Study Visit - Winnie the Pooh and The Isle of Dogs

The V&A conveniently are running an exhibition of the work of AA Milne and EH Shepherd on Winnie the Pooh (with the worlds most irritating website...) which had loads of the iconic drawings. Shepherd was a master of his craft and worked alongside Milne to create the stories not just to interpret them. His drawings really portray the characteristics of the toys, the impassive face of Pooh reflects his unflappable nature, the body language of Eeyore  shows his depressive character. They also capture the movement in the stories, Christopher Robin leaning backwards holding a sheet to catch Tigger or looking carefree walking along eating an apple. It was great to see the evidence of working and reworking to get the best drawing and the white paint to hide the evidence. Shepherds tree drawings are stunning, they really capture a sense of place. His work is timeless, because the scenes are mostly from nature or capture the basics of the house such as a bath or the stairs, they could have been drawn today.

To follow this 180 The Strand has a free exhibition of sets from the animated film The Isle of Dogs which was made using stop motion animation. The sets were incredibly detailed, Wes Anderson apparently has a reputation for this. Interestingly they ranged in size which I guess depended on the action details of the scene. The story was storyboarded then the voices were recorded before the animation began. One scene truncated the distance by placing unnaturally small pylons at the back. I need to see the film.