Friday, February 20, 2009

Meow. Meow. MEOOOOOOOOOW.


so i'm probably pretty late to this phenomenon. in fact, millions of people have caught onto it before me. your mom has probably seen this series of shorts before. but sometimes some videos slip through the cracks. i've never seen Mulan. nor Hunchback of Notre Dame (the Disney one anyway). my animation peers, of course, have probably seen them more than once. this all said, i'm digging the animation style and very well-timed comedy of Simon's Cat. and since i'm home in San Diego right now, a house full of various cat-like creatures, i figured i'd relate my joy for them:



this was the first short. apparently created as a test to teach himself flash, Simon Tofield's first Simon short created a sensation on youtube. its got a very hand-drawn aesthetic to it, and yet its done in Flash. its interesting then, to create this feel he animates straightforward (though on layers) directly into flash with his Wacom tablet. he says that he's worked that way ever since he taught himself to animate by drawing flipbooks. he's, of course, very modest about it -- "I didn't think anything of it; it was just a little exercise to learn the program."

the second short, i think, is the least successful of the three. it doesn't rely as much on the feline traits that made the first one so funny and relatable.



the third one, though focusing more on the man (Simon himself), is more successful than the second -- the feline traits are back, believable, and funny.



ironically, because of the exposure he's gotten due to the films, he isn't able to work on more of them -- he's doing more commercial jobs.

1 comment:

  1. I LOOOOVE Simon's Cat! :D
    I think the 2nd one is awesome! But definitely more exaggerated. But the part at the end where he opens the door, and the kitty won't come in, even though he really wanted in the whole time, is such a kitty thing to do! This guy has obviously owned many cats. Sad he's not doing more of these, I can watch them over and over

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