Tag: Taiwan

Crowdfunding New Talents through Clover Press. Artists in Taiwan and Korea on Kickstarter!

The ‘Artists in’ series was produced to bring work by artists from different regions to a larger global audience.

Artists in TaiwanPixiv, Media Do International, Inc. and Clover Press are partnering together to bring two stunning artbooks, Artists in Taiwan and Artists in Korea, to Kickstarter. These deluxe books showcase over 150 amazing artists—representing just a small fraction of the talented artists actively engaged on pixiv. The Kickstarter page for ARTISTS IN TAIWAN and ARTISTS IN KOREA is live and looking for your support. 

Artists in Taiwan features 83 incredible artists in Taiwan, with a cover by VOFAN, an illustrator with an impressive mastery of the use of intense light and shadow. Artists in Korea features 78 fantastic artists in Korea, with a cover by Tiv, an illustrator well known for poetic and transparent expression and capturing emotional moments, especially of women. Between both volumes, the books collect the amazing work of Say HANa, I READING, LOIZA, B.c.N.y., modare, Anmi, zipcy, Gearous, DSmile, Canking, and many more.

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The Zen of “Demigod The Legend Begins” at Fantasia 2022

Demigod, The Legend Begins may well be a prequel to Legend of the Sacred Stone, because Su Huan-jen is part of the cast.

Demigod The Legend BeginsPlayed at Fantasia 2022 July 23, 2022

Demigod The Legend Begins, is a visual treat. Not only do we get to watch Taiwanese glove puppet theatre on the big screen, but also the story is epic! Through the magic of editing, these characters come alive.

However, I must wonder if Bunraku is the appropriate term to use to describe this style of puppetry. The motions of these medium-sized dolls are achieved via hiding the puppeteers with simple tricks of the camera. Instead of watching a stage show, we are watching it though the eyes of the cinemtographer–where we have medium shots and closeups of the characters instead of wide shots to show these action figures in motion. In truth, this technique is the centuries-old tradition of budaixi—Chinese opera using glove puppetry. This movie updates the music with modern day electric guitars, and I’m fairly sure one song is taking cues from Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.”

When a robe needs to look like it’s rustling, good ol’ fashioned fans are used. When the background needs to come alive, we have CGI replacing those green screen moments. Also, we have some well placed smoke effects and cups of blood to splash around when needed! The presentation is as good as those classic wuxia Hong Kong films from the 80s. But I can’t help but chuckle when they move off camera like a Muppet. That’s okay; Demigod The Legend Begins is not meant to be as perfect as other films using marionation.

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