Relationship between Painting and Animation
Visiting to Richmond Park
I went to Richmond Park in early April. It was a gloomy rainy day. I wanted to make an animated painting. So, I set Richmond park as the scene setting. I walked along the walking path in Richmond Park and try to make the tress alongside moving in painting. I also saw some animals, such as goose, crows and deers. And that is a really good and interesting element for making the animation.
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Aim and Objective
Throughout this project, I want to investigate the relation and transition between animation and painting. I want to discuss the effectiveness and importance of developing painting into animation. In this project, I interviewed two artists and tried to make an animation of oil painting on canvas.
Introduction
My studio practice is mainly oil painting on canvas, which is a kind of still artwork. Fantasy and imaginary places are my main theme. Talking about fantasy, we always link that with cartoon and movies, famous movies, such as The Chronicles of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland. In my practice, I always create imaginary places based on a forest to a natural landscape. The style sometimes looks like the concept art of movie scenes.
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Inspiration
When you ask me about painting turning into an animation, the first typical animated artwork that comes up in my mind is the Painting scroll, named ‘Along the River During the Qingming Festival’ (Qingming Shanghe Tu). The original work was painted by Zhang Zeduan during the Song dynasty. It captures the daily life of people and the landscape of the capital, Bianjing during the Northern Song. It is then converted into a digital animation, which is designed by a designer graduated from Tong Ji University. It is the 3D animated, viewer – interactive digital version. The digital version was exhibited at the World Expo in Shanghai and the Asia-World Expo in Hong Kong.
Alongside the River During Qingming Festival
Digitial version of Alongside the River During Qingming Festival
Another motivation makes me carry out the project is that there are more videos shared online about animated work of paintings. Here are the two examples respectively, the painted animation created by Duane Keiser (http://www.duanekeiser.com/) and the advertisement of the exhibition at Tate Britain, the EY Exhibition: Impressionists in London. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQl9Of-e_C4)
Paintings are gradually interacted with technology and turned into animations. The artworks I have discovered make me question a few points and inspire me to create an animation of oil painting. I am curious about the following questions:
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Is animation more effective at communicating certain narratives and ideas than still artwork (such as painting)?
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Do you think animation is more valid in giving ideas as it is newer to us, the audience of the art, comparing to painting?
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Is animation more popular and can catch more attention nowadays?
Actions
I interviewed three artists. To make the research more comprehensive, I set them into three different standpoints. I interviewed Anna Bunting-Branch, Sarah Beeby who didn’t send me a reply and Gary Thomas.
Interview with Anna Bunting-Branch
Anna Bunting-Branch is an artist working with paintings, moving images and writing explore feminist visions and re-visions of history. Consider her work of transmitting from painting to animation, we discuss the challenges and difficulties encountered during making animation. Anna’s practice plays with the boundaries between forms, disciplines, and genres. Another important topic we have discussed is whether animation is superiority in terms of presenting ideas.
I then interviewed Gary Thomas. He is the director at Animation Projects, he introduced Animate Projects to me. Animate began in 1990, ran by Arts Council England and Chennel4. Over the years, it developed an exhibition programme, with partners including the National Portrait Gallery. Animate Projects is set up in 2007 and is extending the commissioning to work with other partners, commissioning work for broadcast, online, cinema, galleries and public spaces. During the conversation, Gary explained the progress of running a project at Animate Projects and how to collaborate with artists, with some doesn’t have a foundation of making animations or moving image work.
My Experiment
I did a painted animation of the landscape in Richmond Park.
Conclusion and areas for development
There is a compelling connection between painting and animation. More artists are tending to develop painting into animations. Before the research, I think Painting is being made in a more modern way gradually, and have been turning into ‘high-tech’ artwork, such as the digital version of the original work, moving images or animation. Also, according to my experience of visiting exhibitions, I reflect upon whether people as a viewer like animated work more than the still painting and think it is more valid in giving ideas as it is newer and can satisfy our curiosity when watching it. And thus, I have that assumption at the beginning of the project.
It is difficult to judge and define which art form is better. There isn’t a better or worse, it is how and when you use to present ideas. It is very important for art to animate ideas, feelings and sensations for a viewer. Animation is more pervasive in the wider culture. It has the capacity to conjure certain ideas for the viewer – the transformation of dead matter into an apparently live image. Animation can engage people in different ways, it is something to do with moving image, rhythm and colour that makes us want to watch. Making and viewing animation and painting allows us to consider how different experiences are conjured and captured within an artwork, which is why the relation between them is so dynamic and interesting.
With my experiences of doing sand art when I was in high school, I want to try create animated oil painting. In relation to my studio practice and what I am doing for my unit 2, I think more of the what paint can do, especially how it creates movement. For more specific, I wanted to try oil paint on glass as it preserves the texture and brushwork of a painting. I did a sketch of the set up of making oil paint on glass animation for future use if carry out making oil paint on glass animation.
The animation is created frame by frame. Turpentine is used to remove the oil paints, so the image seems to melt into the previous one, creating a fluid motion. The technique used is rostrum camera. It consists of a moving lower platform on which the article to be filmed is placed, while the camera is placed above on a column. In the project, I created a stop-motion animation of a landscape at Richmond Park, which is oil paint on canvas.
Storyboard for the animation
Set up for the animation
Rostrum Camera
For future exhibition, I can show corresponding animation alongside my painting work. If I have the opportunity, I wish to collaborate with Animate Projects, as to investigate deeper in the profession of animation. And with Gary’s introduction to some of the artists, making animation based on painting, such as Edwin Ashton and Petra Freeman, I would like to take reference from them, or if possible to meet them in person.