Marcin Jakubowski was Integral to Keeping the Art Direction of Klaus Cohesive and Complete
The Art and Animation style of the hit movie Klaus for Netflix has been something that amazed and intrigued those of us in the Dev community, a level of skill in the 2D animation that lead many to believe it was a partially 3D. As one of two production designers on the team, Marcin helped create and apply a new shading method that helped incorporate the characters far better into the world around them. This method is what created some of the most dynamic 2D animation in recent.
“ I had an opportunity to develop the shading system for 2D animation. In a traditional approach animated characters are just flat cels put on a fully rendered backdrop. If there’s any shadow on them it’s either entirely sharp or uniformly soft. This makes the character flat and detached from the background. I’ve found a way to apply different aspects of light onto the character i.e. shadows, bounced light, ambient light, skin translucency etc. This way we make the characters visually appealing, volumetric and fully integrated with the surrounding background. “Klaus” is the first project using this technique.” -Marcin Jakubowski, Website
Marcin Jakubowski has an amazing art style, one that is reminiscent the later work of animators like Don Bluth but with a flair and form that is very much unique to Marcin. He attends to fine details with an intimacy that tells of long practice with the medium and a full comfort in the style, details like hair, clothing and lighting all incorporated wonderfully to create perfect snapshots of complete worlds.
Marcin has worked on a lot of projects during his 17 years being an artist in the industry. Working primarily as an illustrator during that time before getting into film, his dream, within the last decade. He has several other animations and concepts under his belt, Smallfoot from Warner Bros. Pictures being a noteworthy addition. After the success of Klaus he is likely working on more awesome projects as we speak so keep an eye out for new work!
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Images via ARTSTATION
