VISUAL STYLE IN ANIMATION AS A REFLECTION OF STORYTELLING: HOW IT'S BUILT, WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT MATTERS

 

If you've ever watched an animated show or film and thought, "This looks so unique, how did they come up with this?", you’re not alone. 

The visual style of an animation is more than just eye candy, it’s an entire philosophy, a choice that affects everything about the project. 

Despite it all, what does it actually mean to "develop" a style? How do animators, designers, and directors come together to create a visual language that serves the story, characters, and world?

Let’s break it down and take a look at what goes into building a visual style and why it’s so crucial for the creative team.

What Does It Mean to Develop a Visual Style?

Developing a visual style isn’t as simple as picking a color palette and calling it a day. It’s about creating a cohesive look that supports the narrative, enhances character development, and establishes an emotional connection with the audience. Essentially, a visual style is the "language" of the animation, how it speaks to you, how it reflects the story's themes, and how it shapes the viewer's experience.

Key Elements in Developing a Visual Style:

• Color Palette: This is often one of the first choices. Color isn’t just for decoration. It sets the tone. Bright, warm colors might signify joy and optimism (Toy Story), while muted tones could suggest sadness or tension (The Iron Giant).
• Character Design: Characters are the emotional core of a lot of animation, so their design is everything. The shape of a character’s face or body often tells you a lot about their personality. Is it rounded and soft, like the characters from Up? Or angular and sharp, like the figures in Coraline? These designs communicate a lot about who they are before they even speak.
• Linework and Texture: The thickness of a line or the texture applied to backgrounds can drastically affect how a world feels. Thin, clean lines like those in Adventure Time might evoke lightheartedness, while the heavy lines and layered textures of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse give the feeling of a graphic novel come to life.
• Movement and Pacing: How fast or slow a character moves, and how exaggerated those movements are, can speak volumes. The fluidity of the animation, like in Frozen's ice-shaping sequences, contrasts with the more choppy movements found in shows like Bojack Horseman, where slower movements convey emotional weight.

The Creative Process: From Concept to Execution

Once the team has a sense of what style they’re aiming for, it’s time to bring it to life. This process isn’t just about making something visually striking; it’s about ensuring consistency and maintaining narrative cohesion. Here’s a step-by-step look at what goes into creating a visual style:

1. Concept Art and Inspiration

Every great style starts with concept art, sketches, mood boards, and visual exploration. Designers and artists dive deep into reference materials, often pulling inspiration from art, fashion, history, and even nature.

For example, The Legend of Korra’s visual style was deeply influenced by Art Deco and Chinese watercolor art, giving it a distinct feel that tied into its themes of power, balance, and history. The idea is to create a visual identity that aligns with the themes and tone of the show, while still feeling fresh and unique.

The concept artists work closely with the director to define the emotional beats of the story and how these should be reflected visually. Will the setting be dream-like and whimsical, like Alice in Wonderland, or gritty and realistic, like Bojack Horseman? These early stages are about deciding the visual foundation.

2. Defining the Design Bible

After the concept work, most projects will develop something called a design bible (or style guide). This is a critical tool for ensuring the visual style is consistent throughout the project. It outlines key elements such as:

• Character design specifications (height, proportions, expressions)
• Environment layouts (how settings should be drawn, what mood should be conveyed)
• Lighting rules (should light be soft and natural, or harsh and exaggerated?)
• Texture choices (will everything have a smooth, computer-generated finish, or rough, hand-drawn textures?)

The design bible becomes the ultimate reference point, a guideline for everyone working on the project to maintain consistency in their work. Whether it’s animators, background artists, or compositors.

3. Animation Tests and Experimentation

Before animating the entire project, animators will usually create tests. These are short sequences that explore how the visual style plays out in motion. These tests help decide things like how fluid the animation should be, whether the character’s movements need to be more exaggerated, or how objects and environments interact with light and shadow.

For instance, in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the visual style incorporates a frame rate technique that makes it look like Spider-Man is moving in "jumps" rather than fluid motion, mimicking the feel of comic book art. This type of experimentation is key to pushing the boundaries of how animation can be used to support storytelling.

Below is a couple of short YouTube videos showing a breakdown of the Visual FX of Sony Pictures Animation handling Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

https://youtu.be/7vD8P8501bg?si=VTQJMi8PzAPN6wuw

https://youtu.be/TGXEh-YEj40?si=Yp-ge7rVM3BWke0m

It’s also at this stage that animators experiment with pacing, the timing of each shot. Fast-paced action sequences might need sharp, quick movements, while slow, tender moments might require more fluid, deliberate animation. These tests help to ensure that the animation style enhances the overall narrative.

What Does It Mean for the Creative Team?

Creating a visual style isn’t just about making something "cool", it’s an entire team effort that demands collaboration, trust, and alignment. From the directors to the designers to the animators, everyone involved in the creative process has to be on the same page about the visual direction.

The Director’s Role:

The director is usually the visionary behind the style, pulling together the themes, visual elements, and narrative structure. They work with the design team to guide the aesthetic choices and ensure everything aligns with the storytelling goals. For example, in The Iron Giant, Brad Bird used heavy, angular lines to emphasize the cold, mechanical nature of the giant, creating contrast with the softer, more organic lines of the human characters.

The Art Team’s Role:

The art team (including concept artists, character designers, and background artists) is responsible for bringing the visual style to life. They make sure that every background, character design, and prop fits into the established world. In shows like Gravity Falls, the artists created highly detailed, quirky backgrounds to match the strange and mysterious tone of the show.

Animators’ Role:

The animators play a crucial role in bringing the style into motion. This includes, how a character moves, whether it’s bouncy, rigid, fluid, or jagged, it can communicate a ton of emotion. Think about how the loose and exaggerated animation of Looney Tunes matches the chaotic energy of the characters, while the subtle, smooth movements in Frozen help convey the graceful, almost magical qualities of the characters.

Why all of this work into the visual style matters

The visual style isn't just the look, it’s the feel. It’s the language through which the animation speaks to us, and it can make or break a show. It’s also a reflection of the creative team’s vision and hard work, and understanding how it all comes together can deepen our appreciation for the craft. The visual style shapes the emotional experience of a project, guiding us through the world and influencing how we perceive the characters and story.

Ultimately, the effort that goes into developing a style is about more than just aesthetics. It’s about ensuring that every artistic decision, from color choices to movement, works together to support the storytelling. In the world of animation, the visuals don’t just tell the story, they are the story.

Conclusion
Building a visual style is a bit like creating a language, and just like any good language, it takes time, collaboration, and a deep understanding of the story. By focusing on how to develop this visual language, creative teams can not only tell a great story but also give it a unique flavor that sets it apart from anything else. 

The best part? This visual language sticks with us long after we’ve finished watching. So next time you watch a show, take a moment to appreciate the style, it’s all part of the magic.