Sometimes, famous directors and TV shows bring out the artist within. Such is the case of French animator and graphic designer Martin Woutisseth, who created some astonishing animated opening credits for Breaking Bad.
The artist (I believe he is entitled to this appellation), is not at his first mind-blowing masterpiece. In the past, he has illustrated the filmographies of Tim Burton and Stanley Kubrick, the latter being particularly good. After finishing “Tim Burton – a filmography”, Woutisseth realized that he must keep working and turned his attention to Breaking Bad, one of the best TV series of the past years that he is a fan of.
Martin Woutisseth explains how he chose to turn the initial illustrations into an animated video: “I decide to just make a tribute to Walter White by making an illustration, and then it was missing Jesse Pinkman, so I made it after. Why not a bad guy? So I made Gustavo, and etc etc. Until I had thirteen characters. From that step, I was thinking, why not to make an animation? But I thought, only characters would be weak… And after two filmography (Kubrick and Burton) both in the same style, I needed to create something more dynamic and rock and roll, but still keeping my style and improving my motion design skills. Backgrounds were interesting to create. I wanted the viewers to feel the atmosphere of New Mexico, with the USA and Mexican influence.”
The above illustrations are available as 8″x8″ prints in the artist’s shop for $14.99 each, a very small price for such works of art, if you ask me.
The ones who are curious about the music used in the following video might be happy to know that the song is called “Mexico” and it is played by Gringo. Personally, I think it fits very well the atmosphere of the illustrated opening credits. More than that, it resembles the soundtracks of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” or “From Dusk Till Dawn”.
There is certainly a spark of genius in Martin Woutisseth and I simply cannot imagine how come such a talented man isn’t already working for a famous studio. What I’d like to see next from him? Illustrated opening credits for Game of Thrones and, why not, even The Big Bang Theory. I really don’t think that he should stick to a single genre.
If you liked this post, please check the stop-motion TMNT opening sequence and the Hawkeye series.
