One thing I’ve learned about writing is ”give everything a face”. It’s no good to write passively that the nobility fled the city or that the toxic marshes were poisoning the animals beyond any ability to function. Make a protagonist see how a desperate woman in torn silks climbs onto a carriage and speeds off, or a two-headed deer wanders right into the camp and into the fire. Don’t just have an ambiguous flock of all-controlling oligarchy, name one or two representatives of it, and illustrate just how vile and greedy they are as people.
it’s bad to have characters who serve no purpose in the story, but giving something a face is a perfectly valid purpose.
How dare you. The animation for Shrek at the time was INSANE.
I feel like what people who were born after Shrek always miss is that it was actually a huge unironic cultural sensation. The minions want what Shrek had. The mcu sits awake at night cursing lord farquaad because they could never have a villain as well written as him
Shrek was a revolution for 3D CG animation.
Compare human figures in Toy Story (1995)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Monsters Inc. (2001)
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001)
and Shrek (2001)
Even Shrek himself counts
Look at that detail - Shrek and Farquaad have subtle stubble, Shrek has liver spots on his scalp, characters have pores on their skin, Shrek’s ears here even have a subtle transparency like real skin and cartilage. His linen tunic has scruffy and rough edges and lint bobbing on the shoulders. Shrek doesn’t just represent a step forward, it represented a BIG jump. Look back at the early 3D Pixar films and you’ll see a progression in what 3D software could effectively render - first plastic toys, then chitinous insects, then scaly or leathery monsters with an enterprising look into the astoundingly complicated field of hair and fur. Shrek is a joke now, but it revolutionised the field of animation. Shrek finally prompted the Academy to add an Award for Best Animated Feature; after Beauty and the Beast lost Best Picture a few years before, Shrek was the point they could no longer dismiss the art and effort that go into animated films.
It also killed interest in 2D animation in the west but that’s none of my business
Never forget that they had to tone down the detail on Fiona’s hair because it looked TOO realistic to the point it was distracting.
I’m posting spooky comics all month long on my Patreon!
I forgot to mention this is based on a Reddit story that I got permission to illustrate! Tumblr only allows 10 photos so the cover image with credit got chopped.
