One of the latest inspirations for my style is the art of Koko Gate. Her surreal worlds, where love and sexuality are celebrated by strange, sensual, and quite squishy characters, are something that I wanted to explore more in detail. I found out about her art from Instagram and watched all her films on Vimeo. The first film I saw was a music video with a black background that was my main inspiration for the Children Society project. Today I want to discuss the squishy, gradient textures she uses to bring these quirky characters to life.
I noticed that this style is quite modern among RCA animation students, and I saw similar films from this year’s RCA graduation show. In an interview with Cartoonbrew, Koko said that her favorite tool is the airbrush and that she recently started using 3D software. I think that the fly in her latest film – Sluglife is made in 3D while the rest of the film is made in photoshop (not sure, but that’s what I read).
I love the contrast vibrant colors she uses in her personal work. Using an airbrush to do the shadows and the highlights add a 3D feel to the film, without depriving it of the magic of 2D animation. The grainy texture makes the piece look older. It is a combination of old technologies and innovation, that creates the dreamy world in her world. There is no specific time where the actions take place, it is all a surreal universe of exploring human emotions and body.
I wanted to try her style for one of my illustrations and found one that I liked in black and white. It was a drawing devoted to self-care and feeling good in your skin. Channel your inner goddess type of illustration. Instead of using an airbrush, I decided to use a spray paintbrush that has more texture. I kept the design in my personal style and did not change the way I draw her face, and I like the mixture of the two styles. It is something that I will not use in my art all the time but definitely enjoyed exploring it. I think it will find its place in my art eventually.
Bread and Butter,
Nicole