INSPIRATION

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

To describe how the creative process works is nearly impossible. I can only show some of the steps leading to the final product.

When I need to develop a new style for a film, I want to come up with a look that nobody else has done before and that means that I should at least know what has been done. So far I have seen a lot of the animated movies from all over the world, and I have a big library of movies and books about animation from the past 70 years.

If time allows, I go through my archives and watch many movies done in different styles. I go through documentaries as well as selected comic books and art books. It may look like I just want to have fun looking at all that stuff. Yes, in a way it is fun, but more importantly, it refreshes the batteries! It’s the best time, like going to school again. And it generates an energy that makes you want to create something.

What an experience to see how many beautiful things have been created. How diverse the world of art is, how differently all these artists from around the world see their world.

Imagine the variety: Australian Aboriginal art, ancient Indian temple sculptures, African tribal art, Albert Bierstadt’s and Thomas Moran’s majestic nature paintings, Ludwig Richter’s and Gustave Dore’s etchings, Picasso, Fragonard and Rembrandt, Steward Davis, Milton Glaser, A. J. Casson and Seymor Chwast, Moebius, Toppi, Franquin, Carlos Nine and Loisel. Not to forget Searle, McGinnis, Frazetta

Rockwell and Oliphant, the Japanese woodcut masterpieces of Hokusai and Utamaro, animation designers like the Provensens, Jiri Trnka, Kay Nielsen and Tenggren, and so many more.

At one point I start sketching only little thumbnails, usually done with grey and black Japanese brush pens on paper. Of course, although all the art has had a big influence, somehow parts of all the things I am seeing are being mixed; perhaps a nearly abstract animal sketch from Eskimo art with the style of a Balinese silk painting. It’s hard to explain what is happening at that time.

As a designer of a movie, you are not supposed to have a personal style unless a studio hires you because of it. Your job is to find and develop a look for a movie that works best with the story and does not feel like anything that has ever been done before. And it has to look good!