style 9.6

style 9.5

artists have always been inspired by other artists. otherwise impressionism or cubism had never developed and been explored by so many different artists. in animation disney first used children book illustrators like tenggren and nielsen as inspiration for the style of the first feature films. UPA was smaller and could afford to experiment with new looks, using modern art like dufy and modigliany, but as well upcoming cartoon and caricature stars like steinberg, searle and kurtzman for inspiration. later john hubley went even further with his shorts and a complete abstract look influenced by picasso, shahn and prestopino. I could continue this until today, where modern filmmakers get excited by art they accidentally find on the internet. it is so much easier today to look for reference or inspiration, everybody has a vast collection of art from museums, books, auctions or collectors at home available on the world wide web.
I was always interested to find out how looks were developed in the past. it was like a guideline for my own work, to find ways for developing new styles. now I am trying to teach those secrets to new generations. difficult, because you have to first learn about all the existing art in the world, figurative and landscape or environmental art, get enough knowledge about films of the past – and, experience by analysis how the look of the most interesting films was developed. the real challenge starts when you try to develop your own style for a project. one piece is already tough, but then the problem is to create a whole series of environments in the same style.

picasso’s ceramics

PABLO PICASSO, 1881 – 1973, fell in love with a new creative medium in 1946. he was already 65 years old and was considered as one of the most influental artists of the 20th century, known for co-founding the CUBIST movement together with GEORGES BRAQUE, and responsible for significant more developments in painting, sculpture and printmaking. PICASSO’S new love affair was CERAMICS, and lasted until his death. together with the MADOURA studio he created 4.000 different plates, bowls, vases, pitchers and other forms in limited editions ranging from 25 to 500. PICASSO was involved in different ways, sometimes creating the clay molds, other times painting on plates or pitchers taken from the drying racks. the prototypes were then finished by the MADOURA artisans.
in GEORGES RAMIE’S book PICASSO’S CERAMICS the author states – PICASSO gave himself up to it heart and soul, with that tireless vehemence he brought to everything, the indomitable ardor of those vocations that are all the more fruitful for being slow to appear. and it was from that moment – and thanks to the prestige of the work PICASSO was yet to do – that ceramics, which many had always considered a minor art, began to enjoy an eminence hitherto unsuspected and now universally admitted.
PICASSO had already been amazingly productive as a printmaker, he too enjoyed creating ceramics, producing more than 2.000 pieces just in one year from 1947 to 1948, embodying innovations in form, technique, and the use of colors. below you can see a small selection of my favorite pieces of his ceramics art.

© pablo picasso / sotheby’s

moments 26

moments 25

moments 24

moments 23

moments 22

la piccola russia

LA PICCOLA RUSSIA is an animated short by italian master-painter/animator/filmaker GIANLUIGI TOCCAFONDO. you should see this film, in case you can get a hold of it somewhere, it took me a while. the 17 min film is like ‘modern art comes alive’. that’s why I had to look at it single-frame wise, because I did not want to miss one of all the incredible paintings that create the animation. it is a MASTERPIECE. you can feel the influence of the whole modern artworld of the past 60 years, and it looks like toccafondo wants to pay homage to PICASSO, HOCKNEY, RAUSCHENBERG, WARHOL, OLDENBURG and others, as well as to animation legends like JOHN HUBLEY ( tender game ), CAROLINE LEAF ( the street ), NEDELJKO DRAGIC ( diary ) and ZDENKO GASPAROVICH ( satiemania ). toccafondo uses a very interesting combination of different techniques like photography ( the single frame blow-ups of live action ), collage, painting and xerography.

TOCCAFONDO was born 1965 in san marino and got his education at the ISA of urbino, italy, the first school in italy with the freedom to study traditional animation techniques. toccafondo used his talent of graphics, animation and filmmaking first in milan in advertising. in 1989 he had his debut in the animation world with his short LA CODA. following were LA PISTA, LE CRIMINEL, PINOCCHIO and in 2003 – LA PICCOLA RUSSIA. the story is about a young boy growing up to become a murderer. ‘little russia’, the title of the film, was apparently the nickname of a part in northern italy, where the communist party had a strong support. he worked on the film for three years and started to create his own sound. the film received numerous awards worldwide.

© toccafondo