Monday, February 4, 2013

Anthony F. Schepperd

EyesDown


Anthony Francisco Schepperd is a 2-D animator currently living and working in Philadelphia.  His interest in animation was sparked at the age of 11 while attending a summer camp.  While Schepperd drew throughout his childhood, until recently his efforts were geared towards traditional painting.  Schepperd used to see animation as an immature art form; traditional painting was the well respected route he planned to take.  When he was asked to produce an animation for a music video three years ago, Schepperd rediscovered the love he has towards the relationship between movement in animation and music.  He now works creating music videos, short sketches, and advertisements using tablets and various programs such as TVPaint.



I interpret Schepperd's work as being heavily influenced by environmentalism.  In Two Against One, the man's life falls apart after he kills a deer; he may, in a sense, be killing the spirit of the forest.  This comes back to haunt him.  EyesDown may be viewed as technology's struggle to coexist with the natural world.  Nature survives in the end (the somewhat barren plain) and there are still slight flickers of technology; progress can fall apart but never entirely be reversed.  The Music Scene, my favorite of the three videos, is somewhat blunt about the destructive road technologic progress is currently on.  We endlessly consume resources only to expel waste (the apples being shredded).  Nature ends up failing us because we have exhausted it; we cannot forget the roots of our progress (pun intended).


I had the pleasure of being exposed to Schepperd's work when a friend showed me the music video for The Music Scene.  Soon after I watched his other videos and fell in love with his animation.  The fluidity of changing shapes paired in time with the music is a fantastic sensory experience.  I also really enjoy the high contrast between dull and bright colors throughout most of his videos.  I look forward to viewing more of his work in the future.


Two Against One


The Music Scene

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