Oddly in Love
The Brief from illo:
"Oddly in Love: Handle with weirdness" exhibition is a celebration of strange loves, peculiar gestures, and the small, unexpected details that make us fall for someone or something. With this call, we invite you to explore the quirky, unconventional aspects of affection that make us smile, laugh, and are undeniably captivating. Whether it’s a strange obsession or an odd gesture, we want to see what makes love truly unique. Lorenzo Badioli, creator of the "Pupetti Tutti Matti" project, will join the jury and share his world of quirky characters and unconventional loves at the opening.
I had anticipated that this year would yield some manner of Moby Dick inspired animation; 2025 has been the year of Moby Dick for me, after all. I thought the Moby Dick tattoo would come before the MD animation, but here we are. It's the perfect occasion to get the tattoo on the books.
I love Moby Dick, it's my favorite book.
To love me is to accept this book and the overwhelming significance that it holds and the space that it takes up in my life.
Ishmael and Queequeg love each other, whether you interpret it as a deeply platonic love or are open to a more queer interpretation. (And this book is queer!)
I look no further than the scene where they're rendering a whale and they have to squeeze the clumps out of the oil in order to keep it smooth, where in the process they keep squeezing each others' hands, no one complaining.
And lastly, Melville dedicated the book to Nathaniel Hawthorne, arguably his life's great love.
We'd start on the book's cover, the edition with the Rockwell Kent illustration of the whale breeching. The whale would breech, crash down into the ocean and from there the book would open. Once open, Ishmael and Queequeg emerge and embrace. Warm feelings abound and then we close the book, landing back on the cover.
Once I had the loose concept down, I asked how does one break this down to 5-8 seconds? My original storyboards were a little searching. Low on detail and we hadn't quite settled on the hardcover cover as hints of my tattered, dog eared paperback still lingered.
The color palette came easy. I knew I needed a few specifics– a white for Moby Dick, a dark blue for the ocean/Queequeg's tattoos and some kind of golden yellow. I can't explain it but when I think Moby Dick colors, this is what I see. There's something old library about the overwhelming warmth and weathering of it. The perfect foxed paper colors.
What gave me the most trouble was the treatment of Ishmael and Queequeg. There was so much searching here.
The 5:4 format created a lot of my problems. The way that I saw it in my head just would not translate to a composition that felt good. They were always off balance and too far away. When I tried to place them in bed from that famous scene in The Spouter Inn, that created a new host of problems.
Ultimately I took a total departure and landed here. It was as close to how I had imagined it while still being way different from what I thought it should be. I love the swoops of their arms, the way their eyes meet. They're at once platonic loves and queer lovers, which was really where I was trying to land.
This is where we landed after the animation was completed. I had originally envisioned Ishmael and Queequeg emerging like a pop up from the pages (there is a French language pop-up Moby Dick in my collection) but it didn't quite land.
The swoops of color leading into them were a last minute decision. I loved the idea of them being painted onto the page, the way I pictured Melville bringing them to life at his table in front of the window. Lovingly crafted in order to love each other.
At this stage I was quite happy with the full animation, but something still felt like it was missing. I wanted a touch more texture and I wanted sound. Enter: Brandon Habowski, my sound designer partner from Design Before Motion.
What Brandon added cannot be put into words. It brought the final piece to a whole new level, once again proving that sound can elevate a piece of animation in a totally unique way. I had asked him to work his magic while I waited to see if the submission would be selected. Sound wasn't part of the requirements, but I knew I wanted to have it for my own personal archive and use.
While the submission may not have been selected (bummer) I'm so glad that my delusions of grandeur got the best of me and I animated this piece. You never know where a brief can take you and this one gave me an excuse to do some hand drawn animation that was way out of my comfort zone and I got to spend some time with a subject matter that's really special to me. I'd call this project a resounding success based on those metrics.