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TRI 1-2000 word essay

Updated: Dec 3, 2022

Max Fleischer and his animation style

Most people have watched or seen clips to do with 1930s animation like Betty boop. Betty boop was a popular series in the 1930s with the main character Betty Boop who was always featured in all the 90 cartoons for 9 years. The series is a jazz era flapper who is appeared in the roll of Snow White, who’s evil stepmother orders her to be killed by the recurring Betty boop characters, Koko and Bimbo. Betty was first featured in the first series, Dizzy Dishes in 1930. Through the creator of Betty boop. Max Fleischer, told his artists he wanted a caricature of the singer Helen Kane. Unfortunately Clara Bow was the one often given credit for inspiration. Keane sued Fleischer for using her signature “Boop-a-Doop” line. It’s unfortunate that Betty boop was seen in animation as a “sexual” woman who regularly wore a short dress, high heels and a garter belt and was seen as an “object of affection” to many men. Her cartoons were often considered to be risqué and very heavy on the sexual innuendos. But towards the end, the animators toned down her appearance. She was reinvented as and husband less housewife, her backless dress was replaced with a much longer dress with sleeves and a collar, her garter belt was never seen again and from then, Betty was portrayed as a schoolteacher, secretary and babysitter and was not much a nightclub singer.

The creator of Betty boop was an American animator, Max Fleischer who was head and founder of Fleischer studios along with his brother, Dave Fleischer. They brought other characters along with Betty, such as Popeye, Koko the clown and Superman. Fleischer’s Koko the clown who was merely the guinea pig who was meant to demonstrate an invention called the rotoscope, Which enabled an artist to trace the movements of an actual person frame by frame. The results were “incredibly lifelike” animation because it was akin from real life. The Fleischer studios were the first to use sound before any other company in the animation business. Fleischer also used the rotoscope which he invented which was a method to get smoother animation. When people think of animated cartoons, Walt Disney is the first to come in mind for most people. But there was a time where Max Fleischer was just as or even more famous than Walt Disney. Max Fleischer has been called “the unsung hero of animation” for his artistic and technical innovations with cinema. It was actually shown that the character Betty boop was an anthropomorphic canine character who sang, danced and wagged her dog ears. A year later, she became a fully human female animated character, with her big ears transitioning as big hoop earrings. Unlike the other female characters during her time such as Minnie Mouse and Olive Oyl, Betty was not a supporting role, she was a strong female character in her own right. The cartoon of Betty boop illustrates some human features which are sometimes labelled as “neotenus” such as the large head, short arms and legs, relative to total height and “clumsy child-like features”

Fleischer has the same animation style that he has used in all his animations. This style is known as The Rubber hose style which is has inspired my art work and style, rubber hose animation was first ever animation to be standardised in the American field. The defining feature is the curving motion most things possess, resembling that of a rubber hose. While the style fell out of fashion in the 1930s, there has been a revitalisation of it in the recent years. With works such as the famous video game, Cuphead, Bendy and the ink machine and in the movie of Steven Universe. Felix the cat was the first ever character-driven series of animated cartoons, began as Feline Follies in 1919 becoming very popular in the 1920s. The Felix cartoons faltered financially in the 1930s because of poor economic times but also because of legal ownership rights. But Felix the cat did come back in fashion and is featured on a variety of merchandise from clothes to toys. Other recent cartoon shows that show the use of this style is Mickey Mouse and even today, still has that rubber hose effect with the use of Toon Boom and Flash Animation. Even in the show Pingu, has techniques incorporated in its animation such as having characters have all their upper body stretch to reach up or roll into a ball. Sonic the Hedgehog also had rubber limbs, especially in the games in the 90s. An example of his rubber hose limbs is evident in his trademark pose with one hand on his hip, a waving finger and crossed legs seen on the art box of the original game and uses some exaggerated running poses. Because rubber hose has made a leap from newspaper to comic strips. They share a visual identity. Think heavy of use of black inks on white backgrounds and exaggerated facial expressions. As the comics with the animation that defining characteristic was added, flailing rubber hose limbs without joints. Other features of characters included in ink blot cartoons include white gloves, purely so animations could decipher characters hand movements in front of their black bodies. Most of these character had black noses and and pie eyes with one part sliced out. The arms and legs are the most important in rubber hose as they accentuate character movement and emotion. Wether its in a human or animal.

The characters would bounce around mostly in time to a Jazz soundtrack. This genre of music was extremely popular in the 1930s and originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th century. Since the Jazz age, it has been recognised as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. It’s characterised by swing and blue notes. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. One of the most influential in this genre was Louis Armstrong with his career spanning 5 decades and several eras in the history of Jazz.

Now going back to the way rubber animation is shown is each deliberate movement is expressed in the squash and stretch principle. Oswald the rabbit trying to stay on a horse is a good example with the various “bow-legged bandy” movements. The rubber hose style brought out but necessity allowed more creativity. Animations took full advantage of the “freedom is allowed” and animated with the mindset of that in a cartoon, anything is possible. Another aspect of rubber hose animation is its reference to dark subject matter so many memorable cartoons at that time were characterised by how they portrayed mortality. Even some studios like Disney had no problem getting involved with cartoons that showcased hell, giving “surreal, creepy borderline terrifying” imagery after all, the rubber hose animation is roosted in the great depression and looking at the setting and the backgrounds makes this very apparent and without any censorship, animators were able to spill out on a page exactly how they felt. I like the fact that rubber hose animation has come back in fashion because when it comes to character art, I like seeing the exaggeration and different facial expressions on a character. Many artists that I follow have a similar art style to mine from the use of colour to the link of rubber hose style.

Many of those artists are inspired by Studio MDHR’s Cuphead. The game Cuphead plays beautiful homage to the cartoons from the 1920’s to 1940’s in such a “convincing” and “painstakingly sincere” style that almost convinces people that it was something taken straight out from that era. From the colour to the dust and scratches on the screen. The reason why it looks so authentic is because all of the designers used traditional animation techniques to achieve the style. The characters were all drawn on traditional work stations and Avon separate pieces of paper using the early animation technique. However, the way Studio MDHR transferred their drawings onto screen was different. They would scan all of the drawings one by one and cleaned them up then coloured them digitally. The clearest influence for Cuphead has always been Max Fleischer’s artworks and animations which means the characters are always going to be moving in some way. Even when still.

Cartoons from the 1930s to 1940s reflected their conflict between humans and the natural world. Perhaps as a reaction to World War II. However, superheroes like Superman, fought natural elements and won. This is suggesting that the World War has just as much of an impact on cartoons as Hollywood films such as Film Noir and Screwball comedies. The Superman series also by Max Fleischer, from this period, seems to reflect the impact most visibly. In this series, everyone seems to place Superman as superior to the elements of the natural world. In the opening to most cartoon shows from then to now, Superman masters lightning and other elements. In one of the episodes, Superman stops a volcanic eruption to save Lois Lane and the rest of the town members. “Superman always comes out victorious, an argument in favour of our allies own victory over the Germans.” Norman Klein says. From 1942 to the end of the war, half the cartoons produced were war related and that some studios for a time the proportions ran as high as 70%. The war provided the industrial background modernist in which technology and humans “triumph over nature”.

Cartoons from the 1930’s were ushered in by major political and economic crisis that were the remains of the World War I. However, there has been many cartoons that have been called out and even cancelled for racism. Even though they were made decades ago, people are still finding them today and calling them out for it. Some of these cartoons brainwashed children from a young age and taught them how to basically not accept other races and to not get along. These were mainly cartoons from the Golden age. Some of these racist cartoons included hate towards Japanese and Germans because of the war. But most of the cartoons were hate directed at black people. These characters in the show looked like blackface minstrels for a reason. Minstrel shows fundamentally shaped the history and language of animation. The live minstrel shows started in the early 19th century in America, where white people would blackface by using makeup and pretended to be caricatures of black slaves. These shows lasted till the late 20th century believe it or not. It’s shocking to me that it lasted that long. Many of the “minstrel” characters had black bodies and faces with big white lips and eyes. Now that times have changed, many cartoons include characters from all races to show kids that everyone should be treated equal and with respect no matter where they come from or what their background is.

Overall, I am still inspired by Max Fleischer and the rubber hose art style. I have been inspired since college and even made an animation in the rubber hose art style for one of my projects. This style has been an inspiration for many other artists and films and I also like the fact that this style is slowly coming back into fashion along with 2D animation since the release of the game Cuphead.

References:

https://youtu.be/O8p3MmCrNQk

https://youtu.be/MBo3ghPMJmE

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TRI 1- Quentin Blake (1000 word essay)

Quentin Blake is an English cartoonist, illustrator, children writer and caricaturist. He has illustrated over 300 books and that includes the ones by the well known author Rohl Dahl. Blakes first drawings were published when he was 16 when he was still in school. He continued to draw for punch and other magazines for many years. Blake is very popular with children for his books. He has delighted them for several decades and continues to experiment and innovate across a wide range of texts and ideas. His books have won him many prizes and awards. There was a book recently published about him last month. The book reveals the stories behind Blakes most famous creations while providing his readers with an intimate insight into unceasing creativity of Blake.

How does Quentin Blake draw?

Most of the time Quentin does rough sketches and he practices drawing people by observing them from the way they stand to the expressions on their faces. But to continue the sequence he uses the light box technique. Blake also mentions that doing the light box technique is not tracing its “seeing what you’ve got to draw”. He starts from a rough drawing that he works from and on top of that, a sheet of watercolour paper and a bottle of waterproof black ink with dip pens. He will start from the most difficult part in his case, the facial expressions. He said he starts with that so if he gets it wrong he wont have to repeat the drawing. He describes his art as a freewheeling sort of drawing that was meant to look like it was done ‘in the spur of the moment’. His drawings in the book re all done in black and white and only the illustrations of the covers of are done in colour. One drawing that caught my eye in one of Quentin Blakes interviews were the mothers swimming with their Newborn babies. Blake drew this for a maternity hospital in France. I really like the fact that its relatable to the mothers with newborn babies as most of them feel joyful and at peace after giving birth. To me the drawing seems really calming. I think its also because of the colours he used in those drawings.

Where does he get inspiration to draw his characters?

Blakes illustrations exaggerate the physical characteristics describes in the books meaning the characters are presented as bigger, smaller or worse than they are often to humorous or dramatic effect. For example in Rohl Dahl’s Matilda, Miss Trunchbull when standing next to Amanda, she only comes up to Miss Trunchbull’s knees. Maybe Quentin did this to show how powerful and superior she was compared to the rest of the characters. Matilda is drawn as a tiny adorable girl because she is the main character and seen most in the book. So the readers will grow to love her. Quentin says you need to physically be the character to draw it. In an interview he was asked the question “Do you like all the characters he creates or are some more interesting than another” He replies with “ I think some are more interesting than the other but wether your characters are nice/ interesting or not, you have to be able to imagine you are them.” Blake says he doesn’t illustrate children because he loves them but when making a children’s book, you have to identify with them so you have to become the child in that moment. I agree with him on this. You need to be really imaginative to illustrate in children book as that is what they find the most interesting in a book and in that moment you have to think “how would a child imagine this character” and progress from there.

What inspired Quentin’s Latest book?

What inspired Quentin’s latest book was when he was walking he saw a tiny weed growing from he crack of the pavement and everyday he would walk past it to see it get bigger and then flowers started to grow from it he added this to his new book and called it The Weed which is set in the future where the world is a hard, dry and more difficult to live in as we go on and then cracks open in the ground. I really like how Quentin thought about this book and related it to real life problems. Children will be mostly interested in this book so I think its goof that Quentin made his for children to understand the problems that are going on in the world. The weed is about a family who find themselves at the bottom of a giant crack in the earth. With the help of their pet bird, Octavia and a magical seed, the family go on a journey to the surface.This story is all about discovery, the potential for growth, the power of an idea and the importance of having faith.

Conclusion

Overall I find Quentin Blake’s character drawing really interesting. Even though some people might say his work is really scruffy I consider them to be really good quick sketches and to me it shows they way a child would draw. I also like the way he uses the light box technique and its really good for animation. I also like the way he draws with the black ink. It really has an affect on his drawings