My producer Avic, Annabel and I labored over the film for more than seven months. Those who have seen The Other Side of the Volcano in international animation festivals say that it reminds them of "batik" art. I'm happy that even with its crudeness and imperfections, it somehow came out with an innate Asian look and feel. In making this film, I somehow felt a strong affinity with the Tibetan monks -- laboring over intricate colorful patterns in the sand, only to cast them away to the wind.

Lyudmila Koshkina
I work in the paint animation technique. The technique has a conventional name but every artist animates his painting and paints right in front of the camera in his own way. That is why I'd like to put aside the particularities of my own creativity and tell you about the technology created as a result of such painting. I use various methods, which are sometimes called mixed techniques, however, my pictorial stylistics unite all of these methods.

Paints will dry quickly and be opaque (non-transparent), so I usually work with natural tempera or synthetic paints with analogical qualities.

The general method of this technique is to work directly under the camera: one layout, or in-between, is overlaid by a layer of paint, depicting the following layout. As I overlay paints, I sometimes pass on using a cel and work, for example, on cardboard. However, experience shows that using cels sometimes not only helps to save one pains, but also encourages the artist to feel more free in his creative work. Actually, one person bears all difficulties in the creation of a cartoon film made using such a method. The art-director-painter has to be an actor, because how the characters mimic emotions is a very important aspect and depends on the ingenuity of the painting, i.e. to be real psychological acting.

In addition to painting under the camera I use previously prepared in-betweens on cels and flat-figures (cut-outs). Plus, I also use the cel as glass.

It is very convenient to use previously prepared layouts when a character actively moves the shot, on pans or when wonderful or unique scenery (backgrounds) cannot be repainted with each character move. The prepared layouts (in-betweens) can also be used when a shot is to be used two or more times. Such in-betweens differ from regular in-betweens of a cartoon film because the paint is put on the face (obverse) side of the cel and is worked over there - i.e. the cel is used as a canvas, on which the artist draws a picture and works with it in the same way as a painter works with a fragment of his painting.

Work with flat-figures (cut-outs) has its own peculiarities. Flat-figures can be cut-outs in the form of phases of full movement cut out from the cel, such as a walk or a dance. If a character walks through the frame, but not on the pan, then they can be used. The flat-figure can also work as it usually does, but the painter-animator can draw on the cel under the camera the necessary details, like a facial expression, pleats or folds of cloth or a hand movement.

Certainly, we can only dream about a script which is especially written for this technique, but the general approach can be defined as psychological and lyrical. The scale of the relationships of the characters is different.

This technique is very good for close ups, which are very rarely used in animation. It is possible to make some elements less mobile. Assume that fairy or historical costumes with decorations, which are limited in movement but pleasant to look at, don't decrease the historical veracity of a simple scheme by using this technique. It also ensures that they do not contradict the flat coloring of other elements.

The time crunch of film production does not allow for an opportunity to achieve the quality of a finished oil-painted painting in each shot, but the painter strives for perfection in his own style. Every shot is more deep because of texture and the great variety of hues and colors. However, it leads to certain peculiar features of rhythm because it is necessary to let the audience study each picture. This allows us to shoot three frames for each image. Eyes accept such frequency even in shots with a large range of movement.

By all means, such work itself can be regarded as a process, where one has to solve current creative and technical tasks on each shot. I have really described only the main characteristics and features of this animation technique. It is impossible to speak about all the niceties and secrets in such a short survey, besides, plot can dictate certain particularities when developing a film concept.