There’s a new creation (animation) in town: Funny Horsie. I’ve discovered it on Youtube thanks to a friend, but don’t ask me who is making it, why, when or how. The only thing I know is that it is funny, funny horsie. Link to the video here. Enjoy!
Category Archives: Animation
Disney buys Star Wars – My opinion
The Walt Disney Company and George Lucas have recently got to a deal in which the latter sells all his creations managed by LucasArts. And here’s my opinion on it.
First of all, I see a very favorable deal for The Walt Disney Company; I think that they also bought Pixar to Steve Jobs for approximately two times the price Disney has paid to Lucas. And it is obvious that the Star Wars franchise looks like a much more profitable business overall. Disney is going to be able to exploit Star Wars on their theme parks, and on their merchandise store channels. And they are going to be able to make more Star Wars movies (this is what I’m most afraid of).
And second, although it is a very favorable deal for Disney, it is the same for Lucas; half the price will be paid in stocks, so he will be one of the biggers Disney stock holders today. He will still have small control over his work and if everything goes well, he should see profits coming.
To sum up: Well done, Lucas; well done, Disney!
Animated Series: From the internet to the TV
There are now a few animated series which were born on the internet as pilot episodes or short films. I can name at least three of them, sort in chronological order: Happy Tree Friends, Annoying Orange and now Adventure Time. The first and last ones are pure 2D animation, and the middle one is some sort of image composition.
There is one point in common on the three series: they became an internet success first. Happy Tree Friends obtained an instant success and was made quickly by an industry veteran, although the drawing style is very refined. Annoying Orange went viral within a year or so (starting on Youtube), and Adventure Time was a pilot episode aired on the net to gather interest or investors and finally went viral, then the creators were able to pitch it to Cartoon Network (which finally put the money to make the series). It’s funny, now that adventure time is so popular I remind having watched the short film not so many years ago when they were trying to make something out of it.
The moral of the story is that nowadays the trend to start on the net for a TV series is growing stronger and there’s room for more. There is another series which was born on the net as e-cards: Pucca (from South Korea). This one is a bit older, though.
Simon’s Cat
This is a short article to let you know that there’s a new cat in town (well, actually, it’s two or three years old), it’s called Simon’s Cat and since it appeared on Youtube it has been rocking the internet.
It’s beauty lies in it’s wonderful 2D animation, it is really good. Sometimes it miaows a littlebit but there’s almost no sound aside from a couple fx. This is good news because you will understand the plot of every chapter whether you speak English or not. It’s Youtube channel is… here. Enjoy!
Splash Kitty Artist
Splash Kitty Artist is my kind of artist. She is from the US (I guess) and she says she’s only 13 years old (will it be true?). But she’s managed to get a solid Youtube channel with many, many, many views.
And what does she do? Animations. Funny animations featuring kittens and foxes. They usually dance songs from other artists and currently people like her so much that they are starting to make fanarts of her creations and other stuff!!
Although her animations could be considered, let’s say, a littlebit rough, they are very funny and made with so much love, so much that she’s got many views. Link to her Youtube channel here. Enjoy!
Internet broke art barriers to entry
The internet is a cool place. Everybody knows it. And there are many reasons why it is so cool. One of them is that it has definitely changed the way artistic content is known by the general public and it has turned upside down the previous model.
In the old days, if you were a musician, you had one way: first, create art. Second, show it to music labels A&Rs. Third, pray for A&Rs to choose your work. Fourth, in case you are choosen, pray for the public to like it.
This way has improved with the internet and it is more or less the opposite: First, you create content. Second, show it to the world. Third, if the public likes it or you manage to get many views, music labels will call you. Fourth, you choose to stay on your own or to join a music label. It’s that simple!
The art barriers to entry have been broken. You don’t need to make an A&R like you, you must make the public like you. And this is so good because new artistic content is rising, but beware! Now that you can create content and show it to the world, you may think there’s room for everyone in art, and there isn’t. As in the previous model, only the best succeed, but now A&Rs have much less power, or no power at all, in the content pipeline. There are other things that affect this pipeline, and I will tell you in separate articles.
L’Odysée de Cartier
It’s time to talk today about this short film made by Cartier brand: L’Odysée de Cartier. This is not a fashion site but it’s an animation one!
The fact is that this short film, released a couple months ago, featuring a fantastic journey of the World known brand icon, has rocked Youtube with more than 10 million views in the first month of being aired. I must admit many of the views might have been pushed by true advertising but anyway, 10 million visits are many visits, aren’t they? The film is full of beautiful scenes made with 3D animation; I suppose the budget of the film hasn’t been low, and I’ve also heard that they have been working on it for three years!
Nowadays internet is not a place for luxury, everybody’s talking and giving his/her opinion on it, but this is truly the best approach a luxury brand could have made to generate buzz and value on the net. Congratulations! And I almost forgot! In case you want to watch the video, link to the Youtube page here.
Hatsune Miku, rewriting the rules of marketing
I’m living out of this World. There is something I’ve discovered yesterday, and now everything makes sense. It’s the PC software called Miku Miku Dance (MMD).
With it, you can make 3D Hatsune Miku custom videos and put some music behind so she can dance, walk, talk, or whatever you want her to do. It’s not very difficult to use and you can import movements and stuff from the net in case you get stuck with it. Then you can export AVI files and make videos with your favorite video editor, like Windows Movie Maker (comes for free by default on any Windows platform). Here’s the link to the official page (English).
With this tool, Hatsune Miku creators and marketeers have assured that they will have a big amount of fans creating stuff and uploading it to Youtube, for instance. What’s the final effect? Hatsune Miku everywhere, and the rules of marketing changed.
Hatsune Miku has perfectly understood the upcoming changes in content distribution, thanks to the internet, and has used it on her advantage. Instead of prohibiting fans to create fan arts (like the old school), she is currently encouraging fans to make videos of herself! As long as they are not commercial and offensive to the brand, YOU ARE ALLOWED TO UPLOAD ANYTHING YOU LIKE HATSUNE MIKU RELATED. This is a main change from the old school, where it was forbidden to use the character without permission. The result, as I have said above, is that Hatsune Miku is everywhere, and the fan effect is multiplying. Not only they allow you to do so, THEY ARE CREATING TOOLS FOR YOU TO DO IT, like MMD.
My computer is a bit old, and doesn’t work very well with 3D technologies, but yes! I’ve made my first Miku Miku Dance video with a song of my own: MMD – Hatsune Miku – The Whistle Song (link to Youtube video). What do you think of it?
Angry Birds to the TV
Bye bye Youtube! Seems that the creators of the popular videogame called Angry Birds are no longer uploading animated shorts to their Youtube account… Because they are doing it for the TV! They are making 53 3′ chapters and they will be aired on TV channels, instead of Youtube, with a regular schedule.
I’ve heard that there’s a movie coming soon, but who knows, perhaps that’s some sort of untrusted rumour. Anyway, this is great news for the fans!
Today, Art is the message
Long post ahead about art! I’ve realised that today, art is almost the message, the true art or what it was called before, has disappeared, vanished, faded away, gone with the wind.
If we take into account what art meant in centuries like 17th or 16th, where many of the greatest works of art were made, like the ones created by Michelangelo, we’ll see that the main purpose of art was to be alike reality, with a littlebit of style. That’s why Velázquez was a good painter, or Rembrandt. But since the photography appeared, the meaning of art has dramatically changed in most disciplines. And today we can state that along with the ‘quality’ of the art, there are other things that make it great like the message, or the ability of the creator to make us think his/her creations are valuable. Please forgive me if you are reading this from an Eastern country… I’m not specialised in Eastern art… but you can post a comment or email me if you want to add anything 
If we take a look at the most successful artists right now, we must say that they send a strong message. Let’s talk about Lady Gaga, for instance. Aside from a bunch of dance songs, we must say that she’s capitalised the costume art, and she’s always breaking the news with a meditated eccentricity. If we take a look at some of the most successful deviantART accounts, we’ll find that although great artists like Kerem Beyit have many views on their profiles, there are other making weird stuff that have far more views than Kerem. If you listen to the radio, or take a look at the latest Youtube music video, you’ll find out that the quality of the song itself is totally insignificant. The important part of the whole thing is the message the artist is sending to the audience. In the painting field it is the same today, painter and sculptor Damien Hirst is blowing us away with sculptures in which the artistic technique is irrelevant. And what do you think of Marilyn Manson?
So, what happened to the art technique and the quality of the art itself? Gone with the wind, as I said before (LOL). That was a joke. Although it is important, today it is secondary. You can find few good artists in this field, but a true artist today has a strong message to share with the World. There is another point, and it is the ability of the artist to make us think his/her art is valuable, as I also said before. Some make a strategy to make their art become viral, sometimes the way they obtain this is the artistic point.
So what’s the future and how can I improve my art? Perhaps what I’m going to say is not politically correct, but instead of going to art school you should better think of something to come up with, something that is interesting, new, and in most cases, eccentric. Your make-up, your hair style, the theme of a work of art, the lyrics of a song. And oh, I forgot! Maybe by reading this blog you can improve! Welcome to the XXI century!!