04 February 2013

Paperman

This blog is primarily for design and we are design students- having said that, I'd like to share more illustration and animation that I feel connect to design and have potential to influence design sensibilities as well as overall artistic skill.


"Paperman", an Academy Award nominated six-minute short by Disney that was released late last year, uses new technology developed by Disney to mesh 3d backgrounds and character models with 2d drawings on top for more emotion and a traditional hand-drawn look. The short utilizes a strong design style, using stark black and white with the exception of the female character's lipstick in red. The 3d models are impressively integrated into 2d animation, looking graceful and surprisingly polished for a brand new process.

Short of the Week has an article that links to the full short on Youtube, as well as to additional videos that describe the process and technology that went into making it.

As someone who grew up wanting to be a 2d animator and who has always strongly preferred hand-drawn work to any form of computer art, I find the development of this technology really exciting as a way to possibly revive 2d animation in a world that now relies on computers.

8 comments:

  1. The photo does not show up, but I believe I know the video you're referring to. I liked it too and you know you have something special when you can tell an entire story without a single word.

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  2. This technology sounds very interesting & I've never heard of it!!! Thanks for sharing & I look forward to checking out the videos behind it.

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  3. I watched this short and absolutely loved it! I thought the combination of the 2d hand drawn effects and the 3d backgrounds was really cool. Animation has really come a long way!

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  4. I have to say, I love the look of the animation in this short. Lately, many of the movies produced by Disney/Pixar have been over-animated and almost too life-like (in my opinion). The Disney cartoons we grew up on, I think, were more similar to Paperman in the sense that the figures were not borderline 3-Dimensional. The sketchy feel to these figures alludes to the originals: Pinocchio, Cinderella, etc. while still maintaining a modern sense of dimension for those who appreciate the direction that animation has been heading in these past few years.

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  5. When I saw the Paperman short story in theater I was really blown away (lol unintentionaly pun)while it was a good story I was facinated by the animation. Now that I know that it is a combination of 2d and 3d animation it makes alot more sense as to how they put it all together. Overall it is an amazing six minutes of animation, great post!

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  6. This was a great short, thanks for sharing! I am impressed with animation, it look simular to the movie The Incredibles, I wonder if they used a combination of 2d and 3d as well. I also loved the music, it went perfectly.

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  7. I was completely captivated by that short. Thanks so much for sharing. The combination of the 2 and 3D design is simply wonderful.

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  8. I absolutely loved this animation! I'm a big fan of these really creative shorts that people make. And the mix of 2D and 3D worked really well together. I honestly wouldn't have been able to tell which is was, if I didn't know before going into it.

    Thank you so much for sharing that!

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