Have you ever wondered how many basic building blocks you need to make a recognizable animated character?
The deconstructed Disney series was designed by Markus Hofko, a New Zealand based artist. The series offers some interesting insight into the way that components of successful cartoon characters come together to make distinct and memorable characters.
To be quite honest, identifying any of the characters portrayed here is no easy task; it can be very difficult to visualize them being taken apart in this fashion. Mickey is an obvious one, as he is likely the most recognizable cartoon in the world, but the ony thing that really gives him away is the widow’s peak hairline and the mouse ears. I can identify all the other small pieces once I compare them to the image, but I can’t look at two oblong white blocks and realize that they’re a character’s eyes.
Goofy is even more cryptic to figure out, as none of the pieces even remotely resemble a head or facial features. His ears look like tails while his muzzle looks like that of a cow. At first, I thought he might even be a cat, because of the whiskers – but those adorn the top of his head, not his cheeks. However, when I see Goofy on TV, I know I could never confuse him for any other character. Somehow, these miscellaneous pieces come together to make an unforgettable image.
Surprisingly, Donald Duck deconstructed almost looks like the whole Donald Duck. Maybe it’s that he’s made up of even simpler pieces than Mickey, or that the colours of his character are very distinct – his yellow bill and blue hat are both very bright. Even the outline of his head is recognizable in this form; overall, he is very distinct, even if he’s not as well-known as Mickey.
Experimental art pieces like this can be interesting and thought provoking, and this similarly-themed Mickey Mouse anatomical sculpture shows what the classic character would look like not as a cartoon but as a three-dimensional flesh-and-blood character. For some more lighthearted Disney fun, you can cartoonify your phone with these Disney iPhone icons, or play a few rounds of Monopoly on this Disney-themed board.
Via: The Fire Wire
