Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1505195
20 KEYFRAME DRAWING INSPIRATION References are always an essential part of creating any animated character. Inspired by a centuries-old Chinese tale, the Netflix action-comedy film The Monkey King follows a mon key and his magical fighting stick on an epic quest to fight gods, dragons, and his own ego. Director Anthony Stacchi says that from descriptions in the original text, the monkey is roughly based on a macaque that is common in southern China. That served as a research starting point, but they wanted him to feel more special than the other monkey characters. They gave him a deeper red color and a long, pompadour-like hairdo, as well as specific markings on his face and hands that were inspired by the make-up in Peking opera. While there is a distinctive look to traditional Chinese dragons, Stacchi says they tried something different with the Monkey King's adversary, the Dragon King. Even though it's a mythical creature, Animation Supervisor Rune Bennicke says that they did research on real reptiles. They looked at the "Jesus Christ Lizard" as a reference. This lizard runs on water and has a slightly awkward way of running. Bennicke says that was an important attribute to work into the Dragon King, since he is uncomfortable on dry land and travels around in a tub when he's out of the water. Similarly, when approaching the under- water sea creatures on Baby Shark's Big Show!, Cheryl Johnson advised her artists to look at the real animal first and to identify those key animal features. For sharks, that would be the fins. You have to make sure they're in the right place and that you give the sharks a streamlined body as well. "Sharks have a very distinct silhouette, and each species of shark has a slightly different silhouette," she says. "So if you can include those details, while making them a little bit rounder, a little bit more friendly, it will make it feel like a good blend of an animal [and human]." For Frog and Toad, characters who are already very humanized, Sarah Johnson, who is a self-proclaimed herpetology nerd, says she "wanted to lean in to the inherent differences of Frog and Toad." Not just through their personalities as portrayed in the books, but she also want- ed to "lean into Frog being more 'froggy' and Toad being more 'toady'" and finding ways to show the differences between these two creatures. This meant that "Frog could do bigger jumps and bigger leaps. He was springier," she says. "And Toad is very much more flat on his feet." The Monkey King images courtesy of Netflix. top: An upright posture played an important role in humanizing the Monkey King. bottom: An eye with a lot of white around the pupil makes it less animal-like. 20 KEYFRAME F E AT U R E