studio shanghai

these screencaps are from a chinese animation
masterpiece - MUDI, or - the boy with the bamboo flute.
animated in 1963 by TE WEI and QIAN JAJUN, produced
by studio shanghai.
when I was teaching in china last year I had a chance
to meet several of the animators of studio shanghai's
past. most of them are now teaching animation to
the new generation of artists.
the animation technique of the above film is very
interesting. when I was visiting studio shanghai
I saw a few originals. some of the animation was
done in the traditional chinese watercolor technique
on special watercolor paper. the backgrounds were
painted with cel paint and ink on cels and then photo-
graphed on top of the animation. the other way
around. beautiful watercolors!