Francisco Goya And His Impact On Animation, Games And Movies

Introduction

For this task, I have been asked to show that I have explored all aspects of an artist or an artistic theme that has a distinctive style that can translate into the Games, Animation and VFX Industries. The purpose of this task is to show my understanding of the different ways art can influence the Games, Animation and VFX Industries and how impacts their overall style. I have decided to discuss the artist Francisco Goya for this assignment as I believe his art style has influenced many aspects of animation, games and movies. The overall theme of his work is often dark in colouration and often has an ominous feel. Francisco Goya’s art style changes throughout his life, focusing on Romanticism in his early years but he slowly progresses into more disturbing pieces, often described as pessimistic, as his illness and mental health begin to influence his work.

Artist Biography

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Francisco Goya), was born the 30th of March 1746 in Aragon, Spain; he died on the 16th of April 1828 at age 82. He was best known for his paintings, printmaking, drawings, and his influence on the Romanticism movement. He was also recognized for his inventiveness and political engagement within his art when it came to tumultuous events of his lifetime; and his impact on contemporary Portraiture, being one of the last of the Old Masters.Francisco Goya was influenced by many different aspects in his life; the tragedies of war when Napoleon led the French army into Peninsular War against Spain, inspiring his “Disasters of War” series. Another influence being his own health, which left him deaf, isolated and tormented by the fear of Old Age; this time in his life inspired his “Black Paintings”, which were filled with political awareness and medievalism. Goya’s work however has always one main inspiration that being of one artist in particular, Diego Velázquez, another Spanish Painter who is considered to be one of the most important painters of the “Spanish Golden Age”.

One particular movie that comes to mind is Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo Del Toro; the “Saturn Devouring His Son” art piece inspired the dark fairy tale of a creature who devours children if they eat from his feast. They call this creature, “The Pale Man”, which in one scene, relates to the art piece as the monster bites the head off of a fairy. Although the two have no resemblance in appearance, other than nudity, the concept is still present. Guillermo Del Toro does in fact mention that Francisco’s Back series helped influence the scenes featuring the pale man, “Goya was an obvious reference, specifically with regards to the character of the Pale Man. There is a scene in which the Pale Man bites the heads off the fairies. That comes straight from Goya’s painting of Saturn devouring his son.”

AnimationIn some ways, the Japanese TV Show Attack on Titan can also be linked to the art piece previously mentioned. The giants featured in the show are in fact called Titans, hence why many speculate that the show might have had Francisco’s work as a reference. The famous painting, “Saturn Devouring His Son”, depicts the Greek myth Saturn which is a Titan Cronus in Greek Mythology, eating one of his children in fear that they might over throw him someday. Although the titans are much larger in size compared to the illustration of the man in the art piece, the concept is still the same. Many speculate that the show was in fact inspired by the black series that Francisco Goya created, due to the similarities in the theme of the art, but there is no statement from the creators of Attack on Titan that confirm this.

I couldn’t find a game that directly states that Francisco Goya was an inspiration to their work, but in my own opinion, the game “Agony” has a similar theme and style in some aspect’s. Mainly the concept of hell and the devil, referring the dark theme in Francisco Goya’s Black Series. The game itself is dark fantasy survival horror game, where the player plays as a tormented soul making their way through the depths of hell. An art piece by Francisco Goya that I can directly link with this game is the “The Bewitched Man” which features an anthropomorphic goat offering an item to a Witch. I found a scene in the game which reminded me of this painting, due to the horned character natures and the general colour scheme used in the art piece; the colours are dark in dusty in contrast, fitting well with Goya’s painting.

Conclusion

I have learned from this essay that traditional artists can influence many areas of todays ever growing media formats. I gained an insight into the ways historic artists can inspire directors, artists, animators and games designers with the use of their art, not only for the visual sense, but for colour usages, tones and overall theme. These kinds of artists have the ability to create a scene in which you can understand the proper use of colours and setting the emotion for the piece. I learned that my chosen artist was able to influence a great movie Pans Labyrinth with a single piece, which set the dark fantasy scene of the Pale man. I was able to relate the artists style to a new video game called Agony, with its depressing themes and sense of dread. And how an anime series could have been influenced by a famous piece of my artists work, due to its depictions of a man eating a human being.