Aesthetics

Seeker is subject to two different forms of aesthetic influence: those of logistics and those of tone.

Logistical Influences

The logistical influences may be more obvious. How could an animated barbarian film not be indebted to the influences and trailblazing of artists like:

• Frank Frazetta One of the most notable fantasy artists of all time, Frazetta lent his talents to Bakshi’s Fire and Ice.
• Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell This husband-and-wife team have created some of the most beautiful fantasy art in the world. Vallejo created the iconic Conan the Barbarian movie poster.
• Moebius The French artist behind Heavy Metal Magazine (Métal Hurlant) is renouned for his fantastical, moment-of-inspiration style. His color palettes should influence those of Seeker.
• Ralph Bakshi The patron saint of adult animation, Bakshi worked closely with Frazetta to create his rotoscoped feature Fire and Ice. He’s also responsible for the rotoscoped The Lord of the Rings.
• James Gurney The master of Imaginative Realism.
• Richard Williams While he is best known for his work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit and, among animation fans, for his unreleased masterpiece The Thief and the Cobbler, Williams’s oscar-nominated short, Prologue (2015), is most relevant to Seeker. The art is a little sketchy, but you can see the potential of the medium.

Rotoscope Animation

Not only have these artists created worlds, they’ve determined which technical processes are best suited to creating the type of fantasy world depicted in barbarian films, namely: rotoscope animation. I am firmly of the opinion that rotoscoping is the only technique with the versatility, subconscious implications, and gravitas to bring the world of Seeker to life. There is no other option.

Live action will necessitate cheesy practical effects and costumes, and highlight subpar acting. Completely hand drawn animation will come across as too lighthearted. Computer animation is better suited to science fiction or at least to fantasy projects based on video games. Only rotoscoping will allow for a seamless blending of effects, an apt comic book aesthetic, a much-needed focus on acting, and an appropriately dark tone.

Tonal Influences

When I was first writing Seeker, my mind was filled with synthwave (specifically the band Magic Sword), bisexual lighting, and neon palettes — basically outrun in a fantasy world. I was considering the work of modern animator and auteur Nick DiLiberto, who gave us Nova Seed and Empress of Darkness.

Then I started looking at Caspar David Friedrich’s paintings.

Caspar David Friedrich

• Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog puts me in mind of Kem standing over the clouds that divide his arid desert home from the verdant forests, which in turn separate him from his destiny.
• Monastery Cemetery in the Snow and The Abbey in the Oakwood evoke the vampire’s crumbling abode.
• The spires in The Cross in the Mountains (the 1812 one, not the more famous 1808 painting of the same name) suggest the xiphoid towers of Umbra Castle.
• The Dreamer depicts a lone young man seated among ruins, watching the sunset.
• The sunny, deciduous forest of Ruin at Eldena could easily be placed beside the stream where Kem meets (and fucks) Silea.

Maxfield Parrish

The aesthetics of fantastical and classical are married in the paintings of Maxfield Parrish. His classical settings, Friedrichian subjects (landscapes with human figures), and psychedelic-yet-realistic palettes would be an excellent inspiration for the production design of Seeker. (While they are beautiful I am less inspired by Parrish’s illustrations.) Specifically, I would like to mention his:

• Reveries and Garden of Allah Servants prepare for the psychedelic, sacrificial orgy at Ampelas’s vineyard.)
• The Glenn Good colors for the deciduous forest in which Kem meets Silea.
• The Dinky Bird Castle Umbra built into the mountains, probably with crenelations and xiphoid spires rather than the Tuscanesque cones.
• At Close of Day Look at that sky! Can’t you just imagine that eerie, beautiful gradient, crepuscular sky as Kem slowly finds his faculties diminished and his body overwhelmed in the orgy at the vineyards. Metaphorical.
• And, of course, his most famous piece, Daybreak.

Color Palette

The color palette of Seeker should be coherent. In Turning Red *, the characters lived in a pastel world. The characters in Seeker should live in a neon world, like those in Empress of Darkness.

That said, there should still be strict delineations between scenes. One of the problems I had with Strange World * was that the characters lived with such quotidian wonder that it was impossible to feel awe when they discovered a new, supposedly more fantastic world. I.e. there was no mundane reality to provide contrast.

In Seeker, we are always in a wondrous setting. However, things get darker. We transition from the majesty of light (the realm of the Green Wizard) to the esoteric night (the realm of Mara, Queen of Shadows). Each setting should have a color primarily associated with it, while remaining germane to the film’s overarching aesthetic. I won’t go so far as to say that everything should look like a black light poster come to life, but we shouldn’t be far off. Again, think of the naturalistic neon of Maxfield Parrish.

* I’m sorry I’m referencing kids’ movies, but part of what I hope to address with Seeker is the paucity of adult animation. Please let me get away with it.