Is this too much like animation? And not suitable for kids books?

Jason Bowen

horse riding Ogre.jpg

Hey so I feel this is my way of creating images at the moment but after the podcast about animation style I am a little confused. So my question is, is my style ok for picture books?

Thanks for any thoughts.

NessIllustration

@Jason-Bowen An animation style is usually very clean, polished, commercial looking. This is very shaded and textured, it's very far from an animation style.

MichaelaH

I think the same like Jason...it is very far from animation style.

Jason Bowen

@NessIllustration OK cool thanks

Jason Bowen

@MichaelaH great thanks

ArtofAleksey

Animation usually uses solid lines with little to no line variations (otherwise It would be a nightmare to animate) with limited colors

sigross

@Aleksey Have you seen Loving Vincent? A nightmare to animate that they turned into a dream!

ArtofAleksey

@sigross oh yeah. There’s plenty of acceptions. Like the classic Miyazaki films which were hecka gorgeous, but that’s more expensive for studios to create.

mellebluesworld

@NessIllustration said in Is this too much like animation? And not suitable for kids books?:

@Jason-Bowen An animation style is usually very clean, polished, commercial looking. This is very shaded and textured, it's very far from an animation style.

So would you say my illustrations could be counted as animation like?

MichaelaH

@mellebluesworld I would say yes, your penquins on instagram are very animated like. But I am not a pro. Last year I was at the Frankfurt Book fair, and almost all feedback was: to animtion style, to defined and clean...So I am trying to change my style since than. Bu who knows some publisher or other companies like this anmiations style. The important thing is, what You like doing.

mellebluesworld

@MichaelaH said in Is this too much like animation? And not suitable for kids books?:

@mellebluesworld I would say yes, your penquins on instagram are very animated like. But I am not a pro. Last year I was at the Frankfurt Book fair, and almost all feedback was: to animtion style, to defined and clean...So I am trying to change my style since than.

Oh my... I am going to the Frankfurt Bookfair this year and was planning to show my portfolio... hearing your words makes me realize that I need to work on a completely new portfolio now . Thank you for your comment, you saved me from making the same experiences that you made . Do you still have an illustration from that time on your Instagram account? Wouldn't count any of them as "looking to animated like or polished" - btw.: love your illus . So many cute animals and children .

MichaelaH

@mellebluesworld For me it was almost every work to Oktober 2018 (the book cover Eleonora, after that I am working on new styles), exept the bear family and the foxes, all liked the foxes, because they were not so animated and clean in style.

NessIllustration

@mellebluesworld The 3 examples you showed are not animation-like at all. They look like a painterly style, like digital painting with soft shading and textures. An animation style is flat.

Here are some animation styles with line:
https://assets.rocketstock.com/uploads/2016/02/2D-Animations-Lucky-Charms-1000x576.jpg
https://www.gamedesigning.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2d-animation.jpg

Here are some animation styles without line:
http://www.thewoork.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/fandanz_video_promo_animation.gif
http://www.madboxxmediastudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2d-animation.jpg

My own style is a little bit animation like - it's quite clean and commercial, it has a bit more texture and shading than pure animation style but it's still pretty flat and polished. I have been told by some agents that my style doesn't quite fit with a picture book look. I've been advised my work may work better for educational markets or board books. While that's good advice to keep in mind, I also did manage to sign 2 picture books since being given this advice, so it really depends on what the art director is looking for.

My sttyle:

I think everyone is just freaking out about this animation style thing since the podcast. Calm down everyone!

sigross

@Aleksey they did have 125 artists working on Loving Vincent and took 6 years to make it. Made up a total of 65,000 paintings.

ArtofAleksey

@sigross yeah it was amazing. There are definitely acceptions to what’s commonly referred to as an animation style.

mellebluesworld

@NessIllustration you are right, I was kind of unsure about this topic because of the podcast and the example Lee White gave didn't clear all my doubts. So thanks again for showing and explaining how animation style looks like.

sigross

@Jason-Bowen If you look into the new AI Samsung Centre is working on. In the not so distant future, you may only need to draw one frame and animate a whole sequence. They made a cool animation with the Mona Lisa painting. It's mostly just animated faces but shouldn't be too long, and your green goblin rider could be galloping along with her hair flowing in the wind!

TECHCRUNCH ARTICLE: Mona Lisa Frown

The whole AI animation thing is both scary and exciting at the same time.