In the last 6 months John's done a lot of animation experiments, and they've really paid off. You should see what the man is capable of now! I credit him with coming up with a new animation technique...for lack of a better term, I call it addictive animation. That's animation that you want to see over and over again, and when it stops...well, you get mad at the animator for not giving you more.
That's what I felt when saw the latest Bigloaf scenes. I felt that I had a right to the remainder of the scenes, which weren't even animated yet, and that the artist was maliciously withholding them. I found myself saying, "Is that it??? You mean, that's all there is???? For God's sake,why did you invite me here if you weren't going to show me the whole thing???" I wanted to shake the computer in case more scenes were hiding in there. Geez. I probably had madness in my eyes. The animation was that good.
This revises my thoughts about the purpose of animation. Sure it has to be entertaining, and plausible and appealing and all that......but surely it should also be addictive. It should reduce the audience to nervous wrecks who unwillingly go home and yell at their children and kick their dog just to release the nervous energy. After the scenes are shown there should be a groundswell of increasingly urgent audience foot stomping and a hue and cry of "More! More! MORE!" John's the only currently practicing animator I know whose work has the potential to provoke emotions like that.
I probably shouldn't write about John's work this way. I mean, nobody can live up to that kind of hype, and I'm sure this will embarrass him. But I have to do it...just because it's the truth.
BTW: I'm sick as a dog right now and haven't been able to obtain stills from the film. I'm illustrating this with old John legal pad drawings gleaned from his blog.
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/
9 comments:
There's no doubt that John K. is a huge animation genius and this is exactly why. He never repeats himself and like some of the best jazz musicians in history, he's open to new ideas and incorporates them on top of well established animation tools and principles to create some innovative animation. It's a shame that he can't post as often as he used to, since I asked him about his lack of posts lately on his blog.
I definitely agree that animation needs to be more addictive. Looney Tunes, depending on the director, had the same qualities you brought up in the post.
Is it similar in style to his Simpsons opening? I watched and rewatched that for days; I almost feel there was a bit too much going on, so that it REQUIRED multiple viewings!
OMC: I'm glad you mentioned that. That's one of the experiments I talked about. That wasn't telling a story so John used a looser style of animation. Now he's telling a story and he combines the best elements of that looser style with funny poses that are meant to read easily. The combination works great.
Hi Eddie! Curious if you were still interested in a "Worked w/ Ralph" Interview still? Here's one of the latest ones we did: FYRB's Tom Minton Interview!
We'd really love for you to be a part of this! You can reach me at jeauxj(at)gmail(dot)com, and I'll send you the details and Q's.
Great post on John! You are correct, the new stuff is very addictive! Though nowhere near as good as his, here's a few fun flash experiments I've been doin'.
New Jack Titties
Take care, and looking forward to hearing back from you!
I must be addictedd. I watch his short Adult Swim bumpers over and over again, wishing for more.
I'll never live up to that description!
It's just cartoony, that's all.
Jeaux: Yikes! I forgot to get back to you about that. I'll take a look at the Tom interview.
John: Haw!
Everything needs to be more cartoony! John, open up your school already so that we can begin to study under you!
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