Sketchy nostalgia

[secondlina]

 

Just a little sketch of Princess Serenity from Sailor Moon. Inspired by the "Tangled" art book.

You guys "Tangled" comes out sooooon!!!!

This is SUCH a good year for animation. And with Ghibli's new feature "Arietty the Borrower" coming out in December, it's just going to get better. I just can't wait for this movie too. I love stories with "little people". And I love the Borrowers. And Ghibli. 

In a somewhat related note, i'm kinda getting tired of all the Dreamworks bashing. It's no secret that I adored Megamind. However, upon reading reviews of the movie online, I felt like the negative reviews were written by people that may have not have seen the movie at all. For starters, they got major plot points fully wrong. And also, almost all these reviews opened with the line "Dreamworks sucks". 

Personally, I love a TON of Dreamworks movies. All the Shreks minus the third, How to Train your Dragon, Megamind, Prince of Egypt, Road to El Dorado, Antz, all feature among my favorite movies. Yeah, it's true, Dreamworks does seem to be very different from Disney. They have more "pop" references and have animation that seems to speak more to teens and adults then children. But is that really deserving of so much aggressive reviews? Even "How to Train your dragon" reviews opened with the line "Look, Dreamworks stopped sucking!" I found that wasn't fair. It's a good studio. Their work is just different. Not all animation companies can produce the same thing. Disney has the heartwarming. Dreamworks has the zany. And sometimes, they trade (Darkwing duck anyone?). Dreamworks are learning to be more subtle in their style (Megamind's pop culture references were very fitting of the character and story). So people really should give it more of a chance and stop dismissing it just because "It's Dreamworks". I'm sorry, but not being Disney should not be a crime.  So they had a few flops. So did Disney. The only flop-free studio seems to be Pixar. For now. Critics have been pretty harsh on Disney lately too (Bolt and The Princess and the Frog got ripped the shreds) but never on the grounds that they were a specific studio.

Little joke to conclude - You know how everybody jokes that Dreamwork's M.O. is to have critters do something critters that do something critters don't do? Well, the new M.O. seems to be "Gadgeteer genius switches sides, has a scaly companion, defeat something big and powerful and gets the girl while learning to be himself". This fits both Hiccup and Megamind. New trend? Perhaps.

- Isa

Comments

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

Oh, she looks so fabulous in that art style! <3

[asatira.livejournal.com]

Haven't been paying too much attention to reviews, but I really don't like it when people bash the film when they haven't seen it (which is the worst) or because it's not Disney. Not being Disney is not a bad thing. Also, being Disney isn't always a good thing; people expect certain things from Disney, and that can be just as much of a handicap as all the pluses. And Dreamworks is producing pretty good stuff now, and getting pretty consistent about it. Not always the best, but enjoyable. Disney is the same. Pixar... well, Cars was probably the weakest, IMO, so proof that not everything is golden. And not being Disney is a plus because they can go places Disney isn't really allowed to go. And being pop isn't a bad thing; hell, Warner Bros. shorts were all pretty topical and they still stand up because the core humor and structure is there.

[ming85.livejournal.com]

What a great drawing of this character, she often comes out so stiff and posed. This one's so playful and casual, even with that super princes outfit. impressive!!

[wrongsidefoxrun.livejournal.com]

This made my day!Usagi in your style is Amazing!

[putri-nih.livejournal.com]

Can't add more. Agreed :)

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

I suspect what you hear about which studio depends a great deal on whoever is around you. I of course love Disney, my siblings all love Disney, but most people I have encountered despise Disney because it's "evil" and "kiddy", among other things. Heck, I still remember when Dreamworks released Shrek, and some people seemed proud that Disney was going to die because Dreamworks was just that much better.

Anymore, I tune people out. I like what I like, and while I still don't care for a lot of Dreamworks' movies, they are certainly becoming their own entity, instead of just the "anti-Disney" that they were in the beginning. (Seriously. Watch Shrek. It openly mocks Disney throughout the movie.)

It'll still be interesting to see how things work out in the long run, but in the meantime, it's not been at all bad for Disney to have healthy competition. I've enjoyed seeing Disney start to figure out what it should have known all along: many of us still love and want entertainment that the entire family can enjoy - not just the pop-culture savvy.

(And yeah... Sailor Moon... I adored the series back in the day, but anymore I don't feel the need to revisit it.)

[disembodied-cat.livejournal.com]

It's very very interesting coming from working at DW. I never understood pride in working for them till I did, and now I insanely appreciate most of what they do. I don't completely approve of their story process at times, but they are an amazing and caring company. Now, most of the people there DID come from Disney and as such - have a bit of an angry biased against them. That being said, most of them still own Disneyland passes.

Anyways, you are exactly right. Dreamworks is truly an underdog - always getting the blame (and don't mention Dreamworks Face to me, that's not the artists fault.) - and I think I relate to them so much more because I think of their story like Megamind vs. Metroman. There's nothing terribly WRONG with Pixar/Metroman, but their perfection can be irritating. Megamind can be evil, weird, crazy, and a failure, but he's hilarious and has a deeper personality.

Now, I've also seen Tangled.

And I thought Tangled (without spoiling) was really adorable, beautiful and often hilarious. But MOST of the plot is pretty Disney standard. THAT isn't a good thing. Megamind surprised and delighted me (even if trailers spoiled too much lol) - like Hiccup (SPOILER ..) losing his leg at the end of Dragons, these are difficult decisions that make a deeper impact.
Also, I wasn't terribly crazy about most of Tangled's songs - but it is, regardless, a very sweet and hilarious and harmless movie.
But it's still more of the same. You can sit there and say what will happen next, you can connect a song to other previous & better Disney songs.

And I guess I've made my point, I don't know, I'm super tired so my tangent is over! X) Either way, thanks for stickin' up for us!

[spankingfemme.livejournal.com]

"Personally, I love a TON of Dreamworks movies. All the Shreks minus the third, How to Train your Dragon, Megamind, Prince of Egypt, Road to El Dorado, Antz"

Here here! =D I don't know why people want a carbon copy company anyway :/ Dreamworks as a studio has always gotten a gold star of approval from me. For people to dis the movie without even seeing it just because of the studio producing it is very lame :(

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I tried making her adorable!

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's my problem in a nutshell. I adore both Disney and Dreamworks, and I really don't know why people keep comparing them. And being cruel about it. Different studios, different styles. Period.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I always saw her as adorable is playful (the manga shows her that way a bit in the flashbacks)

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :D

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

:D

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Disney has gotten a lot of aggressivity over Bolt and The Princess and the frog, I noticed that at least. Jeez. People! I also heard about a lot of artists calling Disney "evil". It is a big company, so it could make some people dissatisfied. I don't find it especially evil. At least, no more then any other international entertainment company.

I don't really prefer one studio over another. I love both styles so darn much. I'm just so tired of people comparing one studio to another and making it sound like the difference is a bad thing. Both studios clearly aim at a different demographic and use a different style. I think I just hear the "Dreamworks sucks" side because i'm surrounded by people who think animation and comics can never, ever, ever speak to someone above 12.

And as you say, Dreamworks is finding it's own style and making works that speak to a greater public more and more. The "pop" is still there, but it's becoming different. It's character based rather then parody based. So, improvement there.

I think the stronger, healthy competition will allow both studios to find a bit more of themselves.

I still can't wait to see "Tangled". It's like the ultimate Disney movie, when you consider the people who worked on it (Alan Meken and Glen Keane for exemples!)

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

The whole "Dreamworks face" is purely marketing based. It's like saying "Disney is nothing but princesses" due to that very heavily marketed toy line. Marketing departments now how to deform stories and annoy the public like nothing else. I'm really starting to hate the marketing departments of both companies. Pop music commercials? Slapstick? Mostly empty posters? C'mon, guys.

It sucks that so many of your co-workers are burned on Disney. Disney is still so awesome.

Tangled looks like to ultimate Disney flick, considering the people they picked for songs, animation and art. I still expect this movie to be amazing. And I expect it to fullow the Disney tropes.

A lot of people praise dreamworks for "mutilating" Hiccup (I myself though it was an interesting choice considering it's nearly impossible to survive something like that), but again, Dreamworks aims at a bit of an older demographic, so they have the wiggle room to do these things. Disney has chosen the younger demographic. It gives them good things, but also imposes limitations. I find both studios are now too different to compare. And I really wish people would stop doing that.

I guess that was the point of my post. I want people to stop comparing these studios.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I though it was odd. But they got major plot points fully wrong. Don't think watching was involved in the creation of said review.

[miss-maggiemay.livejournal.com]

yyéééé!! Sailor Moon! Je viens justement de trouver toute la série :) et je serais prête a les lire aussi (clin doeil clin doeil)

Personnellement je ne fais pas super de différence entre les compagnie :P C'est sur que Disney a son style mais je crois que sa peut arriver a toute compagnie de faire quelque chose d'un peu moins fort par moment. C'est un peu con de dire que TOUT CE QUE FAIT DREAMWORK C'EST LE MAL!!!!

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Ouais, mais les gens sont un peu cons. Ils jugent tous rapidement et sans discernement. Moi, cette année, je suis complètement soufflée par la qualité de tout ce qui sort en film d'animation. Côté histoire, animation, dessin... c'est des bijoux. Et pourtant, les critiques sont horribles. Les gens sont vraiment jamais contents!

T'as trouver toutes la série? J'imagine que c'est les boîtiers en japonais sous-titrés, puisqu'ils se sont jamais rendus à la fin en anglais. La qualité des Dvds est bonne?

C'est sûr, ça va me faire plaisir de te prêter ça! Quand tu sera sûre, laisse nous savoir si tu viens le 23, et je vais les apporter avec moi. sinon, on peut toujours se rencontrer un soir ou tu as un peu de temps, on se voit pour une tasse de café et je t'apporte les livres. Je te prévient par contre, mes livres sont supppeeeeerrrrrr vieux (et certains comportent des autocollants sur les couvertures grâce à mes cousines).

[miss-maggiemay.livejournal.com]

ça devrait aller pour le 23 jai juste besoin de quelqu'un pour me le rappeler comme je disais..

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Justement, c'est pour ça que je te le dit là.

Et maintenant, t'oubliera pas, puisque tu vas penser à Sailor Moon!

[chameleon9999.livejournal.com]

Aw she's cute! I always loved her long hair, especially in the manga.

>Movie talk + Darkwing Duck

Ah! You just made me think of how cool a Darkwing Duck movie would be. D:

[asatira.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

Oh, yeah. Nice picture!

[v-chan-paradise.livejournal.com]

This is adorable! I always loved that anime (nostalgia, sailor moon was my first anime) and with your art style... You made her look real, you know? In the manga they always showed you an original serenity that was very playful, all innocence and laughter.

Thanks. If you ever make more, please post it!

[noseless-wonder.livejournal.com]

I agree about Dreamworks. I don't love every movie they've made, but I'm a fan of Shrek, The Prince of Egypt, How to Train Your Dragon, and even Madagascar. I think the sardonic attitudes of many of the characters combined with the pop references really cater to my sense of humor. I don't mind Disney, but the dryness in Dreamworks just works better sometimes.

I remember a few weeks ago, I made a comment about how all of your original character drawings and fan arts seem to feature bare feet. XD I'm looking forward to your Tangled fan art... Judging by the previews, she's barefoot the entire time.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

It would be duckalicious.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of drawing a whole bunch of her actually. Tangled is inspiring me.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

She is. AND I LOVE IT. I don't know why I like barefoot characters so much. comes off as playful and innocent maybe?

[v-chan-paradise.livejournal.com]

I sure hope you will! I was a fan of Sailor Jupiter in the day but Serenity was a close second.

Your drawings made me long for Tangled to come out in the theathers already!

[angelchan-2004.livejournal.com]

Aaaah, Usagi looks so pretty here! C-could I possibly ink and color this? :D

I totally understand. I've loved a ton of Dreamworks and Pixar things, and I don't always understand when someone has to chose a side. (I think my favorite has always been Road to El Dorado, though, hahaha.)

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

"TULIO AND MIGUEL, MIGHTY AND POWERFUL GODS"

:D

(Admit it, you hear their voices in your heads)

Go ahead. Be warned, it's a messy sketch! :D

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Welcome to my world *has been waiting for Tangled since forever*

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

New Ghibli!!! *squeeeeee*

I wish people would stop comparing DreamWorks to stuff like Pixar and Disney. They do pretty decently with thier animation and, like you, I have a lot of fondness and affection for a lot of the stuff they've put out.