Rotoscoped?

Since it was Richard Williams I would say he used reference and modelsbut no roroscoping...he is the kinda guy that could do it by talent alone.


~I see a little silhouette of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango.

It's not rotoscoped. Richard Williams (the director/solo animator) is one of the greatest animators of this or any time, and he's a very astute observer of human motion. I've seen a fair amount of his animation, including other shorts done in this style, and while he's sometimes looked at live models for inspiration (not to my knowledge for this short, but for another he did for dancers), he's never done rotoscoping. A few years ago, at an Oscar event I attended, he showed a tiny clip of Prologue when it was still a work-in-progress, and he described that he was doing the animation based on his personal style and very meticulously over the span of several years. That kind of animation is possible for a great animator who is willing to take the amount of time Richard Williams takes, but because there are very few people at his skill level, and even fewer able to work on his timeframe, you very rarely see anything on this level.

Quality wise, it definitely IS too good. It leaves me stunned that anyone is capable of it, yet somehow, it is possible. When you see something incredibly rare like that, something that is basically the Sistine Chapel of animation, it gives you a lot of appreciation for what a true artist can do.
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Paprika - An Anime by Satoshi Kon and Studio Madhouse.

Paprika. This is your brain on anime.