I can't believe I forgot to post screen shots for the movie that probably inspires me most. This might be my FAVORITE MOVIE. "Mind Game" written and directed by Masaaki Yuasa and animated by Studio 4°C, which is my favorite animation studio. Check out their other offerings like "Tekkon Kinkreet" and Genius Party which i have posted before on this blog. They have an awesome line up of talent at their studio. This is not like other Japanese animation you have seen. This is fresh, crazy, and funny. they use famous japanese comedians as voice actors. They switch styles up a lot of times. I have never been in love with background paintings more in my life. When i saw this a few years back it just smacked me in the face with inspiration. Don't sleep on this movie, get it somehow and watch it! this movie is not only inspirational for artists, but its theme is also inspiration for your life. I cannot recommend this movie enough.

rotoscoping galore, but im ok with it in this movie.

i love the sloppy in the right places backgrounds with lines on top

love the sloppy/exaggerated animation and drawing, its like they maintained the fun loose experimental feel but still made and awesome looking product.

clever color shifts means super eye candy. violent red vs. calm green

crazy styles get thrown in.

as almost everyone knows and cannont deny, Hayao Miyazaki is the man and his latest movie Ponyo was amazing and made me feel as giddy as a little school girl. The Japanese creative mind often leaves me in awe, amazement, and whatever the word would be to describe how i wish i had the creative faculty and mind of a Japanese person that is capable of creating things so different from my western mind. There are a lot of "what the heck is going on this is awesome moments". I don't know how the guys comes up with this stuff but living in Japan everyday i am seeing slowly how its possible if you grew up in Japan. Anyway Joe Hisaishi's music is awesome as always and very fitting. I saw lots of people complaining on IMDB about how the animation was crappy. It wasn't crappy, its stylized. the animation was great and had a fluidity very different from western stuff or even eastern stuff. very imaginative stuff and of course top notch inspiration for artists. Miyazaki's visual style is simple, rounded, soft, but the combination of music, animation, and most of all imaginative elements and story create a universe that is truly inspiring

all hand drawn, no computer animation used in this movie. probably digital cell painting though.

who the heck would think of turning the little mermaid into a goldfish with a face and hair and a quasi dress/body? animated so you can feel it with your eyes no less. what a weird and great character design.

amazing whimsical opening titles.

pastely background work.

i love how miyazaki has tons of gross creatures run away at the switch of a light or like they are here. Just another thing that i guess japanese kids get exposed to and western kids dont because it might scare them.

i like how the animation would get "crappy" at some points. not crappy, just less detailed but still fluid.

the way the water was animated in this movie was great, like it was inbtwn gel and water.

favorite scene in the whole movie, truly magical and imagination capturing.

look at that water in the pot! nice way to stylize water, if only you could see it move. which you should you need to watch this movie!

simplified animation in the back

awesome end credits.

end credits panned over various very long artwork (which i saw in person at the Ghibli museum!). anyway you need to see this movie and you need to see it with subtitles and the Japanese voice track, the actors are always better.