 | 13 November 2014 |
| |
| BBC Homepage | | |
| |||
| Contact Us | | |
Film, TV and AnimationYou are in: Manchester > Entertainment > Arts, Film and Culture > Film, TV and Animation > Bringing Leonardo to life Bringing Leonardo to lifeWhen you've done Danger Mouse and ‘Chorlton And The Wheelies’ - where do you go next? Well, for creative inspiration, who better than Leonardo Da Vinci? That's been the latest project for the Manchester animation studio, Cosgrove Hall.  Anatomical drawing by Leonardo da Vinci Cosgrove Hall is currently celebrating 30 years of making some of the nation's favourite animated characters from Danger Mouse to Fifi and the Flowertots. But when it comes to drawing, that's just kids stuff. Try Leonardo da Vinci... Last year, the Chorlton studio was commissioned by the V&A museum in London to bring to life some of da Vinci's many sketches of his ideas and inventions. The results have just gone on show. Help playing audio/video Until now, da Vinci's sketches have remained static. But now, thanks to Cosgrove Hall's skilled animators, you can see Leonardo's helicopter take flight, or watch his anatomical drawings run and jump.  One of Cosgrove's computer images The beautiful, innovative film animations graphically depict the precious pages and small notebooks in which da Vinci detailed his observations and theories and promise to be the highlight of the exhibition about how da Vinci thought on paper. A challengeDa Vinci used his notebooks as a kind of laboratory for thinking and his style of his art is a world away from Danger Mouse et al. Yet the animators at Cosgrove Hall in Chorlton-cum-Hardy say his drawings were a gift to work with.  Animator: Steve Maher Lead animator Steve Maher said: "To be asked to animate the drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci was both a thrilling and daunting task. What was a revelation was how many of the preoccupations of an animator Leonardo shared – the analysis of proportion and anatomy, the formalized notation of the shapes the mouth makes in speech, capturing movement in a sequence of drawings – all of these are the basic framework of the animators art and all are there in Leonardo’s notebooks." So if you're heading down to London, make sure you drop in to the V&A Museum and look out for that Cosgrove magic that brings it to life. Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design, is at the V&A Museum from 14 September 2006 until 7 January 2007.last updated: 13/02/2009 at 12:39 SEE ALSOYou are in: Manchester > Entertainment > Arts, Film and Culture > Film, TV and Animation > Bringing Leonardo to life  Get the latest from the BBC Film website  Who's blogging in Manchester? |
| | About the BBC | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy |
