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2008-12-03

Yasuji Mori Gallery #1

As promised, here are some samples of Yasuji Mori's artwork. First is this watercolor sketch of Hilda, the tragic heroine from Horus, Prince of the Sun. Hilda was Mori's creation, and he personally animated most of her scenes. The rest were handled by Reiko Okuyama. Together, they helped to create a deeply complex, complicated character unlike anything seen before in anime. And she blazed the trail for everything that followed. Heidi, Marco, Nausicaa, Akira, Evangelion, Paprika, Mind Game - all sprout from this one iconic heroine.



Now here is a sketch from Toei Doga's first color feature film, Hakujaden. The story is based on a Chinese folk tale. This was done in the spirit of reconciliation between China and Japan. This is the first anime movie under the Animation Director system. Sadly, this movie remains almost completely unknown to the outside world. We should work on that.



And here is a collection of character sheets from Toei's 1963 anime classic, Little Prince and the Eight Headed Dragon. This is an animation showcase, endlessly thrilling to watch, and to this day remains among the handful of anime classics. This should prove especially useful to American animators and artists. Mori's skills as an animator just shine. Go ahead, animators - share, share!







1 comment:

asuka said...

little prince and the eight-headed dragon is a good film. apart from the art, it features some strangely sophisticated-looking arcing shots towards the end. very cool.

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