Javier Mariscal presentation

Last night the talk at ENSCI was less industrial design slanted as it usually is which made for a refreshing change. We were given a presentation by Spanish illustrator Javier Mariscal. He has recently drawn the animations for the film 'Chico and Rita' written by Fernando Trueba as well as released a comic style graphic novel adaption of the film.

The storyline follows the passionate love between a Cuban pianist and a singer in Havana and New York in the 1950s and the lively jazz music accompanying the film give it a real latino feel. Javier spoke to us about his research process in the essence of the 50s and in particular the ambience of the two contrasting cities, Havana and New York. Interestingly enough (and rather relevantly as we are in the middle of our colour workshop) he spoke a lot about the importance of capturing the iconic colours of the cities in portraying their character.

50's Havana was a city oozing with joie de vivre and plenty of personality. As well as the vivid green of the natural world, three colours dominated the cityscape- pastel yellow, swimming pool blue and an earthy red. Javier noted that the abundance of sunlight within Havana meant that all the colours had been bleached and were pale and easy on the eye. The colours of 50's New York couldn't have been more different. Of course the iconic primary yellow of the cabs was to be seen everywhere as well as tomato red. Also the colour gold, the colour of wealth, money and hope was everywhere. These were set among a sea of grey architecture.

It was really interesting to learn about his research and the extensive work over the 6 years it took him to create the animation, I only hope that viewers will really appreciate the accuracy of his colour choices as I know, like us in our colour workshop, it took him a lot of mixing to create the precise shades!