The blog itself, Animation Obsessive, is also all high quality if this kind of thing interests you
The Artist Who Colored Ghibli
11–16 of 16 posts
Re: The Artist Who Colored Ghibli
#12It’s horrible to think that this kind of creative handiwork could be replaced entirely by automatic processes within my lifetime. It’s reminiscent of how blacksmithing and weaving have almost entirely been replaced by machine process, except that those industries were mostly drudgery, at best. Maybe to the artisan coloring animated films, their work becomes drudgery too. But even if it is objectively more efficient to mechanize, something of the humanity of the craft has left even those simple things, that touched daily life of people in their local community, and has now been replaced by efficient, cost-optimized plain commodity. Probably looking back at such things romantically now would have seemed very silly at the time — it’s just a tool, a garment, or an implement — but hindsight makes it seem so much more alive than the dead plastic and stamped sheet metal things of today, and even now people will still sometimes pay a premium for handmade simple objects.
I hope at least that even if many creative artisan industries are devoured by the efficiency demon, many people will still have a fondness for true artwork and handicraft, and be willing to pay those talented souls the true value of their offerings.
Still, when a huge factory can make millions of garments far more cheaply than an army of weavers and sewers can be paid to, it’s hardly a surprise if the craftwork shop closes its doors. Food for thought.
Re: The Artist Who Colored Ghibli
#13I watched Kiki's Delivery Service recently with my sisters and niece. I'm always amazed by the artistic vision when I watch a new (to me) Ghibli film. As a grown man, you'd be hard-pressed to get me to watch a cartoon about a young witch if it were made by any other studio. But Ghibli has the magic that makes it delightful for everyone. The comparison in the article between Kiki drawn with "standard" colors and the f…
> As a grown man, you'd be hard-pressed to get me to watch a cartoon about a young witch if it were made by any other studio. But Ghibli has the magic that makes it delightful for everyone.
That is very true for any Ghibli film which I think is a product of taking the child characters seriously and not like they have to be silly, things around them are silly, but they are serious.
Re: The Artist Who Colored Ghibli
#14I really enjoyed watching this Ghibli background artist pain and explain his process in real time. There's a lot of artistry that go into these films:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hup0lsrY07I
I've also been watching the 1979 anime adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. Hayao Miyazaki worked on it (7 years before founding Ghibli), and although the TV animation is more limited than a film's, I think it looks awesome. It's pretty funny too. Miyazaki's reasons for quitting halfway through production are really interesting to read in the Wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Green_Gables_(1979_TV_...
I looked into it because I've always wanted to read Anne of Green Gables, and I had heard that PEI is a big tourist destination for older Japanese women who grew up watching the series. It's one of the few I don't mind dubbed, since it's an adaptation of an English-language work and the acting fits really well. It's probably not supposed to be on Youtube, but the entire series is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2CmEYEeDSU&list=PLV4Ztn9euy...
Re: The Artist Who Colored Ghibli
#15I really enjoyed watching this Ghibli background artist pain and explain his process in real time. There's a lot of artistry that go into these films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hup0lsrY07I I've also been watching the 1979 anime adaptation of Anne of Green Gables . Hayao Miyazaki worked on it (7 years before founding Ghibli), and although the TV animation is more limited than a film's, I think it looks awesome.…
Reading the Wikipedia article it sounds like Miyazaki left due to disagreement on animation style and how female protagonists should be presented. Disagreement was with Isao Takahata, who would go on to found Ghibli and Miyazaki has been quoted as saying is the only director Miyazaki respects.
Re: The Artist Who Colored Ghibli
#16I really enjoyed watching this Ghibli background artist pain and explain his process in real time. There's a lot of artistry that go into these films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hup0lsrY07I I've also been watching the 1979 anime adaptation of Anne of Green Gables . Hayao Miyazaki worked on it (7 years before founding Ghibli), and although the TV animation is more limited than a film's, I think it looks awesome.…
> Moreover, Anne’s character—unidealized in appearance, impulsive in personality, and lacking a male point of view—contrasted sharply with the idealized, “protective” image of girls that Miyazaki was beginning to shape in his works.
Is this real? I thought that Miyazaki was a feminist and specifically took issue with modern anime depictions of women, or something like that. And specifically, that his works mostly portrayed "strong" women. Or am I misunderstanding this quote?