RESEARCH – Genndy Tartakovsky (Hotel Transylvania)
Below will be an in-depth analysis of the aesthetics, techniques, and processes employed in the art style of famous animator, Genndy Tartakovsky.
I began my research into Tartakovsky by creating a simple poster that I could use to distill a general picture of his artistic style. This allowed me later on to delve deeper into each aspect of his creative process. This also aided me in not getting overwhelmed or confused in my research:
(This above poster is 122 words in length)
My main takeaway from this poster is the simultaneous simplicity & dynamism of artistic design that Genndy manages to balance so well.
However, I wanted to understand in explicit detail his process of sketching and designing these characters so I could better implement these elements into my own character’s design. Therefore, I collated some sketches I found attributed to him:
In this reference page are some key things to note – his designs are delightfully concise. He simplifies the forms of his characters to their most basic shapes. Dracula’s head is literally just a diamond no matter what angle you draw him from. I think within that design technique there is a certain RELIABILITY that makes you never doubt exactly which character you’re looking at regardless of pose or camera shot. That is possibly why his work is so successful for children and young teens. The designs are so simple yet dynamis that they practically BEG to be animated!
But the wide variety of shapes he uses also means that he can really push how far he exaggerates these character designs. Just look at all the variations of Johnny’s face [Bottom-right] that Tartakovsky manages to sketch in the background of Johnny’s early concept art.
Adding to this streak of exaggerated shapes is the exquisite chunkiness with which he draws character’s limbs and digits. The almost square tipped fingers of characters like Johnny and Samurai Jack in most other art styles would simply clash too much with the overall design – but not Tartakovsky. He manages to make these obtuse limbs seem not “harsh” but… exciting! – jagged, edgy, action-filled. This probably comes from the great influence that graphic comic books have had on him.
I then wanted to analyse not only the shapes but also the overall form of Tartakovsky’s designs to see if I could find any common patterns. So I made this deconstructive diagram below:
The first thing I notice is the black silhouettes and how Tartakovsky manages to convey so much by just the general outline of the character. In my opinion, (regardless of gender) the forms of characters seems to always indicate such clear traits about their personalities. Characters with tucked limbs or “tight” body structure like Mavis [Top-Left] and Frank [Bottom-Left] are typically characters I would associate with commanding more presence. Frank obviously possesses this because of his sheer size and strength as well, but if he had a base pose as expressive as, say, Johnny’s, we might find him less imposing/. This might weaken moments in the film where his strength is on display e.g. when Dracula tries to convince Frank that he and Johnny (dressed up like a halloween costume version of Frankenstein’s monster) that they are related. There is a tense moment in this exchange where Frank appraises Johnny with a menacing glare… before comically accepting the ruse as truth. Mavis is the same, she commands presence both because she a main character (and Dracula’s daughter) but also because of her more reserved form which implies a degree of “coolness” and “ease” with which she navigates the narrative. Though while Frank is more blocky – Mavis is more hour-glass shaped – and bends always to the side – which implies a capacity for “tipping” toward a more aloof side aka. the aloof side of her boyfriend Johnny. And let’s talk about Johnny [Top-Right] because his design is by far the most expressive here. He does not command “respect” or “presence” or “coolness” in the same way that Frank or Mavis do – he is goofy, expressive, and loud. This is made clear in his outspread posture! A certain level of expressiveness is also seen in the form of the character Ericka [Bottom-Right] (who does hide some of her double-sided nature in the angular nature of her design) but who presents at the outset as very expressive and bubbly and sweet. We see this in her curvy and expressive pose. Another thing I can say Tartakovsky does in almost all of his models to some degree is this kind of extreme “tapered-limb” effect. We see this most clearly in the small thin legs of Johnny contrasted with his oversized cargo shorts – or the thin limbs of Mavis
MY DESIGN:
For my design I wanted to take into account as many of these ideas as I could. I was leaning more towards a Johnny/Ericka design. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to do an expressive character. Here is my character:
She is a skeletal tomboy-ish lady from the 1920’s-ish era. The various aspects of her design were inspired by Hotel Transylvania characters.
Her overall body type is very similar to Ericka in the curvaceous legs and wide waist – but I wanted to see how far I could push the wackiness of her design so I want to give her a very masculine and blocky torso. The shirt-puffs along her arms are accentuated by black ribbons tied around them at various points to show how skeletal she is. The somewhat blocky head was borrowed partly from Frank and from other cartoon skeleton sources I will show below. I wanted her silhouette to look incredibly neat and very easily recognisable in the style of Tartakovsky. In terms of colour I went with brighter colours. Aside from the vampires in Hotel Transylvania – most of the characters lean more on the brighter side in terms of their colour palettes – mainly because they are designed for children and young teens. I wanted to see how mixed I could keep the gendered form of the character to show how well Tartakovsky communicates personality via character shape and pose so very very well – regardless of their gender. I also made use of the large exaggerated eyes that the characters in Hotel Transylvania all have.
I also took inspiration from various other sources which I compiled into posters below:
The above poster contains a lot of different Pinterest pictures I mashed together to give myself some sources outside of Tartakovsky’s style so I could make something unique.
The above poster contains a lot of different pictures of cartoon characters. E.g. characters like Frida Kahlo form Coco or (very lucky to find this) the actual skeleton from Hotel Transylvania who appears briefly.