UPA. The animation studio that nobody asked for, but that existed. 2025-11-12 15:36:33 (edited 2025-11-12 15:50:23)
UPA (United Productions of America) animation studio was responsible for several animated films, doing the opposite of what Disney was doing at the time with animation.
The studio was founded by Stephen Bosustow and David Hilberman in 1941 and in 1948 began producing animated films for movies like "Fox & Crow" and "Mr. Magoo". It could work with many different styles, but it always had one thing that stuck with it: limited animation.
I'm from Portugal and I first came into contact with UPA's work at the end of the 2010s (2017 or 2018) thanks to a library of classic cartoons. where I discovered their stylized art style, and I loved it. The large, vibrant colors and lines they used in Mr. Magoo were one of the incentives for me to start drawing. I vaguely remember that "Military Magoo" was the first cartoon I saw from that studio, and it was quite interesting because of the colors and the simple way everything was beautifully and uniquely illustrated and this style influenced generations of new artists between the 1950s and 1990s, such as Hanna-Barbera, for example.
I started working with 2D animation in late 2019 after revisiting their work. Since I had no experience in animation, this idea of using limited animation and vibrant colors seemed like the perfect plan to start bringing the ideas off my paper and out of my mind. Little by little, I got the animation hang of it by my own.
"O Programa da Rosidea" "Cigamação", "Dráculabelha", "Os Amigos do Pinkon" e "O Minuto da Rosidea" they were produced and directed by João M. Figueiredo (that's me), but they carry a strong influence from the animated art of that classic studio.
Two examples from " O Minuto da Rosidea", a show maded with Pencil 2D.
