Week 9: Wide World of Comics

To me, one of the most interesting aspects of animation, comics, and graphic novels is the different styles they can take on.  Today in class, we saw a clip from a film I watched last year, called The Triplets of Belleville by Sylvain Chomet.  Chomet is known for his exaggerated characters that really push how far they can go, but also has a wonderful sense of storytelling.  The characters are each unique and have their own distinct personalities and character designs.  All of it works together to make a complete message for the audience.  For example, The Triplets of Belleville is dialogue-free.  Which is amazing, considering it's a full-length feature film.  In America, it is rarer to see those types of films.  The only other film that rivals that status is Wall-E, but that also still restrains to the cute, classic appealing characters.  Chomet's style has a sense of charm, though it is also at times slightly disturbing, it is something that really pushes the animation industry.  I mean, just look at how far he can push something like the Simpsons:

In Europe, since differently accepted styles and genres are more readily accepted, you have a little more leway to create interesting designs such as this.  In Europe, the Triplets of Belleville did very well and was critically acclaimed, yet in America not too many people have ever even heard of it.  Yet it is because artists like Chomet have the freedom to create these unique design that the medium continues to grow and evolve, and we see more of a variety of work and styles.

Additionally this week, I also read some Moebius.  As he is a well-known name in the illustrator industry, I thought his ink work to be particularly interesting.  While he's a master at composition, I found his use of color to also be quite interesting as well.  Though most of his work is shaded solely through the ink, he isn't afraid to use bold colors such as pruple or blue to give an added sense of depth and mood in his work.  At times though, I did feel the wealth of detail to be overwhelming and at times hard to focus your eye.