From Drawing to Movement

Yoshinari Yoh and the Stylistic Solutions Developed for Character Design in the "Little Witch Academia" Animation

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to develop a reflection on how the person responsible for creating the character design of an animated work uses pictorial strategies in its configuration in order to solve possible impositions, challenges and limitations present in the production of animation, especially with regard to the configuration of movement. In this way, we used a combination of concepts such as style and paradigm within David Bordwell's problem/solution, the notions of burden and guideline developed by Michael Baxandall, and concepts elaborated by Pierre Bourdieu such as position-taking, and workspace, among others, to help us understand why certain stylistic choices were chosen over others in the visual creation of the characters Atsuko Kagari and Diana Cavendish from the Japanese animation Little Witch Academia (2013), created by Yoshinari Yoh at the Trigger studio.