Blue Sky Studios Art Director Tom Cardone talks us through how his team created the visual style of Ferdinand…
The real-world location helped towards that aim.
The story takes place in the Andalusian region of Southern Spain and in Madrid.
They wanted to pull the style from the story, says Tom, but also from the culture.
We kept seeing these beautiful rolling hills and beautiful clouds.
His dimensions then determine those of the stylised world around him.
The goal was to make things a little more fun than photorealism.
We were looking for an elegance to things, but a stylisation as well.
That stylisation carries through into the films use of colour.
Three hedgehog characters for instance, are unrealistic shades of blue.
Their personality called for something more fun than just grey or an earth tone, explains Tom.
If something is made out of wood, its not necessarily just brown, it could be a colour.
The colour can be whatever suits the story at that point in the film.
A gate, for instance, might be yellow ochre or red rather than brown.
Patterns discovered decorating traditional Spanish ceramics were lifted and adapted to decorate the world ofFerdinand.
The team restricted themselves to bold use of limited colour to give it more of a fun feel.
Speaking of colour, a problem the designers faced was the expanse of dark shade in their title character.
Silhouettes are always important in animation, but this was really important.
Thats in everything that we do, says Tom.
In every design, there should be something Big, something Small and something Tiny to add visual interest.
Thats why Ferdinands hooves are comically undersized in comparison with his huge shoulders, for instance.
That goes for the vehicle and city architecture designs as much as for the characters.
All our vehicles have strange proportions, says Tom.
It makes them fun to look at and makes you smile even when theyre not moving.
The idea was to bring humour into everything that were designing.
Even the chain-links on a fence are stretched out a little bit, even a grain-sack or a light.
Nothing is just normal proportions, if it belongs to the compound, its stretched.
In terms of texture, the key thing wasnt to overpower the characters.
Simplicity was combined with complexity to stimulate the eye and avoid flatness without becoming too noisy.
Big, small, tiny.
Flowing curves and stretched vertical lines.
Ferdinand is out this weekend.
