Like Eddie says, this is a cultural crisis! The Japanese are beating the crap out of us at our own game!
http://uncleeddiestheorycorner.blogspot.com/2006/10/thoughts-about-anime.html
Look what a wonderful variety of color styles the Japanese cartoonists come up with just as a matter of course!
Color seems to be the thing that anime does best.
It's a tad bit on the cold side for me, but then the Japanese are a cold race.
We westerners on the other hand are naturally emotional and warm and inventive, yet our stupid-ass corporate franchise controlled society is stopping us from what we could easily do-beat the crap out of cold cultures that are still imitating what we did from the 1930s to the 1950s!
This stuff makes me crazy!
So much fun and eye candy. Every mood imaginable.
If you are a painter and are stuck for color ideas, just steal a pile of these!
After copying these color schemes, you might be able to see the general concepts behind them and start to create your own schemes.
But there is no excuse for bad color in America anymore. The internet is a vast library of ideas.
All I did was type "anime" then "FlCl" in "the Google" and a wealth of genius color ideas came up.
You can do it too! Look up anime, fashion magazines, nature photography-anything but modern American cartoons to break your habit of only using 3 approved cartoon color schemes.With all the easily accessible inspiration available today, why the Hell is there still shit like this?
Thank God our pals the Japs are keeping visual pleasure alive. Let's pay attention!AAAAAAARGH!!!!!
This last one isn't too impressive color wise but it just goes to show you how Japanese artists know what the public wants and are not stingy at giving it to us whereas stupid evil conservative modern Americans refuse to give humans natural things that humans like.http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=search&sval=RD01&article_no=2738
123 comments:
>Look what a wonderful variety of color styles the Japanese cartoonists come up with just as a matter of course!
Anime is a super respected mainstream artform in Japan. They let their cartoonists get away wiht anything!
>This last one isn't too impressive color wise but it just goes to show you how Japanese artists know what the public wants and are not stingy at giving it to us whereas stupid conservative modern Americans refuse to give humans natural things that humans like.
I love how Anime has tons of fan service, black sterotypes and risque jokes, they are truly stuck in the past. They started oof imitating 1930's Disney and Flesicher, added some 1960's Jungle Book style disney, and refined it until it became a homogenized Anime and Manga style around the 70's. Every single anime or manga is a variation on that style, except on rare occasions Akira Toriyama and a few others. Lookat their giant eye shapes and the pointed chins. Astro Boy and Gigantor were inlfuenced by Flesicher, as well.
John, did you know Art Lozzi posted on Kevin Langley's site?
http://klangley.blogspot.com/2006/05/robert-gentle-and-art-lozzi.html
He even left his email address.
For great WARM and wacky colours and charactrs, try Akira Toriyama, of Dragonball fame. The earlier the better! He uses red tones very effectively and he does great dinosaurs!
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=akira%20toriyama&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
It's the zionist media! It is they who force upon us brain-dead cartoons!
Well, you know, you don't HAVE to turn on your TV set.
I'm just about the most dedicated fan of Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki in America, so I clearly agree with you that we should look to the East for inspiration. However, I don't these particular examples you've shown are the best ones available. Much like in America, the current state of animation in Japan is far stogier, far more conservative, and far more cliched than the glory days of the 1960s and 1970s.
There are far better examples of anime we could turn to. One that I'm shocked you haven't shown is Mind Game, the 2004 film by Masaaki Yuasa. It's about as forward-thinking and adventurous as animation gets, and certainly carves out its place on the frontiers of modern anime. It's still very unknown in the West, which is absolutely absurd. If anyone should jump on Mind Game, it's John K.
Of course, I'd also recommend the Toei Doga films of the '60s, which is where that whole gang of Takahata and Miyazaki sprang from - as well as friends and pioneers like Otsuka and Kotabe and Okuyama and Mori. Three films I strongly suggest every one see are Animal Treasure Island (1971); Puss in Boots (1969); and Horus, Prince of the Sun (1968), the movie that pretty much gave birth to modern anime.
Those films show a better sense of movement, of composition, of tone and color than practically anything today. I've been preaching on my soapbox at my Ghibli blog about these movies long enough. Goodness knows, you should all be getting the hint.
There are other excellent examples of Japanese animation to watch, like Omohide Poro Poro and Gauche the Cellist and Jarinko Chie. Yadda yadda yadda.
Needless to say, there's more to learn from Japan than spikey-haired teens, naked chicks, and giant robots. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Great! I'm glad you used some examples from Cowboy Bebop and FLCL. Two of my favorites.
Another anime that had great colour was Paranoia Agent.
Nice post Mr. K,
I like both anime and classic american cartoons but it's nice to see you point out the effective use in color in japanese toons (i know you otherwise hate the stuff). One thing that always got me though is how much richer colors seemed to look before digital coloring got big, particularly in anime. They seem to have more glow and radiance, while digital coloring seems a tad duller and somewhat more artificial, any comments?
fan service is great! the "fan service" concept, which is to flash some kind of risque action, cleavage shot, upskirt shot, etc., would NEVER fly here. not to mention Cartoonists are treated like Gods in Japan. as they should be!
happy Halloween John
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a170/bizzlebear/ART/3dPumpkin.gif
Thank you for showing a very even contrast in your criticism. It makes the theory easier to interpret when you give the mutliple examples pointing out the bad and then counteracting it with the good.
-Marc.
i've been following your blog for a while now, but this is my first time actually responding to a post. for a long time, i've been trying to achieve what you where talking about, but having you break it down with the examples puts it all into perspective. i really apreciate what you taking the time to talk about this stuff. all the things they never bothered to teach while i was in school.
it really made me happy when you posted the FLCL stuff. the gorillaz stuff too.
feel free to check out my stuff and tear it apart:
http://johnnybuddahfist.deviantart.com
i look forward to your next post.
hi john, i've been reading your blog for a few weeks now and i just want to tell you that each day i like it more. you can't find this color lessons you're giving us nowhere else, and i'm sure most illustrators/animators/guys-working-on-anything-related-with-graphics really appreciate it. i do. keep the good work
diego from argentina
"It's the zionist media! It is they who force upon us brain-dead cartoons!
Well, you know, you don't HAVE to turn on your TV set."
You see, this is what aggrivates me about conservative types; they lack taste, so therefore don't mind if mainstream U.S. pop culture is currently shitty, or they deny it.
That's why, for example, you never hear any of them give a damn about indie music. In the music industry, the major labels will often pay the radio stations to play their songs. While they're not necessarily trying to leave small labels out, they could really care less about them being promoted. But according to the "conservatives", big record companies are considered "good for capitalism". They'll argue that either A) it's not payola, it's "today's targeted audience demographic of consumers with whom the music is popular with,", and that they "don't purchase indie music because it's not as profitable" (in english- they can make shitty music and play it repetitively because people's standards are so low these days, and their attention spans so short, that they'll enjoy it like the morons they are, making it "hip" and "trendy"!) or B) payola "isn't that bad of a thing when you think about it, because other businesses pay companies to sell their products".
Argument A could be applied to the modern animation industry as well, since payola may be involved here, too: "classic animation isn't as profitable as the modern type, because it's not as popular with today's targeted audience demographic of consumers" (translation- they can make shitty cartoons and get them on TV because people's standards are so low these days, and their attention spans so short, that they'll enjoy it like the morons they are, making it "hip" and "trendy"!)
Here's the two source articles:
http://www.slate.com/id/2123483/
http://normgregory.com/category/radio/
(bottom of page)
This may be a redundnat or ignorant quetion but I am a wana be animator and I am wondering if anyone can tell me why great godly animators and artist like John K, Don Bluth,Ralph Baski, etc arent being paid to do these movies and cartoon shows anymore?What has happened in the last decade that made it easy for lesser to no talented people to aquir the righ to make crap and have it published?And then be given praise!!
Again, you hit the nail right on the head. Keep it up.
I think a lot of elements in anime surpass a lot of todays American cartoons.Such as Color,story,composition.(I think anime character designs are still behind, all the charcaters in a series all look the same with different costumes and hair color)All they lack is the ability to animate!Shows like One Peice make me sick!It looks as though it was shot on like 8's or 12's!I know that it is partly because they have to do an eisode like everyweek or whatever and they have hundreds of episodes to do.But that aint no excuse to do half ass work.Unless its gonna come to america and make million$ on kids WB or Toonami!!LOL
> still imitating what we did from the 1930s to the 1950s!
I didn't know all the 30s and 50s cartoons were done in canada! :p
you sound like you have an immaginary line separating you and the japanese, but where is that line? and is it more valid than all the other lines? when you say "we", does that mean the canadians? or the americans? or both? are the mexicans included? what about the rest of the american continent? europe? All the lines that separate you from the americans, europeans, mexicans and japanese are all imaginary, painted by a bunch of guys with guns 200 years ago.
Why not just accept them as your brothers, and celebrate that some of our brothers can handle colors?
Hey John,
It's slightly off-topic, but since you mention anime, what are your thoughts on anime layouts? I watched Inuyasha for a few minutes recently cuz it was on, and noticed that the layouts were rarely as bad as the movie posters you've been showing recently; I've also been impressed with the layouts in Samurai Champloo, which you've referenced in this post...do you have any plans to address these in the future? Maybe I'm just easily impressed, I dunno.
sorry, that wasn't Champloo, that was Cowboy Bebop.
FLCL rekindled my love for anime when I thought all hope was lost.(all I had been seeing was crappy Dragonball Z and Pokemon garbage.)Aside from the wildly experimental animation, FLCL has some of the best backgrounds seen in anime. I've always been mystified by the lack of life put into backgrounds in most anime but these guys actually cared about that stuff.
>It's the zionist media! It is they who force upon us brain-dead cartoons!
Well, you know, you don't HAVE to turn on your TV set.<
But wouldn't it be nice to turn on your TV only to find a cartoon actually worth watching. I think that is more the point John is trying to get across. The old "if you don't like it don't watch it" mentality is bullshit. There should be better cartoons being made, period.
I have to admit I was taken back a little at first seeing all of the anime images on your blog. Good point though about Japan. They're also becoming better at baseball than us. Cartoons, baseball, what's next? Hockey. I don't see that happening.
There are a lot of things that drive me $%*#@!?# crazy about anime conventions, but they were never easier to overlook than when I was watching FLCL for the first time. What a weird, imaginative, wonderfuly screwed-up cartoon.
Hello
I'm a little known artist who has been trying to teach himself to draw, (not having money for school sucks). However thank you for posting this blog. I've been learning so much about color from your examples that my art is now starting to change to reflect what I've been seeing. Please post more, this stuff has been awsome.
As for the anon, he doesn't have to turn on his TV. However potential artists who are out there will see this crap and continue to pursue it as "good art". A voice of change has to start somewhere.
Been really loving your colour theory posts, John. I was watching The Simpsons today and all of a sudden it hit me how horrible all those pinks and purples and yellows all mashed together really are. Bit of a shock, really, considering how long I've been watching the show.
Also, if you can, listen to Daniel up there and track down Mind Game by Masaaki Yuasa. The animation style is purposefully very rough and wildly experimental, but I haven't seen a feature length animated film that imaginative and fun in years.
Double YES! Two extra outstanding posts. This is what I was trying to talk about in my comment in the previous entry.
I'm surrounded by this stuff every single day, and it's marvelous. I don't care much for the stories... they're usually submental, like American comic books that are supposedly for "mature adults," but are still the same old "beat 'em with your fists until they submit" power trip fantasies. Fun for a while, but ultimately empty.
On the other hand, the color designs are amazing. And there are even more sophisticated examples, like this guy, Toshiyuki Tanaka. He has amazing rendering skills.
Here's a link to an image of his:
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f331/hyde01/canabis_p33.jpg
Range Murata, Masamue Shirow and for pure appeal, Rumiko Takahashi, all do some amazing work.
From living here, I've come to think design itself is a particular Japanese virtue. There's something of a perfectionist attitude here, and the idea that spaces and elements to everyday life should be well-designed. There is definitely a lot more care put into doing a job well than in the West.
At the very least, people care about doing their jobs properly, whether it's stamping your passport or producing designs for animation.
Which is funny because that also means going to the bank or dealing with the municipal authorities can be a Kafkaesque experience...
The stupid link didn't come through!
The Link
In your last post I was thinking about manga/anime stuff (don't know why), but I thought it would kind of piss you off and be offtopic.
So, it's very nice to seeing you posting about it the next day o_o!
I have a venezuelan friend who does japanese stuff (with a little european touch), sometimes i don't know how he manage to do the color thing. REIQ:
http://www.reiq.ws
http://reiq.deviantart.com/gallery/
What you think? (If you got the time and it is worth it)
He does the 'different tints' that you talk about!, all the time.
(sometimes I don't even care what is drawed, the color thing stands out so much for me)
I'm telling everybody to come check your latest posts!!! \m/
Ze
You had me right up until you said "race" instead of, oh, I dunno... culture? nation? people?
Leave the Eugenics out of color theory, please.
I think I suffer from colour-overexcitement… sometimes when I go in art shops it makes me so excited I need to poo.
Similarly the colours in some of these images are really exciting… I’m really beginning to see where you’re coming from. I see these combinations and my brain immediately starts working on how I could steal them and modify them and convert them via my favoured painting techniques.
I love the girl with the peachy hair.
It’s easy (for me) to get lost in a world of old master painters and Rembrandt browns and Turner greys, but to not exploit the riches of the pop culture available to us through the internet right now would be criminal! Wanting to start connecting all the threads…
Even if you don't like a lot of the product, it seems somehow there's a lot more logic and integrity to the Japanese animation industry, in relation to serving the public and respecting an artist's right to perfect their art... however I'm ignorant about all this stuff really, and continue to appreciate these chunks of visual education.
FLCL has to be one of the most attractive Animes I've ever watched. I wish there was more than 6 episodes of it.
It's also really well written, it's just great in general.
I can't really say the same for Slayers, not my cup of tea really.
I would have never thought anime would have good color.
Man, I used to like anime, the more sci-fi genre... but it just seems soooo commercialised now. And all the American cartoons spawn off of anime and create their own dreadful style- digimon type animations (there's over a dozen different rip offs now). I like anime color style though- it's not too vibrant and flashy like modern Disney anime, and it's not too harsh on the eyes. Some of the cartoons out there you need to wear 3D glasses to be able to watch em'
Great stuff John! Keep it up man!
Oh yeah, Happy Halloween- the easter bunny died for our sins so that we could have the choice to eat chocolate eggs over reals ones! Bada bing!
Wow, as a lover of anime I must say I'm quite happy to read this post.
It's interesting that you mention that if you can't think of a style of your own, you should copy some of the better anime out there, but sadly enough it seems that a lot of modern cartoons try and 'steal' from anime..or at least what they think anime is all about. Which to them mainly means stuff like the sweatdrop joke, switching the aspect ration to widescreen during action shots. There's a few decent attempts at imitation anime but most of the time they try to copy it by halving the animation budget and taking out all the stuff that made it cool in the first place. The thing with anime is that it's often based on an existing manga, one that has its own style as manga often isn't as restrictive on what an artist can do. American animation often isn't based on something that already has style. Worse is when they sort of copy anime and try to merge it with a 'style' of their own, which can result in something evil like Winx Club. One that's somewhat tolerable is totally spies I guess, though that one suffers from the color scheme horror you mentioned before.
Yesterday I was watching a direct to video special of a series called Rurouni Kenshin and I tried looking at the skies in the background with what you mentioned before in the back of my mind and noticed they used at least 6 different colored skies during a few scenes, all with considerable detail. All the colors were used to convey the mood of scenes and I thought the entire thing looked fantastic.
I've been watching cartoons since I was small of course, but I've loved anime since I was 8 (I'm 27 so I've got quite a history in it). Like I said before, I try not to approach the subject like some crazed fan. I know it has many faults, but when I watch some anime it just gets to me so much I can't help but love it.
Even something commercial and overdone like Dragonball Z has some merits. The tv-series is extremely bad, but the original manga is quite interesting. And even if you hate Akira Toriyama, his style is very defined and not standard anime, it's easy to identify something he was involved with. Even in Japan he's quite recognized as a more conventional artists even.
This post is getting quite long, but I can talk about this subject quite extensively.*L*
this is wonderful too: http://sabrina.jp/
I've updated my blog, if you are interested in my topic.
Wow, John K praising anime. Now I've seen everything.
A lot of the examples you showed aren't even the best you could find (a lot of them are fan wallpapers, for examples, but how are you expected to know that?) but FLCL is defiantly one of the best, as is Cowboy Bebop. Also try out Mind Game and Samurai Champloo, please! These are all animation's from Japan that don't fall under copy-cat junk that they make so much of.
I've always wondered what your take on Anime is.
I think there is a lot to learn from anime. Especially now that many local USA and Canadian animation production houses are trying to imitate Anime.
"Teen Titans" ring a bell? But American producers don't get it - they only think of the money - not the art. And that is where the problem lies. Teen Titans on Cartoon Network is a great example of what Anime' enthusiasts like to call "Fake Anime". It's trying to carbon copy anime because apparently that is what is most popular with the audiences now. But Teen Titans is just what it is - a pale attempt at a anime copy and something produced just because they want to jump on that bandwagon.
Anime has much different levels of content because the Japanese have different cultural values than Americans ... er Westerners. They aren't so stodgy about content because the Japanese realized that animation wasn't "Just for Kids". It was a medium and an art form that developed for the spirit of art. Not for simply money and ratings. There are different levels of viewers in Japan - they have kid stuff, like Poke'mon and Hello Kitty. Then teen rated stuff, and adult - like Hentia. American mindset holds only 1 audience for cartoons in mind - little kids. And the cultural values are different on what is deemed "appropriate". Thank the moral majority police - the FCC for restricting a lot of what goes into local animation.
Remember 1 thing - it is American (and Canadian) studios who ship their basic animation production over to Asia. And it was American and Canadian animation studios who taught them how to do it. By shipping out the basic "lower end" jobs and outsourcing the work, you created the demise of local based talent, and production. Now what was considered cheap animation labor - surpasses most of what America and Canada spews out today. Most of all the cartoons today are produced and outscourced thru S.Korea, China and India and Japan. Their is no one to blame for the demise of local talent in animation industry except for yourselves. Don't blame it on how expensive local talent is - what are we aspiring cartoonists/animators supposed to do? Start working for less than minimum wage and live more like those countries? That's really the only way we could compete. Remember how you Mr. K stated once about how good the production work for some Ren & Stimpy cartoons made over in Korea was? Thank you for putting the nails in the lid of the coffin of the animation industry. You taught them how to do it, by being as cheap as can be when it came to production. Now they rule the animation industry.
Now it is we who should learn from them. Okay - some of their overall animation technique can be limited and 2-framed. But from a real artistic standpoint, there is tons to be learned from Anime. Love it or hate it - its the mainstream, in-demand form of animation today.
anime is cool! I can tell much work goes into it.
I saw this and just thought it was a stunning use of color. http://www.deviantart.com/print/399896/
anime is such a generic style. but i do agree they have good taste in color.
P.S i updated my blog on this site and added some pictures
i could care less for anime style characters, but i do catch myself oogling over sweet colors sometimes...
john, you're absolutely right! American cartoons need more T and A!!
Anime has subconsiously influenced hair fashion in the 2000s- people will say your crazy if you say something like that. My godamn roomate at college said he was trying to style himself off of Dragonball Z DBZ Dee-bee-zee. Anime is also the incentive for alot of people getting nose jobs, and the pursuit of physical perfection nowadays. Anime we could do without really, and I prefered it when it was sci-fi underground back in the 90s- it isn't funny no matter how big the eyes become, the noses shrink, etc-there is nothing humorous about anime. Too much anime will f uck you up anyways
John, what is the name of the episode where Ren and STimpy travel around selling meat on a stick?
setsumei@tiscali.co.uk
Hey, John . . . have you actually watched any of the shows you posted stills from? In particular FLCL and Maho Tsukai Tai (Magic User's Club)? I'd be interested to get your takes on them, although I wouldn't want to cause you undue suffering. I found the animation work on these to be several notches above what we usually get from, well, I was going to say Japan, but actually, just about everywhere. MTT is pretty cutesy, so handle with care. FLCL is crazy enough for anybody, although it doesn't make a lick of sense. Unlike most anime, it has a well-done English dub as well.
Some of the others are more "difficult" to sit through. ("You're Under Arrest" -- shudder!!)
Come to think of it, John, you might really dig Dead Leaves (from the creator of FLCL) -- I mean, really dig it! Doesn't fit in well with a discussion of color theory, though.
"Mind Game." Get a copy. Now. That goes for all the rest of ya too. Region 2 DVDs can be had from www.cdjapan.co.jp . Most DVD players (especially the cheapies) can be convinced to play Region 2 if you know which code to enter on the remote.
These posts about color are fantastic! I'm grateful to Heidi MacDonald for directing me this way on her blog. Thanks for sharing , John K!
>Also, if you can, listen to Daniel up there and track down Mind Game by Masaaki Yuasa.<
I'll throw in another reccomendation for that one as well. Mindgame is like the ultimate in Japanese psychedelic 'indie' style animation. They're sort of related to the FLCL people as well through a circle of really creative Japanese artists and animators. Gainax, Studio 4C and Production IG.
John, what do you think of FLCL besides the color? I was wondering if it's an acceptance to your dislike of anime.
That last image was a sinful one and god shall punish you for your endorsement of it Jonathan
Nice post as always :) I do love those colors too :)
Tibby, you brought up Teen Titans and then saddled American animation with being "just for kids". But Teen Titans is part of a mass of DC animated shows that have strong appeal for older fans as well. Teen Titans was probably the most kiddie DCAU show since BTAS started (the Zeta Project and Static Shock may have been more kiddie, but they were out of the mainstream DC universe), but even it deals with darker issues of betrayal that one would traditionally associate with something "for kids", and doesn't assume the audience can't pay attention to continuing story arc elements.
JLU is an even darker, more adult entry. Look at the second half of the boxset that came out last week; it's a grim storyline where the heroes can be wrong and terrible things can happen (altho things are put right in the end; it's not based on Alan Moore superheroes, after all). It's not Akira, but it is definitely something that can be enjoyed by adults.
The trend in the DCAU isn't promising; we've recently gone from Justice League, ultimately treated like shit by Cartoon Network burying its final season with a lack of announcements and a freakish burning off of episodes, to Teen Titans, which can appeal to adults, to Krypto, which other than some fleeting amusement at things like Ace the Bathound showing up and the Joker's hyenas being villains cannot be classed as for anyone but kids, to the new Legion of Superheroes, which can be enjoyed by adults more than Krypto but doesn't seem to be rising to the level of broader appeal that Teen Titans had.
But this is a thin slice of time here. For more than 10 years the DCAU offered strong appeal to older fans. Hopefully they can dig themselves out of this current hole soon.
>>fan service is great! the "fan service" concept, which is to flash some kind of risque action, cleavage shot, upskirt shot, etc., would NEVER fly here. not to mention Cartoonists are treated like Gods in Japan. as they should be!
Fan service can also be having a really easilly complicated robot that only appeals to fans or having crossovers with other anime or doing anything just for the fans. I think all cartoons should be all fan service!
>Even something commercial and overdone like Dragonball Z has some merits. The tv-series is extremely bad, but the original manga is quite interesting. And even if you hate Akira Toriyama, his style is very defined and not standard anime, it's easy to identify something he was involved with. Even in Japan he's quite recognized as a more conventional artists even.
A lot of pointless filler doesn't make that big of a gap between manga and anime. Some episodes had great animation. Besides, Akira Toryama is the greatest manga artist in the world and his style evolved immensely. HE started off cartoony and wacky, like in Dr. Slump, and it became angular and grim, like in later Dragonball Z. I love it becasue it's entertaining and it's superheroes meets mythology.
Okay This time I go it ! So once gain,Monkey Punch's artwork and brillant use of color. His biggest influence was MAD magazine.
http://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/typerlpn3/sub5_3.htm
http://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/typerlpn3/sub5_4.htm
Hey John,
Is there a place to buy your latest Weird Al/Tenacious D. videos, as opposed to just watching them on YouTube for free?
Why do you say "whereas stupid evil conservative modern Americans refuse to give humans natural things that humans like". Most Hollywood executives are super liberals. Why do you think pornography is so mainstream nowadays?
John, on the Japanese anime topic, you gotta check out DEAD LEAVES!!! It uses a comic book style color scheme( using solid black for shadows). But the animation is wild!!The animators went nuts on this one.
>>Why do you say "whereas stupid evil conservative modern Americans refuse to give humans natural things that humans like".<<
Everyone is conservative today no matter what their political label.
Hey Jeff
click the link on my blog at the right to Weird Al's new video and order it online!
I'd also like to know how you like flcl, john! :D
hey john...could you do this for your humble little students on color?
take a screenshot from shrek...and color it RIGHT.
i know it'll still be ugly characters, we'll ignore that and forgive you this once.
=D
I noticed a few of those images look to be done by individual artists and not put out by the production company. Maybe you should link to the artists' pages that came up on the image search.
Also
" You had me right up until you said "race" instead of, oh, I dunno... culture? nation? people?
Leave the Eugenics out of color theory, please."
Quoted for truth. I'm not sure if you were trying to be funny or sarcastic but it sounded pretty close-minded. I respect your work a lot but “but then the Japanese are a cold race.” Could have been worded much better.
Hey John (and everyone!)
My friend just showed me this cool website where you can search through old posters from the 30s and 40s by the WPA
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaposters/wpahome.html
or here
Some amazing posters!! For example search by Keyword and type in "skull" or whatever keyword, and you get links to beautiful beautiful old painted posters. Talk about amazing color and design... I'd be really interested which ones stand out to you.
Jordan
Mr. K,
I love the color design lessons but while doing that please don't forget on how you were going to explain how the stylized toons of 50s and 60s had form but modern ones don't, I've been studying amid ami's blog to tie in with his "CARTOON MODERN" book and trying to see the concepts you outlined in the work of oreb, kimball and benedict there. Anyway's please contine!
A few of us have mentioned Yuasa's Mind Game earlier. Thankfully, someone has uploaded the entire movie at YouTube. Subtitles are included, so it'll be easier to follow. Be sure to watch it sometime and see what it does for you.
There's another animation film from Japan that's very similar, visually, to Mind Game in a lot of ways. It was called Belladonna, or Belladonna of Sadness. It's a 1973 film which is essentially a psychedelic sexploitation film - kind of like Barbarella on a rediculous amount of LSD, and somehow tied into Joan of Arc, feminism, the power (and threat) of female sexuality, and the French Revolution.
The subject matter may not work for everyone, but it was a complete break from pretty much anything else in Japan. Its use of artwork, color, and animation are nothing short of astonishing.
There are trailers for Belladonna on youtube, and you can find a fansub copy on the internet with a simple Google search. If nothing else, it's something the artists and animators here should take a look at. It'd be interesting to hear what they thought.
John, I'm curious as to what you'd think of the standard 2-3 color silkscreened poster. I do a bit of it, and would like to better apply the color theories you have been talking about recently to it, but the medium that I'm using feels a bit limiting.
For an example of what I mean, I'll point out tstout.com. Some of the color schemes I think are absolutely garish, but some seem to work well for me with the very limited palette. What would your advice be to get around those limitations and make the colors work well together and stand out?
John, really great to see you give anime the credit it deserves colour-wise!
I see a shocking amount of anti-anime sentiment amongst supposed animation fans, i think mostly it's just congative dissonance. Japan ACTUALLY HAS a thriving animation industry which upsets a lot of struggling western animators i think. :)
If anyone has REALLY watched a reasonable cross section of anime then they should be able to appreciate the generally high level of direction, colour styling, composition and yes, despite the cheapness of many shows, ANIMATION! even if the content isn't their cup of tea.
Great to see posts like this opening people's eyes to the quality that Japanese animators are allowed to consistantly put into even their totally mainstream work without having to struggle.
Let me add yet another recommendation for EVERYONE to watch Mind Game!!!
Also the same guy's new series 'Kemonozume' which is similarly mindbogglingly good and innovative.
You can order in Mind Game dvd with subtitles, or download Mind Game and Kemonozume fansubs via bittorrent... is it ok to mention animesuki.com? because if so that's where you'll find them! :)
Anime is a super respected mainstream artform in Japan. Have to disagree; it's actually a super disrespected mainstream artform! :)
Manga (aka comics, tho please tell me i don't have to explain that distinction to a bunch of animation fans in the year 2006... RIGHT!?!?!) is truely respected and mainstream tho.
Anime is still by and large intended for kids and otaku even in japan... however clearly most people over there watch some stuff that is animated, even tho they wouldn't really claim to be into anime.
Hi John,
Yeah a lot of anime sells - modern american cartoons just "target market".
You probably have these already, but check out the fleischer cartoons of superman for colors. I absolutely love the color schemes and layouts.
You can download a bunch here ( apparently they're public domain now )
http://www.toonamiarsenal.com/features/superman/
Japanese make better quality animations than Americans- the artwork, color schemes, character designs, all superior, but, the one thing they can't do is make a humorous 'cartoon.' American cartoons are alot more childish and silly, therefore you can't possibly take anything like that serious. Ren & Stimpy was brilliantly rubbish and irelevant- the only reaction it could generate was for the viewer to laugh AT it. Nearly all anime I've seen haven't carried one joke-
Akira
DBZ (Dee Bee Zee)
Guyver
Sailor Moon
Pokemon
Urotsukidoji
Devilman
Doraemon (i can laugh AT this but I need to watch it to te point of madness)
Vampire Hunter D
Ghost in The Shell
hell, even Spirited Away and other Ghibili anime- sweet, but by no means lol *make a list of all the anime you can think of- the characters are seemingly perfect (massive eyes, michael jackson noses, thin, ultra spikey hair), they're all total serious, and not at all silly looking... if you met these characters in real life, you would just stare at them with no reaction
It's not only the great drawing lessons on this blog but the honest social commentary that keeps me coming back. You just don't hear this kind of honesty and insight anywhere today, certainly not in my socially and politically repressed town: Brisbane, Australia. Probably because you're over 40 and you've seen a bit of history, living somewhere with free speech, and have a half-decent brain and bit of guts. Keep up this inspiring rant. Simon. Brisbane. Australia.
Wow, yeah I can't believe I've been missing all these GREAT color Theory Posts!!! I've been all busy moving my crap out to Cali. Great and VERY informative stuff!!!
Here bellow is a friend of mine I worked with back in Florida. He is still learning as a painter, but I think he is becoming very good with his colors!
http://goombaman.cgsociety.org/gallery/
-Bob
John K talks up anime. Has the world gone mad?
I personally love about 20 percent of the genre and the rest of the cutesy, trendy crap is all the same to me. If you like anime color, I suggest you check out Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust if you haven't already. It's amazing.
And by the way, the Japanese are a race. What's the big deal? Do you get offended if you're filling out a form and they ask you what race you are? And if you don't like the fact that a lot of Westerners view the Japanese as cold, go over there and tell them to stop including brutal rape in half their cartoons. Stop looking for racism where there isn't any.
While I don't like/ don't appreciate anime, I can respect their color theory and all of those examples speak volumes.
I think you'd quite enjoy FLCL if you watched it. It's a whole lotta stuff that would make censors frown, with a lot of funny references to American products and stuff.
To ThE BuTcHeR,
Vampire Hunter D is awesome, artwork wise, but it's not funny. Because of that, I'd only watch it perhaps 3 or 5 times at the most. I'm more likely to watch something if it cracks me up. There are, alot of programmes out there labelled as comedy, and don't carry one funny. There are horror movies that are actually genuinely funny- take Jason X for example, it 'parodies it's own genre!'
Ren & Stimpy reminds me of 50s cartoons, color scheme, the clutural aspects of it (you have the guy with slippers on who's only represented by his legs n slippers), but with a very 90s out look.
Cartoons look better with a more subtle color scheme, and not one that makes you feel like your being bombarded with ultra violent colors. Also, you can have a cartoon/series that is really just a cash cow, uses all the gimics to hook kids in, and is really naff. The Turtles was somewhat watchable compared to alot of the crap of today, but I only really took to it because everyone else liked it at school, and it was labelled as the next big time. Same with WWF- ridiculous thing to sell to kids, but because it was packaged as the craze, I bought it.
That's pretty much Japanese cartoons in a nutshell--all eyecandy and no substance.
Wow John, I used to hate anime until you showed me the path. I amazed on your theorys on everything in animation and illustration. I remember hearing from the past how people would laugh at how you take cartoons extremely seriously. But I can totaly see on your point of view how it's not just a hobbie, but a way of life.
You truely have a grand passon on what you do and I like people like that.
Thank you John for what you've contributed to us with your work, theories and ideas past, present and future. And I promise in my behalf, In part of my carear, I'm going to bring back quality and value back into the artform of animation.
_Eric ;)
Yes, the colors are awesome, however the drawings themselves irritate the hell out of me. I'm with Eddie on his post...too much big eyes, shine marks, spiky hair and stupid stories.
>>Japanese make better quality animations than Americans- (etc.)<<
. . . and blue eyed kids are better than brown-eyed ones. What the Sam Hill are you talking about, oh fellow anonymous one?
>>Nearly all anime I've seen haven't carried one joke-<<
Not exactly a comprehensive list of Anime there, but if you missed the jokes in Sailor Moon (which is a comedy/satire with a Princess-Bride-type sensibility) then you either weren't paying attention, or you were watching a VERY bad English "adaptation." I'm not recommending it to the readers of this blog, necessarily, just sayin'.
So didja enjoy Urotsukidoji? Thought it was animated well, didja? (For the uninitiated, Urotsukidoji is the series of low-budget animated videos from the 80s that introduced the world to the concept of tentacle sex. Its redeeming qualities are negligible.)
People say anime is a very generic style, but anime is not a style, anime its an animated version of a japanese comic book,anime can be very risque but theres usually very few original stuff, when something is succesful in japan they copy it until it stops being so succesful, just take a look at robot series, they been doing them for decades, and when evangelion came and added a better plot to the formula everyone started copying it, making references to religion and stuff. That also translates in visual style. If theres something generic thats the way of doing animation,what you see on japanse animation its an animated version of a comic wich is mostly not done by the artist that made the comic book, theres exceptions like hayao miyazaki,who besides drawing the comic book and thinking of the plot has control over the animation process, but mostly the original artist has nothing to do with the animation process,so if you to see even better color schemes and stuff take a look at the artist work, not to animation screen shots,take a look at manga for some really cool style and check out artbooks if you want color, because manga is black and white. So even do the minions at animation studios in japan are really good,thats not the artists work, check out the differences between color and style from the dragon ball animation to an akira toriyama illustration, definetely less generic. (early dragon ball or dr. slump preferably)
Also i dont think is fair to put american versus japanese animation, because theyre really different, american animation does many things much better than japanese and vice versa. American humor is mostly visual and cartoony or at least used to be, and japanese humor is mostly in the dialogue, and japanese animation has always been limited so you dont get really great acting, but that doesnt mean anime isnt funny or it cant be.Japanese animation was probably inspired by disney but the style is really original and inspired it takes a lot from early japanese flat drawing style so its also unfair to call it a rip off from america, i think its just deviation from the norm. The thruth is that today western animation riping off anime directly in every sense, and in a really lame way, just check out that ninja school crap on jetix, its a direct rip off from a show called nintama rantarou or something like that. I think both western and eastern animation are having a really unimaginative period right now. Theyre both doing corporate crap. With a few exceptions of course.