scans spanning Divito's entire career. A Divito relative also hosts an excellent blog with much unique artwork.
This week on Cartoon Retro
Al Parker, Coby Whitmore, Earl Oliver Hurst, Divito, Roy Nelson, Jon Whitcomb, Bob Tupper, and much more!
CARTOONRETRO
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