Study Task 9 [PP1] - Who's who? What do they do and who do they work for?

Michiyo Yasuda [Animator | Colour Designer]

Born in 28th of April, 1939, in Tokyo Japan, Yasuda was an animator and colour designer who worked for various Animation companies; Toei Animation, A Production, Topcraft and the well known Studio Ghibli. Her colour designs were used by directors such as Hayao Miyazaki and Mamarou Oshii. Her take on colour and how it's used is unique as she believes that colour are essential in story telling. "Colour has a. meaning and it makes the film more easily understood. Colours and pictures can enhance what the situation is on screen." While colours may not mean one specific thing, the viewers are able to unconsciously form associations between colour and feelings.  

Jaiden/TheOdd1sOut/Domics [YouTube Animators]

JaidenAnimations [Jaiden]

Jaiden is an American animator. Starting out doing commissions for a Minecraft YouTuber, iHasCupquake, she eventually paved her own way and started doing Animations on her own channel. Since her debut in 2014, she has since gained 5.7 million subscribers. Her content mainly revolves around her stories revolving around her awkward situations, speed art drawings of Pokemon and collaborations with TheOdd1sOut, James.

TheOdd1sOut [Robert James Rallison]

James is an American comic artist/animator. Since he debuted in 2014, his animated series based off of his work experience in Subway gave his channel a massive boost, with each part of the trilogy gaining over 40 million views [Feb 2018]. Since his short 4 year life on YouTube, he has gained 10 million subscribers. His content mainly revolve around his stories on his childhood, collaborations with another similar animator, JaidenAnimations and recently a music video with Boyinaband. 

Domics [Dominic Panganiban]

Dominic is a Filipino/Canadian Animator. With his content posted on YouTube, his content mainly explores around the theme of his life and growing up as an Asian in America. His animations are narratives with black and white backgrounds, with only colours hinted in each character's hair. Widely known for his 'Breakups" series, he also animates his thoughts, 'Humans are actually donuts', 'Askholes' or 'Butts' more or less random and quirky. Since he debuted in 2012, he has gained 6.5 million subscribers. 

Alan Becker [Animator]

Alan Becker is an Animator from Ohio. Best known for his animation "Animator vs Animation" on YouTube which gained a whopping 34 million views [Feb 2019] since the upload date in May 14, 2007. After this video, his popularity skyrocketed with him eventually continuing with the series releasing 3 other "Animator vs Animation" videos. Since then, he has gained 7 million subscribers with him and his now team, continuing to make animations based off of 5 stick figures with different adventures in each video ranging from Minecraft adventures, to League of Legends.

Charlene_Le_Scanff [Concept Artist - Hearthstone]

Charlene is a concept artist on Team 5, the Blizzard Entertainment development team. Specifically in the game of Hearthstone, a massive online pop card game, she has created a card back for hearthstone, and 3 different cards. 2 of which are in meta classic cards and 1 is a. uncollectible. She joined Team 5 in early March 2017.


Katie De Sousa [Concept Artist - League of Legends]

Starting off her passion in 2003, she started posting her concept arts in Deviant, a huge online platform filled with concept artists. Throughout her years of posting digital art, her art for several champions, specifically 13 in the LoL universe were posted and used as splash arts in Riot Games. Moreover, one of her concepts art boards for a champion were eventually developed and worked upon, which now is known as Jinx. Jinx's champion concept was a arsenal psycho; possessing a wide range of firearms, mini-guns, rockets, and even utilities such as traps and grenades. Not only was the concept refreshing, the champion concept was so well done, the promotional teaser and video for the champion became the biggest boost for the game itself, gaining massive popularity for both new and old players. 

Bradford 'CertainlyT' Wenban [Senior Game Designer -  League of Legends]

Certainly True Damage, or known as CertainlyT, started working at Riot Games in December of 2011. Although this was his first time working in an gaming industry, throughout the years being a game designer, he has designed a total of 7 champions; characters, 2 of which were a party project. Moreover, he reworked on 5 of the champion concepts to make it more refreshing and new after years of decaying in the champion pool. The champions he designed and reworked upon are all unique in it's own way with mechanics which were completely different and outstanding in their own style visually and mechanically. 

Study Task 4 [COP] - Triangulation

Triangulation;

          Nostalgia is something that can be evoked through various elements. Majority of which being based off of personal memories and experiences, such as food, an object or places. However, Cartoons are one major nostalgia factor which are often overlooked. Since childhood, many are exposed to cartoons, specifically Pixar films. Over the years, nostalgia has been growing at an exponential rate, with vinyls seeing an whopping 53 percent increase compared to the prior years in 2016, in addition with printed books selling more than digital copies. (Mak, P) "According to my research, among the things people miss most from childhood are its innocence, idealism and the sense that everything is possible. Cartoons can restore all that and more when we take time to enjoy them." said Krystine Batcho, Le Monye College psychology professor.

"Cartoons defy reality. At very young ages, children can enjoy the fantasy of vicariously being able to do amazing things. In cartoons, we can enjoy the existence of the impossible like magical abilities and imaginary creatures. Adults connect with cartoons for the same reasons — and a few more. We can find relief from anxieties, and also the pleasures and benefits of nostalgia." elaborated Krystine Batcho.

          With cartoons exponential growth in popularity, cartoons are becoming the staple within ones childhood, especially with the millennials. Cartoons carried millennials into into their adolescence, and early adulthood; those being "The Simpsons", and "South Park". Significantly boosting 2D animation industries with Adult Swim, Fox and Netflix being the main promoters. (Mak, P) However, the counterpart of TV 2D animated cartoons are the 2D animated movies produced from Pixar. Mainly the "Toy Story" trilogy which is rooted with nostalgia. Though nostalgia is a embedded to a specific time, the Toy Story trilogy is able to isolate the time aspect of nostalgia, creating a timeless experience of which millennials are able to gain the sense of nostalgia throughout the entire series although the series is completed within the span of 14 years. (Spiegel, J) 

Reflection of progress;

          The ToonBoom article was a more general article, focussing on the aspects of nostalgia in animation in general. Where as the Popotiq article focused upon specifically on the Toy Story trilogy. This overall was a difficult task as the two articles analysed were very different in context. The lack of similarity made it so that there were barely any context to even link together in the first place, resulting in a open ended and awkward state to the analysation. It seems like there is no direct context or point to the two articles analysed.  

Articles;

Mak, P. (2017) How nostalgia millennials are influencing 2d animation. Available at: https://blog.toonboom.com/storytelling/throwbackthursday-how-nostalgic-millennials-are-influencing-2d-animation (Accessed 5 December 2018).

Spiegel, J. (no date) 28 Days of Disney Animation: 'Toy Story,' Technology, and The Power of Nostalgia. Available at: https://www.popoptiq.com/disney-animation-month-toy-story-technology-and-the-power-of-nostalgia/ (Accessed 5 December 2018).