Art Inspiration Part 3: The Art of Bluey

Bluey is one of my favorite animated children's shows produced by Ludo Studio. Not only am I in love with the story, music, and characters, but the artwork of the show is so beautiful and inspiring to watch on screen; the art director of the show is Costa Kassab.

Bluey follows the story of an energetic blue heeler puppy named Bluey who lives with her mother, father, and her younger sister named Bingo; the show walks the audience through an adventurous journey following the heeler's life. 

As mentioned, one of my favorite parts about Bluey is the beautiful visuals that tie whole the animation together. The art is very simplistic (you can see the use of simple shapes, for example, the rounded cube-shaped characters), yet complex and vibrant colors make the world of Bluey very whimsical and cinematic. 

Let's take a look at an example:

Visual development of Bluey by Costa Kassab

From this color rough, we can see how vibrant the colors are, capturing the children's attention while using shadows and lights to illustrate the overall atmosphere of the scene. We see in Bluey's bedroom the use of lighting creates a whimsical, and magical feel; we can also see from the roughs how simple the color schemes are while still being able to maintain how fun and bright the atmosphere is.

All in all, if you have seen the show, my favorite piece will have to be "Camping" and "The Creek" since every scene looked very cinematic capturing the nature of Australia. 

Here is another example from Costa Kassab's work for Bluey:

Colour Roughs for "Barky Boats" by Costa Kassab

Overall, watching the show and looking at the color roughs inspires me as an artist. This show has taught me a lot of new techniques to incorporate within my artwork such as simplifying shapes and using meaningful and simple color schemes. 

If you haven't seen Bluey yet, I really recommend it since it is a relatable show with complex themes. Not to mention, it has an amazing soundtrack. 

Let me know in the comments below what your favorite episode is! For me, it is very hard to pick an episode, but my favorite season so far will have to be season 3 as it tackles more complex subject matters.