Watercolour animation tells melancholy tale

Simon Cottee’s 2011 graduate project for the Griffith University Queensland College of Art in Australia has won him a flurry of awards, and it's now available to watch online. It's a good example of a less-is-more approach, with the simple and reserved 2D animation standing back so the storytelling and the curious interactions between characters can come to the forefront.

The melancholy tale sees a boy attends his estranged father's wedding to a large Latina woman aboard a small and cramped boat on a shark infested sea. The use of watercolours in the illustrations adds to the poetic, reflective nature of the often absurd story. The only niggle we have is the monotone narration - it would be great to see what a big name voice actor could add to the short...

Photoshop was used to create the background and After Effects for the character animation. Keep up with Cottee’s regular posts about the making of his second film, The Duck, at simoncottee.com or on Twitter.

Words: Alex Williamson

Alex Williamson is an art and design student in London, who blogs about design, art and illustration. Follow him on Twitter.

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