Artists

20 Artists & IllustratorsLOVING VINCENTThe artists take each frame and transform it into anoil on canvas, photographing it at what is known as aPainted Animation Work Station. Then, they begin theprocess all over again, building an animated shot. Itcan take up to 12 oil paintings to make up one secondof the footage, and right now, the artists are working toa schedule of around 3,500 paintings per month. Bythe end of the production, Loving Vincent will haveamassed 62,450 frames of painting, and used 4,litres of oil paint (the brand? Van Gogh Oil Colours,naturally). The technical scale of the project isimpressive, and has already gained the attention ofnews outlets all over the world since a trailer for theunfinished film was leaked online, but when I speak toits director Hugh Welchman, it’s clear this is aboutmuch more than being ‘the first’ painted animation.Waiting in the studio’s breakroom, I am keptcompany by the resident Labrador, and Hugh’s goldenOscar statuette, received for producing the animatedfilm Peter & the Wolf, which sits unassuminglyalongside half-eaten lunches and schedule notes. Hearrives with a serious expression and fulsome gingerbeard, as though Van Gogh has officially steeped intohis soul. “Vincent is the most amazing character. Thereason I am doing this is because of him,” he begins. “Ithought that someone is an artistic genius, and theyare just like that, it’s in their blood. [Van Gogh] didn’tfind it, it wasn’t there; he worked for thousands ofhours. To make yourself a genius in nine years andchange the course of art, and for people to feel sopassionately about him now, it’s mind-blowing.”The idea for Loving Vincent began with Hugh’sco-director (who also happens to be his wife) DorotaKobiela. Dorota originally planned to make it as a shortfilm in a bid to return to painting, her first love, afterworking in animation for five years. Raised in Poland,Dorota trained in fine art from the age of 13, acommon practice in Polish high schools. Hugh claimsthis intensive approach to the study of painting inEastern Europe gave the two directors access to thehighly-skilled oil painters they needed for theproduction, one of the many factors that led them tosetting up their main studio in Gdansk (the film has asecond studio operating in Athens).With the help of the online crowdfunding siteKickstarter, they were able to raise the money to trainup the number of artists needed to make the featurefilm a reality. “It’s very painstaking. People are movingeach frame with brushstrokes... It’s hugely engrossingand time-consuming, but the reason that we thought itwas worthwhile is that we didn’t believe you could dothe same thing in a computer process,” explains Hugh.The footage of Loving Vincent completed so far isundeniably mesmerising. In the trailer, we see thesignature impasto of Van Gogh flicker on screen, andwatch these iconic portraits suddenly come to life,speaking, frowning and smoking before our eyes.Rather than rehashing a sensationalised version ofVan Gogh’s story for the film (as has been done severaltimes before) Hugh and Dorota wanted to explore thenarrative through the paintings themselves, andPereTANGUY18 Van Gogh.indd 20 10/06/2016 15: