Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1399900
D E PA R T M E N T 35 KEYFRAME I n spi r e d I n k For bad gal Acat , Goddess of Tattoos , Equihua researched Sailor Jerr y 's , Maori designs , and cholo culture to f ind tattoos that could come to life and help her f ight . M etal M u se There's a reason the underworld looks like an Iron Maiden album cover: It's the perfect setting to reflect Gutiérrez's love of heavy metal and horror movies. Motivate d by M u nchau se n For the inspiration behind the fantasy sequences with Maya's three brothers in chapter one, look no further than Terry Gilliam's film version of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Soap Ope r a F l ai r Maya contains dramatic telenovela moments because, Gutiérrez says: "Our families , it can get a little messy. It 's a par t of the culture. It 's par t of a lot of our stories ." Joy Ri de In traditional fantasies, knights ride horses, so why shouldn't Maya ride a jaguar? This makes it all the more fun when Maya sneaks her dad's Jag out for an adventure. U n expecte d Gr ace Everyone agrees that King Teca is inspired by Gutiérrez. "He can be a bull in a china shop," says Equihua, "but at the same time he can be so graceful. Not a lot of people know this, but Jorge rides a bicycle like a ballerina." Good Influence above: Acat, Goddess of Tattoos, finds her origins in chola culture. "You looked at them from far away—they looked like they would totally take you on," says Equihua. "But they were the sweetest, nicest people. I think Acat reflects that … She was a kind individual at one point. Something made her change." FALL 2021 35 Working this way—unfettered within a framework—resulted in lots of fun results, from a scene done in cutesy Chibi anime depicting Maya's naivete to split-screen fight scenes to emphasize two characters' reactions at the same time. In one case, Gutiérrez wanted to experiment with aspect ratios to simulate a wide screen. He created fake black bars on the top and bottom of the screen, and when the action happens, Rango explains, it will break past the bars. "When there's a hit, Maya's Eagle Claw will [seem to] break the screen and go past it. [It gives an] illusion of 3D. To give it more of a visual explosion. Whoa, it's jumping off the screen." Encouraging his team to push the limits of how to present emotional beats in animation helped Gutiérrez underscore the philosophy that serves as Maya's through-line—If it's to be, it's up to me. "It's an ancient saying," he explains, "and it translated very well in Spanish, it translated very well in English, so immediately I'm assuming it's going to translate very well all over the world. I love this idea that there's a million things, but it's up to me to make a difference. I love that idea in the story where, yes there's gods, and there's armies, and there's kingdoms, but it comes down to one person." Whatever needs to be done—whether it's saving humanity from underworld gods or reshaping mythology with the use of history, hip-hop, and heavy metal—"You have to do it yourself. [Then] when multiple people understand that, and they make a difference, they make a difference together."