Anyway, for a quick post, here are some wonderful animated commercials from the talented animator/director, Oscar Grillo. I don't know his exact professional history, but I know that he was in London during the time Richard Williams was producing commercials under the tutelage of Golden Age animators Grim Natwick, Art Babbitt, and Ken Harris. Oscar Grillo eventually founded his own studio to produce commercials of his own. Here are but a few samplings of his work.
The first two here are advertisements for Welsh TV station S4C-TV. These are very interesting specimens, as the animation style is a bit more UPA-esque, with a little mixture of Warner Brothers. These show that stylized or limited animation need not be a hindrance. It doesn't matter how many drawings you have, but that the drawings you do have are used to tell your story or convey your message in a meaningful and entertaining way.
This next one is for Perrier water. I love the design of the genie and the watercolor designs of the backgrounds. The backgrounds remind me of the backgrounds for the 30s Disney and Fleischers cartoons.
This spot is for Heineken Beer. This spot is reminiscent of the early Tex Avery cartoons (in particular the WWII toon Blitz Wolf). I am quite surprised that Disney would allow an ad for Heineken to use their song Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf. Oh well, it makes for an entertaining ad.
This one is my favorite of the group. It is an ad for Oddbins Wine Tasting. Why it's a favorite of mine is that the design of the characters were done by legendary cartoonist/illustrator Ralph Steadman. The music is provided by the renowned Spike Jones and his City Slickers. This spot makes me yearn for an animated version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, with characters based on the Steadman illustrations.
These are but a taste of the work Grillo has done. There are many more on YouTube, along with the ads by Richard Williams and Tony White. I hope you've enjoyed this.
Until Next Time.
