wazamekid

Viktor Arsentyev (1936 - 2005) If anyone had asked me about my favourite animators (meaning not directors or art-directors, but the character animators, in a more professional sense), I would call his name in top-10, if not in top-5. Alongside names of [Boris] Dyozhkin, Anatoly Petrov, [Violetta] Kolesnikova, or, for example, [Yuriy] Norstein and Pavel Petrov of stop-motion division. A name of Viktor Dmitriyevich Arsentyev. To me, a favourite animator is someone, “eyeballing” whose scenes from different films brings a special pleasure during the watch. Where in a general “stream” of animation you suddenly notice something well-known and close to you, something vivid and memorable. Doing it with Arsentyev’s cuts is both pleasing and easy. He was an animator with an incredibly recognizable style. Without a doubt, his manner was dating back to Dyozhkin’s school, that Viktor Dmitriyevich went through in his youth. However, with time Arsentyev’s style had evolved so drastically, that it d...