Quick Skitsch Sketch

From the hand of Skitsch. . .comes a sketch. . .

of a fish with underarm hair! Or should it be called underfin hair?

Skitsch is trying to hide behind her sketchbook, but you can easily see her face in a past interview with her about her inbetweening work.

Poop is Cute (in Korea)

Warning: You may find this gross!
Did you know that poop is cute in Korea? It's true. Poop is typically represented in a cute way, like this giant one pictured above. This poop was part of a poop booth in front of Seoul City Hall. The booth even had poop costumes little kids could put on.

The cuteness of poop in Korean culture just goes to show the power of representation. Poop is typically drawn like the swirl above, sort of like the chocolate ice cream on a cone. However, it's not always this chocolate brown color.

Gold is a very common poop color. And speckles aren't unheard of either. Poop can be represented in all sorts of fashions.

Poop has even made its way into consumer culture. These products feature a character with a copper poop on his head. His name is Dongchimee (click if you are brave) from the Dalki product line. And he's just one of many poop-related products. There are books about poop, foam poop on a stick, poop stamps, poop banks and so on and so on. I'll collect more images and do a future post about this.

Perhaps it's the combination of grossness and cuteness that give poop its appeal. I think it stems from the early cutified illustrations. What is poop in your culture: cute, funny, gross?

Year of the Rat Cake

Animation matters. Animation shapes our lives and culture. Apparently, it influences our Chinese New Year cakes, too.2008 is the Year of the Rat on the Chinese calendar. Crown Bakery, a bakery franchise in Korea, has created the "Crown Mickey" to celebrate the New Year. There is Disney influence all over this cake.

Firstly, the name "Crown Mickey" directly refers to the worlds most famous mouse. Secondly, the design of the rat on the cake must be inspired by the Pixar film Ratatouille. Don't you agree?
Here is the the neatest Disney influence. The cake advertisement features a young woman done up as Minnie Mouse.

The Crown Mickey cake and it's advertisement draw heavily on Disney animation for inspiration. It proves that animation influences how we live, even if only in a small way. In this case, the cake we eat for the Chinese New Year.

Update (January 15th, 2007): Whoa! Here is a very similar advertisement from Paris Baguette, a chief rival of Crown Bakery. I wonder which advertisement came first?

Boom Chiki Boom! on Stage

Boom Chiki Boom!!!!Are you familiar with OSMU? It's an acronym for One Source Multi Use which is currently a buzzword in Korean business. Boom Chiki Boom! is a good example of OSMU.

Boom Chiki Boom! is a preschool program that encourages kids to dance and interact with the characters on screen. It promotes activity and health. Boom Chiki Boom! is used in many ways. It is a computer generated program as seen in the poster above.

It is also a live-action show featuring actors in costumes. It is also a stage show performed for a live audience as seen above. Boom Chiki Boom! translates quite easily from screen to stage. The same costumes and performers can be used, after all.

The sets and props are recycled for the stage show as well.

For example, this pig speaker from the original set is used for this stage show. In fact, it can also be found rendered in the computer generated show.

This gold pig couch seemed irresistible and kids kept defiantly trying to sit in it without permission. One kid succeeded. And I think an adult tried, too!

The stage show reuses the script and audio from the live-action costume show. The only major difference is these two hosts above. They exist solely in the stage show. They help make the performance more interactive and also to give the costumed performers some breaks inbetween "episodes".

The hosts had lots of energy and made the audience really feel involved.

In a segment about balls, they bounced a big red ball around the audience. They also passed out small plastic balls to everybody.

In a segment about paper, they spread giant sheets of paper over the audience. Then everybody was encouraged to shred it to pieces. They didn't have to tell the kids twice!

All that interactivity sure can leave a mess!

The only element that doesn't translate well from the screen to stage is A-Do. A-Do is a mischevious puppet who is puppeteered by someone hidden behind the pig couch. Unlike the television show, the audience can't see A-Do closely via camera zooms. This takes away some of his edge and charm. It's a shame, too, since he's my favorite character.

Boom Chiki Boom! is a good example of creating a property and applying it many different ways. It's a young property, so I'm interested to see how it develops. I'm rooting for it since it is an original Korean property.

You can take a behind-the-scenes look at the English voice acting for Boom Chiki Boom! that I posted about previously.

Screaming Tomato!!!

Do you see what I see? I noticed something in the background of yesterday's picture of these caps.
See it now?I can't help but see a screaming tomato when I look at this sign. Do you think that is an intentional design decision? I think the white part is supposed to represent glossiness, but it sure reminds me of a face.

What do you think?

Creature and Character Caps

It is cold in Korea! It's a good thing these character and creature caps are a popular fashion trend brightening up the winter.These caps are most popular with kids who wear them while out and about. Every once in a while you can spot them on an adult, too.

The sheer variety of styles is impressive. It seems you can find a cap of almost any animal. Above I see: a koala, cats, tigers, a panda, bears, and a husky. Not pictured are countless other animals. I've even seen an insectoid cap!

And there are lots of cartoon character caps, too. Above are some Sanrio, Warner Bros. and Disney characters. I've seen a funny Santa Clause character cap as well.

I wonder if the use of these characters is even legal? I don't know, but isn't this off-model Mickey Mouse something?

It's nice for a fashion trend to enliven the winter. Is this fashion popular in your part of the world, too?

Best of December

Happy New Year!

December was much too slow a month here on Korea & Animation. That's okay, January is full of possibility. There is still lots of good stuff to come, including some stuff promised from the Best of November. Thank you very much for reading this blog! Feel free to give me your input!

Here is some of the best from December:

Learn about Pororo. Pororo the Little Penguin is currently one of the most successful Korean animations. I think it's because people just love penguins.

Toys R Us is in Korea. The first Toys R Us in Korea opened last month in Seoul. It is the biggest toy store in all of Korea, ever! A lot can be learned about children's media and culture by looking at the toys available to them. This post may seem cynical, which it kind of is, but don't get me wrong, Toys R Us is a lot of fun!

Bee different! Whoever designed this bee is thinking outside the box! We should be too!

Here's a guide to Korean names. Korean animation is made by Korean people. People are important. Learn how you can get their names right.

Thanks and enjoy!