Friday 10 January 2014

OUAN405 - Process & Production: Astroboy

OUAN405 - Process & Production:

Astroboy, more commonly known as Tetsuwan Atom in Japan (Mighty Atom), was originally debuted as a Manga series, written and illustrated by the almighty Osamu Tezuka - "The God of Manga" from 1952 - 1968. The already popular manga was then successfully adapted into an Anime series in Japan. Astroboy was then remade in the 1980s and then once again in 2003! A computer animated 3D film was the created in America in 2009 based on the Manga series.

In relation to the 1963 animated TV series (Anime), Astroboy became so popular after its debut on Fuji TV on New Year's Day that it later became the beacon for a whole new genre of animated film - Anime. Astroboy was the start of a brilliant new era, an era that celebrated Japan (and still celebrates!) for all its Anime and Manga glory, its imaginative plots, beautiful artwork and mind blowing animation techniques. Talk of an animated movie began to circulate soon after Tezuka met Disney in 1964 but there was no collaboration between the two in terms of Astroboy.

The original series was indeed made with the traditional technique of cel shading. There was often a top cel sheet where the lineart resided. This was inked with marker and was then followed by the background cel sheet which slid underneath and was coloured again, with marker with some additions in watercolour done on a separate cel sheet. This took a painstakingly long time to do and required a lot of effort and dedication!




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