Ilustris: A Polish Flash Cartoon

I couldn’t think of many animations that I know of to write about, so I went onto a world wide web search, after a little while of searching I found this site called Best Flash Animations Site.com

It was full of different animations and flash projects; there were so many I didn’t know where to start, Eventually, however, I came across a cartoon flash animation titled Ilustris This cartoon animation from the get go seemed very different from what I have seen so far in animations, which is very hard considering I have looked at a large variety of flash animations.

To begin, the index or start page of the Ilustris animation was simple yet very effective. It has the main characters in the animation appear as though they are sitting on the edge of a table, almost as though the line is a bench. Also, the page has an option of Polish or English. One would guess that the creator than is Polish? This I know is true from the description of the animation on Best Flash Animations Site.com Anyways, after you chose a language, you can then pick wither a large window or a small window for the flash to play in. I think this is a great option, sometimes there isn’t enough space or sometimes one can’t read or see well so having this option makes the creation even better and interactive; this you will find out is apparent through out the entire animation.

So when I clicked on both options, choosing English and then the large screen another window will pop up in front and a small mouse starts walking around the screen. The user, who is watching this animation, can move around a small drawn in mouse. Then the main animation begins once the small mouse runs back into its hold.

The main animation is a small girl and a small boy; from the way they are drawn in (I will touch upon this is a later paragraph) seem to be young. Moving on, the boy ends up chasing around a bird while the girl continues to stand minding her own business. However, all of a sudden the bird flies out of this box they characters are in and then the girl runs off and the boy falls out of it. The characters then begin creating almost what looks like a living painting of a grassy meadow with flowers and clouds. I do mean that they are literally creating it, because the characters are armed with paintbrushes, ladders, and seem to place everything together.

At different points during the process of creating the scenery, the girl goes into the “painting” and runs around while continuing to add elements into it… this seems so fascinating and very creative in my mind.

The bird even comes back to help the clouds move in the sky. And, towards the “end (there really isn’t one)” the little boy picks one of the flowers out of the “painting” and hands it to her. The little girl is very appreciative and it seems as though the two characters fall in love. They end up sitting on the boarder of the “painting” like it is a bench, which is much like how they are in the index/start page.

One thing you find out by watching this animation and keep going is that it never really ends. The animation is on some type of path where is cycles in the sense that day will turn into night. The characters from where they are will fall asleep and the bird will too. Night then eventually turns into day and the characters awake. All the while they stay in the same spot but do move arms and legs as though they were alive; the girl even smells the flower some. Also, a balloon will pop up, day or night, and bounce around through the screen. This is great because even though the main animation is over, the whole thing continues and will never end.

Last but not least, the way the characters and the environment are drawn looks almost simplistic. They seem like simple pencil drawings and the color pallet is very limited; a basic soft tone pallet with soft green (not typical grass green), a light blue sky and some yellow/white flowers. When it turns to night, everything becomes a few different simple shades of blue. The boy is light blue and the girl is a tone of yellow. The bird is the only character with more than one color tone; being red and yellow.

All is all this animation is very effective in creating a interesting and interactive design where if I so choose I could sent it as an e-card or tell the animation to do something slightly different. The way the characters are drawn seem simple but they are extremely fitting to their environment and the feel of the animation.