In this blog post, is a collection of my research findings on visual storytelling in animation, This is an extended supplement to my essay proposition, and is intended to provide proof and examples of the inner workings, give examples, and further expand general knowledge on the topic that I wish to implement into my essay in the near future.

In 2014, I was in high school and was around the ages between 12 and 13. I spent many hours of my time on websites such as YouTube and NewGrounds. It was there that I discovered some of my greatest influences and aspired to follow in their footsteps. Online animation provided from creators such as Egoraptor, OneyNG, Rubberninja, Stamper, PsychicPebbles, Redminus, The Wax, Sonic Paradox, and various more; were all I consumed online before an age of short form video content such as Tik Tok, Youtube Shorts, and even Vine.

When observing the panel, the creators would go in depth on their independent animation journeys individually, on how they created animated parodies of popular culture, specifically video game franchises such as Mario, Metal Gear Solid, Left 4 Dead, Sonic, Minecraft, etc.

How this informs and reflects on myself, would be that upon finding these creators through the pre-conceived admiration of Nintendo and Sega games as a child, I would then find their parodies and become enthralled with each new release they would make from then on, as well as their own original projects such as Game Grumps, Oney Plays, Bowlbo, Smiling Friends, Nightmare Cops, etc. I would find their uprisings on the internet to inspire me to make my own animations, starting from self taught techniques, onto fully developed animated content that has been shown on Youtube and Newgrounds as a metaphorical and in-direct passing of the torch in a smaller scaled sense.

In the education field, animation has been properly talked about by industry professionals on panels and live talks such as TED. And in this talk, Kyoung Lee Swearingen gives insight on her job as a lighting technician at Pixar studios, and her work on the hit films "The Incredibles", "UP", "Toy Story 3", and "Ratatouille". 

Swearingen talks about colour, light, darkness, and how the scene must speak louder than any character could in that moment. Her greatest example being if a character is sad, the scene must metaphorically cry for them in being dimly lit with appropriate colours, shot with low angled camera shots, and how the environment's mood compliments the focal point, which would be the main character we are following in that moment.

This talk session informs me that when considering my own animation, despite being a different format from that of Pixar's signature 3D, I too will consider colours, lighting, camera shots, and so on.

In The hit heavy metal-fuelled 80s animated film 'Transformers: The Movie'. The film introduces the protagonist team: The Autobots, when the villainous adversaries in 'The Decepticons' strike the human's home base. The leader of the protagonists, Optimus Prime; rides in with power and authority to stop the attack, met with fanfare from the innocent and disgruntlement from the villains.

The animation in this scene features massive hulking-framed robots who can transform into vehicles, and fight in a fictionally developed warfare of their own kind. This is communicated towards the viewer with expertly handled shots and cinematography, colours ranging from lighter shades to darker near the end which invokes a feeling of suspense. These elements help in aiding a triumphant entry into the fight, as we watch Prime ride into battle that would invoke euphoric fanfare from the audience, as he detains most of Megatron's team. However that dissipates when Megatron and Prime come face to face, as Megatron is a formidable rival; landing a blow to Prime's side, and sending a shocking juxtaposition from the heroic crusade we were shown, to something more sinister, as Megatron stands up to Prime and wounds him badly enough, to the point where Prime dies later in the film (he gets revived later in the cartoon series).

Despite being a complimentary cutscene to a 90s Sega video game, the opening cinematic animation Sonic The Hedgehog CD has prevailed as a prime example of animated excellence all on it's own.

​We are introduced to this game in a way that pixels and gameplay could never execute on their own. Animated in a Japanese classic 2D anime style and accompanied by the songs: 'Sonic Boom' or 'You Can Do Anything' depending on the region of America or Europe and Japan, Sonic CD propels the main character of Sonic The Hedgehog forward by showing the viewer his main ability of speed and agility, translating the game into a medium that tells the same general narrative and concept in it's own euphoric way. Sonic himself is shown as determined, heroic, cool, and easily relatable in his quest to reach the imprisoned dwarf planet of aptly named 'Little Planet' that is chained over 'Never Lake' by the villainous Doctor Eggman. This is further emphasised as a suspenseful moment, since we have mostly seen light colours, presenting freedom as sonic makes his way up to the planet, before revealing much darker colours in grey and dark blue, before the steel-cold black areas on the planet itself. As we see sonic look over the lake, and up to the dwarf planet; the perspective shot lingers in the heads of the viewers, as Sonic himself reacts by relaxing his posture at the scale, illustrating to us as the audience that he is taking on something far larger than himself, and only through 2D visuals can we see his amazing power and speed to traverse up to the planet by scaling the enlarged chain holding the planet down.

The classic depiction of Batman has been one of the greatest examples of good vs evil, but when the 90s had seen Warner Bros Animation buy the rights to Batman, we would see a very different aesthetic and tone to the dark knight's adventures. An effective moment that shows in every episode from the seminal 'Batman: The Animated Series', is it's quality visual storytelling in it's intro, accompanied by the glorious music of Danny Elfman, previously extracted from Tim Burton's 'Batman (1989)' blockbuster film.

The intro's biggest strength lies in its attention to detail on it's marriage between industry-level quality illustration, and it's equally high in quality animation. The animation sequence balances shapes, colours, detailing, and character design on a perfect level between simplicity, and a visually pleasing art style that was curated for this programme in particular by Bruce Time called 'Dark Deco'. A culmination of previously instated art movements, 'Art Nouveau' and 'Art Deco'.

As for the narrative of the animation, it gives plenty of suspenseful action and translates Batman's nightly patrol very well without any dialogue. This is topped off with an amazingly composed final frame lit up by an electric bolt of lightning, showing batman as a protective force to be reckoned with. The connotation of watching an intro such as this, a well made one at that; is to make people want to watch a full episode.
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Though only a clip from a scene, I found the gentle, warm embrace of Ashitaka as he offers San his love and affection to be a very well-handled showcase in human emotion and expression through traditional 2D animation.

Princess Mononoke is a very powerful, emotionally provoking film that covers several topics on human nature, and how greed can turn the innocent and most well-intended people into monsters in the eyes of another person, even against popular belief by a majority. Throughout the film, young man Ashitaka, and wild princess, San; have been at odds. Ashitaka wishes to make peace between the human and animal life in ancient Japan, particularly in the 'Muromachi' war time period. The animation, while simplistic; holds so much emotional weight in the warning, buildup of suspense, strike of San's knife into his chest, and release of pathos that shows after she realises that he never intended to hurt her, as she lived a life where other humans like her have abused, tortured, plundered and taken from her family in the animals, particularly the wolves that her outfit is designed after. They are both highlighted as the only two shimmering examples of light, having the environment around them shrouded in darkness and blue hues to promote the scene's tonal connotation of sadness further.

What makes this scene so pivotal, in particular this animated sequence above all the others; is that it shows Ashitaka is such a matured individual that he understands exactly how San feels, and allows her in to himself to share her pain with him, even if she believes that he wants to hurt her. The two share a bond that could have also have been shown through live action, but is made all the more impactful from the fact that it was so closely replicated in an animated format.

The classic shenanigans of SpongeBob Squarepants has always been an animation mainstay, as it continues on to its 16th Season in 2025. And it's greatest strength in visual storytelling through the use of 2D animation, is building the catharsis and chaos of what it promises to you in not only it's intro sequence with the lyrics reading "if naughtical non-sense be something ye wish", but it's first episode 'Reef Blower'.

It's a very simplistic narrative in concept, relatibility, colours, and art style. But where it becomes most apparent is in it's animation; as it turns a simplistic concept in blowing leaves off of your front garden, into something chaotic. SpongeBob approaches concepts such as this with a comedic element, and executes them into a well done projection and exaggeration of our real life. The show dresses itself in underwater theming, and is fully aware of that in taking advantage of it as a visual gag, which pays off at the expense of SpongeBob's Anti-Hero Ensemble; Squidward Tentacles. The animation is purely meant to entertain and bring a new meaning to a mundane situation.

The episode does an exceptional job at displaying the clear connotations of the character's intentions, and does so entirely without the use of any words except for one moment that utilises the word "You!" to it's advantage, and almost makes a metaphorical joke of itself. 

Persona 3 follows the character of Makoto Yuki, as you manipulate his thoughts, feelings, friendships, education, and general day to day life as he joins a group of saviours that wish to prevent the world's destruction in succumbing to a evil entity that wishes to engulf the world in darkness. In this journey, the theming of death follows the main character until his untimely death when he makes a sacrifice that prevents the entity of death itself in dismantling the world. The effects of this can be felt not only by the person partaking in playing the game, but also the friends you and Makoto have made along the way.

In the intro cutscene to the Japanese role playing game: Persona 3, It shows a very abstract and literal approach to presenting its themes which take place throughout the narrative of the game. It's a similar case to Sonic The Hedgehog CD, in the fact that it prepares you for the artificial journey you are about to embark on; albeit in a much darker, phenomenal, and despairing manner than that of the former. As stated before, death is very much the core theme, and is instantly told by the use of typography and blurry, untextured drawings and imagery. Death, and it's synonymous connotations are all displayed in not just English, but latin, Spanish, and more languages. In retrospect, the intro cutscene becomes clearer on repeat rewatches, as they knew people would return to the cutscene after every play session, which makes it's theming gradual and chaotic to discover as you make more sense of the theming and semiotical value other than the game itself.

With Spawn: The Animated Series, the animation lends itself gracefully to it's metaphor on life after death, and being careful what you wish for. Al Simmons, a former mercenary and current demonic servant gone rogue; has found himself returned from the grave after making a deal with a demonic entity that has offered Al his old life back, but at a cost. In Spawn, Al returns to his grave in a hauntingly chilling scene where he digs up and obtains his old wedding ring that was buried with him. This sombre display would soon turn to horror as Al's corpse came alive and grabbed his new demon formation; spouting insults and vile words at his now current status in the afterlife.

The overall colouring of the scene is very drab, monochromatic and depressing, as it reflects the inner confilct that Al is feeling when looking down at who he used to be before he was murdered. And despite the turmoil, Al returns his remains to the coffin it rested in and leaves. 

The seminal Spiderman comic book stories have been, and are being continuously adapted and created as far back as they were created in the late 60s By Marvel Comics. However I found most of their stories to be best adapted in The Spectacular Spiderman animated programme of the 2000s when I was growing up. No other character of Spiderman's villains gallery was treated as delicately with such detail as 'Eddie Brock/Venom'.

​The Spectacular Spiderman adapted Venom's arc very well, with much more contextual detail and focus on Eddie's descent from being Peter Parker/Spiderman's ally; into something monstrous and like a dark reflection of Spiderman to match his ego on even grounds. The ending to the episode where Spiderman would shed the alien substance he had been being controlled by gradually, called the 'Symbiote'; Had led a despairing Eddie into the laboratory of their school late one night, and would provoke anger and vitriol from Eddie after Spiderman told him to stay away from it. After Spiderman failed to destroy it, Eddie would feel a connection with the Symbiote and form a bond with it; in a grotesque, cage-like dream sequence. After both Eddie and the Symbiote share a common hatred for Spiderman, they transform into Venom, a name given to them both to counteract Spiderman's heroic demeanour. 

The scene is handled with connotations synonymous to that of despair, anguish, heartbreak, and Vengeance. Leading a well-intended character to become something they were never meant to become.

Todd McFarlane:

Aubrey Beardsley

Tim Burton:

Gerard Way:

James O'Barr: