Lazy Sunday # 202: Riusuke Fukahori

Good screenwriters work in layers. You don’t ever reveal a character all at once.

I mean, you can. But in an odd way, that defeats the purpose. Because knowing all there is to know about somebody from the get go turns them from a three dimensional character into one that seems flat and uninteresting.

If there’s nothing left to look for, what’s the point of watching what they do next.

So you give them a little here and a little there. The spine of the character one place and the shading in another. And as the layers overlap, the audience forms the three dimensional character you laid out for them in deft strokes of action and dialogue.

Riusuke Fukahori does much the same thing. Only he does it with paint, constructing three dimensional drawings from layer upon layer of what seem like unrelated brushstrokes.

It’s just that easy -- and that hard. Enjoy Your Sunday.

And here’s the technique…