Cute and Appealing: Introduction

Bouff!

What makes some cartoon characters more visually appealing than others?

Appeal is one of the "Twelve Basic Principles of Animation", famously outlined in the 1981 book, The Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. While other principles like Squash and Stretch are mechanical and easy to analyse, Appeal is much more mysterious, elusive, and multilayered. Appeal exists in a character's personality, how they move, how they look, and how the audience easily relates with them. How does one begin to approach and understand this seemingly unscientific principle?

Cuteness is an easy road to take on the quest for appeal. If a character design or subject is lacking in visual appeal, cuteness can save the day. It is extremely easy to understand, analyse, and apply to art in an effort to make it look more appealing. 

Through the next few postings, I would like to explore a few of my insights on cuteness; how to identify it, and how to use it to solve problems in drawing.

Mind you, cuteness is only one of thousands of weapons an artist can use. It won't solve as many drawing problems as composition, proportion or colour can, but I believe cuteness is one powerful force to be reckoned with. It's a cheap trick to win the hearts of the masses!

About the drawing: Two real life dogs, Chewbie and Sachi, drawn from memory. I haven't seen them in about two months. I wonder how they are!

Attack! Release!

Arty farty party!

Get out of Sammick's way, or be assaulted by electronic musical instruments.

There he is; happy-go-lucky, aggressive, loud, young, and gay as rainbows.

His favourite music includes: Hi-NRG, obscure '80's Italo disco, Kraftwerk, Moroder, synthpop, 8-bit video game music, some uncategorisable genres of weird music, techno, house, dubstep, contemporary classical.

Music and Colour

Some things I had always wanted to commit to paper is the visualisations I have when I listen to certain pieces of music. The concept of seeing sounds or hearing colour, known as "synesthesia", was experienced by the composer Olivier Messiaen as well as by the animator Oskar Fischinger, perhaps even by the famous animator Norman McLaren. People without synesthesia may just as well get the same effect by switching on those  "visualizers" that come with music playing programs. I hate those visualizers. But I still like the colours I see when I hear certain music, so why not commit them to paper?

Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite Movement 2 was predominantly deep vibrant blue, with slowly dripping vibrant pastels from a horizon. The blue sometimes changes to deep red. There are also a few instances of golden orange. I visualise these especially when the bassline descends during the "My Bonny Boy" section.

J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto 6 Movement 2 is a tricky one. I had explained to a friend that I visualise orange clouds slowly growing and moving, with a green sky. I think this is due to the repetitive melodies played throughout the movement. But illustrating it has been difficult. At least the sketch is up. I am not sure I have a coherent enough image, but the colours are there, and I would like to improve the scheme.

The colour schemes are definitely something that I could apply in an animation. The images themselves are not so special, especially now that we have those damn music program visualizers!

Review: Secret Millionaire's Club

As was the case in the last review, I had nothing to do with the production of this series.

I decided to give this show a review, as it is the sort of show there ought to be more of; Educational, informative, inspiring. Even though it is badly animated, there is so much that I enjoy about this series, and I hope more people get the chance to see at least a few of these online.

Secret Millionaires Club is a series created by Warren Buffett, a highly prominent businessman and philanthropist. His show is aimed at teaching kids about the basics of business and economics. The short clips you can find on the website, Secret Millionaires Club, are highly informative and easy to understand, especially for someone like me who does not dabble too much in business. Warren Buffett actually voices the animated version of himself, which really displays Warren's committment to educate children about how to spend, save, invest and borrow money.

What is really brilliant about the show is that his advice and tips for business are just as applicable to situations in real life, as Warren explains in easy-to-memorise slogans like "The more you learn, the more you'll earn". Even though the target audience is for kids, adults can learn from these small lessons as well. Many of the lessons encourage fairness and respect, something capitalism has been lacking as of late. Topics include the dangers of credit cards, borrowing and interest, listening to your customers, and one of my favourites, demand and cost:

There is a set format that repeats every episode, which makes viewing this series quite addictive, and the badly written theme song actually sticks in your head after viewing. It is put together quite well, and definitely a series worth recommending to anyone who wants a better understanding of business.

Still, I do have to slam it on the animation. And the jokes, though dorkably lame, are still better than some other crap I have seen elsewhere. But for the informative aspects of this series more than makes up for that. There ought to be more educational material such as this, perhaps even on other less understood topics like law and politics, etc. Great stuff. Watch it!

Straight-Acting: An Invisible Minority

Keeping a straight face

I decided to develop the Gay Teens idea a bit further, and gave the headphones character a name: Sammick. While Sammick (please see the previous post) is defiantly gay, his friend (whom I have illustrated as above) is unapologetically straight-acting. I really pushed for a more jockish look, even though I don't really like jocks that much. But he has a more romantic side to him, so he is workable. He and Sammick don't get along much but remain friends.

I dare use the term "straight-acting", because it really ignites the anger of some gays who believe the term means trying to hide one's gayness by putting on a straight act. In actuality, men who describe themselves as straight-acting simply behave the way they naturally behave, which means they may not have those qualities that tag them as gay.

It would be foolish to expect all gays to fit into the stereotypical mould that everyone expects them to fit in. Being gay does not always involve singing along with musicals and walking poodles down in the park. There are gays that play sports, love cars, are into gaming, and don't know how to dress or dance.

What is worse, many of these stereotypes are still played out in media, and it only alienates those gays who do not identify with these qualities.

So this character is sort of a big middle finger to anyone who thinks "straight-acting" is a lie. It exists and it is not something to be ashamed of.

Gay Teenager-Themed Comic or Animation?

Does my butt look big?

I had a think for a while about the possibility of making a comic or animation about gay teenagers. There are some good reasons for this, as well as a lot of problems.

For one thing, the gay teenager is an often ignored and small demographic in comics and animation. Gay teens are a group that need more positive and empowering images to identify with. Often they have no role models to look up to, or turn to for help. Having media that they can relate with can help them feel good about themselves and raise their self-esteem.

There has been quite a lot of music and TV shows recently that have helped young LGBT feel more proud of who they are, so why not have a comic or cartoon that has the same goal? I for one would love to see an animation that has main gay characters as opposed to gay sidekicks or running gags. While there are countless numbers of cartoons and comics geared towards teenagers, there are none that really stand out specifically for gay teens. I really think there is enough reason to create such a work, and would hope to see something like this come into reality.

Now with the problems.

1) The gay teen demographic is simply too small.

Yes, even the entire LGBT demographic is already quite small. But it is also very niche. There is at least some demand for more quality gay-themed art and media. I also believe that works aimed at one demographic can still have a much broader appeal to a wider audience if it is written very well. 

2) The very topic of the existence of gay teenagers is in itself quite taboo. 

Obviously some conservative groups abhorr the mention of their existence, and feel that they are just confused or brainwashed. But surprisingly, even gays have turned a blind eye to gay teens, as if the gay world is only open to those 18 and over. The fact is that gay teens do exist. As they say, "Get used to it!" Openly talking about it would help put the taboo to rest.

3) Sex is off limits.

As Canadian law strictly prohibits any mention or depiction of characters under the age of 18 engaging in sexual acts within works of art or literature, intimate details about the characters' love lives would not be allowed. It really puts a restriction on believability and realism, and it is very unusual for a gay work to not have sex mentioned in it. But in a way, this can actually be a very good thing. Instead of focusing too much on sex, more attention can be given to the relationships the characters have with each other, and their society. This results in somewhat puritanical subject matter, but I think it is still workable.

Making a gay teen-themed comic or animation can be risky, but it can be done. Thinking about making it mostly stems from when I was younger and wished there were more gay cartoons around.  If there is enough interest in such a project, I would happily make something very short and entertaining.

About the illustration: Why did I draw this? I needed a break from drawing girls and fat chickens! I went for the calligraphic line this time, but found that cel-shading was best suited for this inking method. Is this a hipster? I miss that London Shoreditch look, or perhaps New York; no one dresses like that in Vancouver.

Schoolgirl Action

Mystic schoolgirl in an action pose. I am focusing more on dynamic poses and movement, and this artwork was derived from a gestural exercise I was doing this morning.

This is the first time I have done "cel-shading" in years, and colouring the picture this way reminds me why I don't do it. It has the outdated look of '80's or '90's anime. Now I do acknowledge that the Catholic Mystic Schoolgirl idea does borrow very heavily from shojo manga, but I would like to try and distance the look from the typical Japanese style. There are so many interesting styles out there, and I want to create something as unique as what is out there.

I also tried a much thinner and more even line to differ from the more calligraphic lines I have tried with her previously. To be honest, I am more in favour of a more calligraphic line.

Despite all this, I do like the action. I was going for a Michelangelo's Last Judgment feel, how his figures seem to fly through air. I think the background is quite cool too.