May 13, 2020

Creator of "The Incredibles Ant" Brings Fresh Style and Storytelling to Chinese Animated Series

When Cheng Li left China to study in France 15 years ago, the animation industry in his home country had not received much attention. Today, Chinese animation is booming at home and gaining international attention. Li is at the vanguard of this trend.

Now back in China (Shanghai to be exact), Li has just debuted the first season of his series Incredible Ant on the streaming platform Youku. The show weaves an environmentalist message into the story of a swarm of insects defending their territory from invasive noxious forces.

Incredible Ant was clearly conceived to appeal to an international audience. Li is well suited to present such a show. After earning a master's degree from the prestigious Supinfocom in France, Lee worked as an animator and director for studios in France and the UK, including Cartoon Network, and was on the staff of The Amazing World of Gumball.

In 2013, Li returned to China to work for Disney as an art director. He eventually had the opportunity to pitch the project to Ant Financial, an affiliate of tech giant Alibaba Group. The result was The Incredible Ant (which Li describes as "the first children's show presented by Alibaba Pictures").

For this production, Li used his network of international contacts. His senior crew included co-director Ben Marceau and art director Baptiste Lucas from France and story editor Nicole Paglia from the US. The film was developed by Alibaba and Wild Seed Studios in the UK, with animation by Atomic Cartoons in Canada. Global influences can be seen in the graphic style that followed shows such as "Gumball" and "Counterfeit Cat."

Below, Li tells Cartoon Brew how he came to create such an atypical show, why he returned to China in the first place, and the future of China.

Li: In China today, the younger generation mostly watches Chinese or Japanese-style animation. That is their only choice. Even more so as a big fan of "Amazing World of Gumball," "Gravity Falls," "Wonder Over Yonder," "Rick and Morty," etc. It's always good to have a variety of content in the country.

In China, the content industry is growing rapidly and more and more quality content is hitting the market. However, there is a lack of good quality content for toddlers and preschoolers, mostly for teenagers. So I wanted to create an animated series that would be world-class for them, both story-wise and technically.

Even today, as we face the great challenge of de-globalization, I have always believed that globalization is a good thing. Culture is a good way to connect and reconnect the world. I learned that when I lived in France and had a major culture shock.

So, during the development of the story/design, I was heavily influenced by American pop culture, while keeping the core of the story in China: Hollywood sci-fi movies of the 1980s and 1990s, cyberpunk, synthwave music, German industrial design and architecture design. He also used American and French animation design styles as visual references.

Many great artists have successfully combined Eastern and Western influences before: Hayao Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle," based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones, and George Lucas' "Star Wars," inspired by Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai."

Our team is very international. Our series director, art director, story director, and character designers are American, French, and British. Our music and sound studio is located in Canada. Communication is not always smooth, partly due to internet connectivity issues. However, I truly believe this will become a common workflow in the industry.

Studying contemporary art and animation in France was like a turning point in my life. My eyes were opened to animation and I absorbed different arts, aesthetics, and cultures like a sponge. French animation schools such as Choupainfocom and Gobelins were very professional, creative, and inspiring. People's enthusiasm for animation, creative thinking, and perfectionism were the things I learned most there. After years of studying and working [in Europe], the Chinese animation industry was becoming so interesting and vibrant that I decided I should join this new wave.

The technical side of the Chinese animation industry is very fast to learn. There are more and more talented production artists (modelers, writers, comp artists, and even animators). You can see this in recent Chinese animated films such as "Ne Zha" and "The Legend of Hei.

But to be honest, storytelling and art direction are still the main weaknesses in most Chinese animated films and TV series. I also hope that one day, China will find its own style of animation, and I hope that it will be able to find its own style of animation.