5 Animated Movies with Unique Art Styles
- Leia Emeera
- Jun 7, 2024
- 10 min read
Updated: 56 minutes ago
Storytelling through animation is one art form that most people enjoy. One of these is animated movies, which involve visuals, audio, and music to convey the message. As animation style nowadays is quite varied and versatile, from traditional to modern 3D animation, the execution of animated movies with unique styles is bound to happen.
Read on this list to discover 5 animated movies with unique animation styles that can be on your watch list!
Table of Contents
Why Art Style Matters in Animations
Art style is a powerful storytelling tool that establishes mood, tone, and identity. It can significantly influence the audience's perception and enhance their engagement with the narrative of the animation. Another way to look at it is as a brand identity for animators.
For instance, Studio Ghibli's art style has become synonymous with this renowned Japanese animation studio. Their art style reflects their commitment to hand-drawn animation with soft yet vibrant colour palettes. Even those who have never fully watched a Studio Ghibli film can easily recognise its distinctive art style.
What Makes Animation Styles Unique?
The concept of a unique animation style can often vary from person to person, as it is deeply rooted in individual perception. Yet, what resonates widely with the audience typically blends imaginative artistry and precise technical execution.
This harmony is shaped by striking visual choices, such as vibrant colour palettes and captivating design elements, which together create an enchanting experience that draws viewers in and sparks their imagination.
Therefore, a distinctive animation art style in animated films encompasses both emotion and technical skills.
How These Unique Art Styles Influenced Modern Animation
Unique art style creates a whole new identity and proves the innovative potential of animation projects, as they don’t have to depend on one art style to tell their stories.
Over the years, animation studios have evolved from the vibrant colours of 90s anime to a combination of 2D and 3D animation styles like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, creating a whole new animation genre, 2.5D.
Where to Start If You’re Exploring Animation Styles
Whether you’re a future animator or enjoy animated movies in your free time, here’s where to start:
Know the Basics of Animation
It gives you the gateway to what animation style is truly unique to you. Basic principles of animation come with timing, spacing, character design and the art of storytelling.
Seek Inspiration
Watch as many kinds of animation as possible, and they don’t have to be unique animations as well. Both the classics and modern renditions of animated stories can give you potential inspiration. Observe the way they execute the stories in terms of colours, perspective, proportion and more.
Experiment, Experiment, and Experiment
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is building a unique animation style that works for you. As you explore different animation styles as future animators, try different software for either 2D or 3D animation. You could even mix different animation styles and utilise the one that could deliver the story that you want.
And for animation enjoyers, explore your genre to animation studios that love to experiment with different styles, like in “Love, Death and Robots”, each episode is curated differently.
5 Animated Movies with Distinct Art Styles
1. Yellow Submarine
Release date: 17th January 1969
Genre: Jukebox Musical
Animation method: Traditional animation (Limited animation)
Country of Origin: The UK
Director: George Dunning
Rated: PG-13
This animated jukebox musical of the same name as The Beatles album – Yellow Submarine – undertakes the surrealist style of psychedelic animation, the zeitgeist of its time in the ‘60s. It follows The Beatles and their departure on a Yellow Submarine to save an underwater city.
The movie took full advantage of the benefits that come with animation, playing with colour, shape, and texture to produce a mind-bending piece that was only bound to do well with the pop culture of its time.
Being a jukebox musical, it alluded to and played songs like “Hey Bulldog” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, which appropriately are of the psychedelic rock genre. This affirms that the style in this animated movie was an exploration of art.
Despite the hallucinogenic implications of the movie itself, it was "a smash hit, delighting adolescents and aesthetes alike," according to time.com. The reuse of character frames, thoughtfully chosen yet playful colour schemes, and a unique approach to storytelling ensured there was enough entertainment for the whole family.
The animated movie with unique styles is set in the fictional city of Pepperland, where the antagonistic, music-hating group called the “Blue Meanies” causes a blockade. The Mayor’s pleas cause The Beatles to step in to free Pepperland.
2. Isle of Dogs
Release Date: 23rd March 2018
Genre: Dystopian, Comedy-drama
Animation method: Stop-motion animation
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Wes Anderson
Rated: PG-13
Wes Anderson’s second approach to stop-motion animated movies was the critically acclaimed Isle of Dogs. Through exploration of Edo-period aesthetics, washed-out colours, and gritty sets, the movie follows a 12-year-old Atari in a dystopic Japan. It was undoubtedly a showcase of Wes Anderson’s monomania for Asian visuals.
The animation sets off with Atari’s dear dog being exiled to Trash Island by an authoritarian mayor. Themes of corruption and isolation drive the movie and its narrative forward.
This stop-motion animated movie was made up of puppets, hand-crafted sets, and VFX. To stay true to the vision that Anderson had, artists created miniature after miniature instead of modern workarounds.
There “were about 250 sets” used in the film, as Tim Ledbury stated in an interview with VFX Voice. The resulting quality stood out among the popular animations of its time, of which most were 3D/CGI animations.
Related to stop-motion animated movie: 5 Stop-Motion Animations You Shouldn't Miss
3. 9
Release Date: 3rd September 2009
Genre: Science fiction
Animation method: 3D animation (CG)
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Shane Acker
Rated: PG-13
9 is a science fiction animated movie, based on the short film of the same name. It’s a CG-animated movie like most modern-day ones are, but it still stands distinct.
Now, while the public agreed that the movie was mediocre in its writing, the film’s style was more than enough to keep audiences watching. It’s set in a steampunk, post-apocalyptic landscape where the ragdoll ‘9’ plays as the titular character of the film.
The animated movie is centred around the idea of a man-made apocalypse, exploring themes of humanity, nature, and machines. Plot-wise, it’s linear; 9 dolls set out to save the world, and they do so by retrieving a talisman, effectively bringing life back to the planet.
4. World of Tomorrow
Release Date: 22nd January 2015
Genre: Science Fiction
Animation method: 2D animation
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Don Hertzfeldt
Rated: G
The World of Tomorrow is an avant-garde sci-fi, an animated movie that can only be accredited to Don Hertzfeldt. It’s a short film that takes place in a world of colour and stick figures.
The dreamlike backdrops are hard to summarise in a single phrase, as the hand-drawn short is bizarre and unpredictable in its art.
In an interview with The Dissolve, Hertzfeldt shared that he took inspiration from “covers of old pulpy sci-fi novels”, emulating their “strong solid colour(s)” and “mysterious geometric shapes” in this work.
The simplistic nature of the stick-figured characters works to not overwhelm the audience. Their thoughts and emotions are supported through tablet-drawn pathetic fallacies within the backgrounds they settle in, as if to make up for subtleties in facial expressions they may lack.
This 2D animated movie depicts ideas of time, youth, and space. These themes were reflected through Emily and the meeting of her adult clone as they travel to distant futures and moons.
Relevant article: The Role of Animation in Video Game Development: Trends and Techniques
5. Angel’s Egg
Release Date: 22nd December 1985
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Animation method: Cel animation
Country of Origin: Japan
Director: Mamoru Oshii, Yoshitaka Amano
Rated: Not Rated
This 80s anime is a largely cryptic, surrealist piece that – despite its initial box office failure – has been garnering attention since its release.
The ambiguous tale follows a girl, her egg, and a soldier in a post-apocalyptic world. It has little to no dialogue, forcing audiences to focus solely on its art direction and music.
It’s a celluloid animation that borrows elements from Catholicism and science fiction fantasies. The inspired world uses contrast with the unnamed pallid girl and dark settings around her to recreate what can be amounted to 71 minutes of an aghast fever dream.
Bonus: 3 More Animated Movies with Distinct Art Styles
1. Loving Vincent
Release Date: 12 June 2017
Genre: Historical Drama
Animation method: Oil Painting, Rotoscoping
Country of Origin: Poland, United Kingdom
Director: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman
Rated: PG-13
The world’s first fully painted feature film, Loving Vincent, was animated by trained painters rather than traditional animators. It took the team 6 years to complete with 125 painters.
The film’s storyboard was created with Van Gogh’s painting in mind, with a few alterations other than the change of weather and time. The frames were painted and photographed with a total of sixty-five thousand paintings that were produced for the film.
One of the few animated movies about art specifically, Loving Vincent, was a brave and risky move by Academy Award-winning Producers, Breakthru Films and Trademark. The film won the Best Animated Feature Film Award at the 30th European Film Awards in Berlin.
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse and Across the Spider-verse
Release Date: 1 December 2018, 30 May 2023
Genre: Superhero
Animation method: Combination of 2D, 3D and CGI animation
Country of Origin: United States
Director: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Rated: PG
With the intention of wanting the viewers to feel like they stepped inside a comic book, Spider-Man, which highlights Miles Morales, definitely gave that in their movies.
The production team wanted to adapt 70-year-old comic art techniques for the film, adding to the list of movies with a unique animated style.
It also took inspiration from Hayao Miyazaki’s films and the 1988 Akira movie, with artists working on 2D animation over CGI-rendered frames. Their technique improved further in the sequel film, showing an even more unique take on an animated movie.
The creation of the Spider-verse is, what I would personally say, what you get if you put all the years of animation technique into a movie.
Their inspiration, ideas and innovative approach to creating this Spider-Man franchise are almost wordless, other than showing what animators are capable of doing.
Related article: 5 Animated Movies that Combine Multiple Styles
3. Akira
Release Date: 16 July 1988
Genre: Cyberpunk Action
Animation method: Cel Animation
Country of Origin: Japan
Director: Katsuhiro Otomo
Rated: R
A movie that inspired a handful of animators and the origin story of a handful of key animators from the iconic Studio Ghibli films and Kyoto Animation.
Akira was not only an award-winning film but also left a legacy that boosted the popularity of Japanese animation globally. If you have seen a scene of a motorbike sliding sideways to bring it to a halt while leaving a trail of smoke and sparks (peek at the image above), that was the origin of it.
Called the Akira slide, this action has been widely referred to in many works of animation, movies, television series and video games.
The cel animation of Akira brought inspiration to authors like Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, to imitate the same art style for their series. One of the few movies with a unique style that caused a cultural influence.
This article might not fully deliver the artistry of each piece, so to fully understand the intent behind these animated movies, go watch them for yourself. And if you have any recommended animations or animated movies, feel free to comment below!
If you’re an artist or creative looking for solutions to manage your projects better, feel free to explore our project management software by clicking the link here.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How does animation style affect storytelling?
Animation style affects storytelling in terms of setting the mood through complex shapes or colours to convey to audiences the themes of a story. There is more freedom when it comes to using animation compared to live action, as experimental attempts can be done without needing a physical actor to express them.
Why do unique animation styles matter in storytelling?
This is because visual effects are a lot more powerful than we think. It creates immersion and mood and gives animators creative freedom, too.
Take Loving Vincent, for example. Its unique approach of creating the movie frame by frame using oil painting captures the essence of Vincent Van Gogh.
Audiences not only learn more about the famous painter but also gain insight into the emotions he expressed through his artwork, conveyed more powerfully through this animated film.
What are the types of animations out there?
There are traditional, 2D, 3D and stop-motion animations. These four are the key types of animation.
Which animation method is the hardest?
While all forms of animation styles are difficult in their own way, stop-motion animation would be considered the most meticulous method to conduct.
Author Bio
From Malaysia, Leia Emeera is a writer at TESSR, and a published author. She has been putting pen to paper ever since she learned how to, and has an anthology to her name, titled 'Ten'. Leia loves music, games and her beloved Labrador Retriever, George. She aims to further her studies in English Literature and Creative Writing the moment her gap year ends. 'Till then, you will find her sitting behind a desk, writing with TESSR.
Connect with her on LinkedIn: Leia Emeera
With a background in Arts English, Adilla has been a casual writer for various hobbies, like parodies of animated shows and plots for board games. She loves to read anything and everything from fantasy stories to articles on tips and tricks. Now an advocate for mental health and effective project management for the creative industry. Currently, Adilla resides in Malaysia and is a creative writer at TESSR. To know more about her, check out her LinkedIn.
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