Bee Different!

Bzzzzzzzzzz. . . Bzzzzzzzzzzz. . . I'm not a human! I'm a bee! Bzzzzzzzzzz. . . .

Why do we make animal cartoon characters human? We always tend to anthropomorphize them; give them human qualities. However, why don't we borrow from other animals instead?

All I know about this bee is that it is the mascot for 1001 Angyeong Contact, an eyeglasses shop.

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Isn't its design intriguing? It has a mouth and nose which appear to be from an otter. Most bee cartoon characters I've seen borrow human faces--human noses, mouths, maybe even teeth or a head of hair. Maybe I'm mistaken and this is just an otter in a bee costume.
Take a look at this extreme close-up of a real female beetle. See how her mouth is more like the muzzle of an otter than the mouth of a human? The button eyes more closely resemble an otter's than a human's, as well. So I think this bee design is quite brilliant!

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I know nothing about the background of this bee's design, however, it encourages me to think outside the stereotypes of cartooning. There are all sorts of possible ways to represent a bee. We just have to see different and bee different!

Don't Worry Too Much

Don't worry too much.
Worrying can stop us from creating, be it drawings, stories or anything else. Don't worry too much. This pizza place name isn't anything fancy or cutting edge, but it works.

I wouldn't say the Pizza School mascot is the best drawing around or even the most memorable. But for some reason it really makes me laugh. It's a school that makes pizza! It's almost radical. I think worrying too much would have prevented this character from being created.

So don't worry too much. You don't have to be perfect in order to create something that will make people happy. Just stop worrying and create!

An Interview with Park Min

Do you like Batman? Batman was Park Min's favorite production to work on. Having over 18 years in the animation industry, Park Min has helped bring Batman and many other characters to life for audiences around the world.

In his earliest days, he worked as a final checking assistant. Since this start, he's moved through almost all the jobs within an animation studio. Working hard as an inbetweener so he could work even harder as an inbetweening director. Doing key animation and then moving up to key animation direction. At some point, he was a layout artist as well multiple other positions. He has just recently began work as a storyboard artist.

Park Min is an experienced animator who was willing to offer us some insights into life in the Korean animation industry.Midodok: What do you think about your life in the animation industry?
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Park Min: I think that the Korean animation industry and the animation industry in other countries, like Japan and America, are really different. These days, the animator's situation is getting worse and also disappearing. Yes, it's a really bad situation.
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Midodok: How so?
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Park Min: Many animators quit their animation work because they can't make a lot of money and we are all not paid regularly, right? We are not on a regular payment and we have to work long hours to keep the schedule. The schedule is really tight. Many animators have to spend a hard time. You know, my career is 18 years long, but these days, most directors are from my same generation so we are the last remaining animators and there is not many newcomers.
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Park Min: The Korean animation industry is really hard and if they choose to work for the Korean animation industry they have to work hard and study animation. I think many beginners don't want to become an inbetweener and key animator, they always want to become directors without doing all the stuff in between (inbetweening, key animating, final checking, etc.). But they don't like that cost, right?
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Midodok: So how have you lasted in the animation industry if it's so difficult?
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Park Min: If somebody wants to become something, they have to have patience and keep trying until they become something, right? But, the situation these days is really hard. It will take a long time to become a director. I think it is not important to become a director, but to improve themselves and their drawings and their ideas.
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Midodok: What do you think about the Korean animation industry?
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Park Min: We need more creative people in stories and ideas, but up until now, Korean animators have only concentrated on a small part--drawing or making films. But, first of all, we need to improve ourselves as a Korean animation industry, and then have a more adventurous mind. Money is always an issue too, right? And I hope more people get interested in Korean animation, too. But if we make a good animation then we won't have to worry about that.
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Park Min: I think that we need a shock. A shock that looks like a Sputnik from the Korean animation industry. I know these days it is a hard time, but we should force ourselves through it. We can do it!
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Midodok: How can somebody prepare for a career in animation?
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Park Min: I think all kinds of animation are the same even if they have unique styles (Korean, Japanese, American). I think if you wanna become an animator, you should prepare by improving you drawing skills and your understanding of story, right? And you should know about high technology like computer editing and graphics tools. And one more: language. Chinese, English, Korean, Japanese, whatever.
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Midodok: Why should they learn another language?
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Park Min: Up until now, we made animation for a few people. For only that country. But these days, we can show our animation to the whole world. So someday, we can work together to make a good animation. Nationality doesn't matter, but communication is a really important thing. If we work together with foreigners, we should find a solution through conversation if we have a problem. It's very important.
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Park Min: Everybody has the same feelings: happiness, sadness, loneliness. Emotion is the same, even if we have different color skin, language, culture and place. It doesn't matter to making good animation. That's all.
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Midodok: Thank you very much for the interview and your time.Park Min let me look through his current sketchbook and take a couple pictures.His sketchbook had lots of good stuff in it, but I thought you might like these two best. He's got lots more cool stuff posted over at his cool blog.

Park Min likes meeting new people. Feel free to email him or leave questions and comments here.

I especially like Park Min's analogy of Sputnik, and how a lot of hard work can really leave the world in awe of Korean animation. What do you think?

Bill Plympton's Three Rules for Making Short Films

Bill Plympton presented his three rules for making successful short films during PISAF. He calls it 'Plympton's Dogma'. Maybe it can be of use to an aspiring short film maker out there.

Make the film:

1. Short. Anything longer than 5 minutes is difficult to sell.
2. Cheap. He keeps a limit of $1,000 per minute. This way it's easy to make your money back. This is also why he sticks to hand drawn animation.
3. Funny. Funnier films are much more fun and easier to sell than serious ones.

I don't know the cost of the student films presented at PISAF, but the shortest and funniest films seemed to get the most positive reaction out of the audience. Many films were so long and gloomy.

By the way, the image is the back of a postcard that Plympton drew his short film's dog on for all the audience members after his presentation.