The Ingenious Animation Style of James Lee 

I still think "Breaking up with adobe" is his best work

Yes THANK YOU! I've been talking about this guy forever. He's everything, and as great as the 2d stuff is I'm the biggest fan of his live aviation. No one's ever done animation quite like him!

As a James Lee patreon, i can tell you that the texture on the glasses is a fabric he stretches around the glass of the glasses. The glow is with a uv light where he removes the blue/purple tint in post

I always wanted to see animation style used with live action. Would love to see him direct a movie

I suspect the glasses might be the same technique they used when shooting the original lightsabres. Reflective tape and a light behind the camera to always bounce off of it

I have admired James Lee for a long time. His animation technique is unique. I watched each video at least 5-6 times. This is purely my own guess; I think it was influenced by Jhonen Vasquez's "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac - a.k.a: Nny (1995-1997)" comicbook series. The dark elements and frames in his stories, especially the characters in Lee's first works, are as if they came from similar universes. and this is beautiful. Also If you watch the animation of the "Invader Zim" you can understand what I mean.

The glasses is the same what cosplayers use inside their sci-fi helmets. It's a LED mesh that you can look through but people can't look in.

James Lee's style reminds me a lot of how Sin City was filmed. those movies were made to feel like you were reading the comics but with the characters actually moving and interacting with each other. especially when it comes to the lighting and how he is of course real but the background doesn't feel like it's actually there and is just a drawing or 3D space. hell, James in his videos even resembles one of Sin City's villains, Kevin. Kevin also mostly has his face obscured but with glowing glasses.

YES! I've tried to push him onto so many people only to get a 'that's cool' reaction with no real appreciation. once it clicked for me that he was key-posing live video i was completely blown away that this wasn't a wider practice for something even like the recent live action cowboy bebop series. it's such a genius way to make art.

IDK why but his movements really looks like out of Jim Carry's movies and its just amazing

honestly playing with live action footage is probably a good exercise for animating without having to draw stuff.

When Doug Walker tries to be like a cartoon character, he becomes more exaggerated and expressive, whereas James Lee intentionally becomes _less_ expressive in lots of idiosyncratic ways that would only make sense if he was a 2D character that had to be hand drawn over and over. Then he uses editing to exaggerate his movements in a way that only an animation would normally express itself. Unsurprisingly, the latter is much more impactful and stylized and merges animation with live action in a way that simply trying to act like an animated character doesn't acheive.

Perhaps he has light-up glasses. They exist (I actually own a pair that dont look to be the same style) and theyve got white LEDs under some white plastic to diffuse the light. You cant see through the glasses because the back is solid black plastic.

The glasses are the easiest effect. They’re the typical printed lenses (some have words or flags printed on them) so you can still see out (that’s what the dots pattern helps with). Then just chromakey/green screen out the lenses, put the solid color you want for the lenses in the layer beneath, then crank up the glow/brightness effects.

I am not an animator, but I watched this video about Facebook and was blown away. The storytelling is just another level too. This guy is wholesome I was so inspired that I created similar video, trying to copy the style (of course it is far from that). I really enjoyed your analysis, keep it going!

I am not an animator (yet) but even without the knowledge of how Lee works, I can see the amount of work he puts in. His style is really cool. Another perk is his humor. Quite uniquely expressed.

I've become a huge fan of all the surreal expressions he creates. His use of squash and stretch rivals Tex Avery !

My favorite from James Lee is "Chilling with your AI homie" or something like that....🗿

I have so much respect for James Lee as a creator, and have wondered for so long how the animations were done. So thanks for making this video!

Thank you very much for making this video! Was just looking to see if anyone had spoken about how James Lee does his incredible style and was surprised to find no one had, until I scrolled down and saw this video. I imagine he uses reflective tape for his glasses (much as they did for Sin City), but I'm more baffled by how he does the teeth! Reflective toothpaste maybe? XD

Yup found him through tar boy, was shocked how little subscribers he had and I’m still shocked how little he is known considering the level he is at, truly an amazing animator.

I think his glasses may be LEDs. They have a light shined across glass that is foggy in a hexagonal pattern, gives off the illusion of a solid glow while allowing the wearer to see through. It's often used in like iron man costumes and such.

James is a horrifically talented animator. Unsettling in the best way, and one of those unique minds that is keeping life in Newgrounds to this day. Really appreciate his work.

good to see he's getting more recognition. his work is mind-blowing

I've been practicing those 2d animated movements that he does very compulsively cause i just find thosse really satisfying, it's just amazing omgosh!

Awesome breakdown that explains a lot of what makes his work so special that us non-animators may not quite pick up on.

Couldn't agree more, James Lee is god-tier! :D

Tarboy was something I also could never forget

"This is just people dunking on stuff. Why would I wanna watch this?"

That's was really useful! I've been looking for someone to break down James Lee's work. I have an animation bk but it's been a while, but his work just fascinates me and I've been struggling to understand "what" exactly he does. So great vid :D

Hey Howard, I know this video was done a while ago, but he avhieves that look with Reflector Glasses. THey are made out of the same reflective material you see on highway guard rails at night.

His glass is actually green. Like a green screen. You can check out his patron for more info

Howard, When are the Animation tuitorial coming back? I miss them!

Fantastic video! It's clear how passionate You are about this, so there's an immidiate Viewer to Creator connection!

there's a tutorial somewhere on instructables for those glasses, it's like a backlight panel or something in them. even his video thumbnails are wicked sick, makes me want to draw like that now

I found him a week or so ago and binge watched all his videos, absolutely love him

on 1 of his videos you get to see how the glasses are done, its reflective tape on the other side of the glasses and then behind the camera he has got a light shining at his face.

imagine the glasses just being a green screen.

Would the glasses not be rotoscoped? I think the corridor crew deep dived into this on their episode where they covered James Lee but discussing Klaus 🤔

Tarboy and Infected with Stupid are constant rewatches for me

I rember when I was 7 watching tar boy way back inbthe day. So glad he is still creating :)

Great video Howard, awesome to learn you've been a fan of James for awhile! I'm convinced the man has learned to live his life on 2's and 3's for maximum readability haha

i love james lee so much he always amazes me

2:49 My first instinct is that he's wearing polarized glasses, whilst using a circular polarizer and rotating it until the grains are perpendicular. Not quite sure how to technically say that, but with a good circular polarizer, you can cut through reflection, or perfectly reflect it, which is what he's probably doing here.

Good to see James Lee getting recognition.

damn man. That looks fire

Man, THANK YOU for showing me this.

i knew immediately you were leading into tar boy at the beginning. a youtube classic

I think he uses white mesh on the glasses. Here recently I think it's now like a green screen type mesh.

At one point, I watched James Lee's Tarboy almost daily. Even today, it absolutely held up, and is as brilliant as ever! And does anyone remember Bitey from Brackenwood by Adam Phillips? That was way ahead of it's time as well, I highly recommend checking out all the episodes!

Thank you so much for this. RIGHT AWAY I saw the connection to animation in his style, but I'm uneducated on such matters. I love seeing the joy and surprise in an animators face as you explain the elements and tricks and tools he's using. James Lee's style really is a magic trick that turns live action video into something else.

Seriously one of the most unique and creative animators! His hand movements crack me up and I think it's creeping into my own mannerisms... I believe the glasses texture is a real printed decal on the lenses. He messes with levels / contrast to make the dots more or less visible.

Yeah the reflective glasses are probably the thing that puzzles me the most and also One of my favorite things about his style the glowing eye glasses So . I'm guessing it's mesh that he uses reflective paint on them? Maybe some shots it's white mesh and he uses special effects to make it glowing white And other times he might just use flat white reflective tape like I use for glowing eyes and glasses And the light is behind the camera shining towards his lenses But he also can't see so these will be shots that are just for the camera and not for him to be able to see he doesn't need to see he stationary Those are the only two things I have and I think I've contacted him and he never answered me I don't know how he gets that look but I love it and I want to find out how he does it so I can try it myself

I’m glad you’re coming James Lee. I came across him about 3 months ago and thought it was the most unique video and edits I’ve ever seen. Now I know why. Thanks!

James Lee is a legend

I love his work, hey. He is probably the most artistic RU-vidr that I've come across. His work is so distinct. Really refreshing work.

For the glasses u can go in and like cut them out and apply a Ben day dot effect that is affected by luminosity and have it start with a white edmiter effect so it is pure white but u still get the dots.

His animation style reminds me of the music video Radiohead filmed for “There, There”, despite that video airing long before James made his channel.

Yes, I öove James Lee. Always thought he was inspired by The MAXXX

He is the best when it comes to this kinda AR content!

"a long long time ago..." 14 years, it was 14 years ago.

I believe for the glasses thing.He puts clear grip tape over it and has a flashlight attached to the creates a super bright reflective effect(don't do this to your License plate to run cameras 😉)

Explaining animation? I know all the tricks, but the editing is the interesting part!

If they ever try to do another sin city movie they need to hire James Lee

Always love James' style.

i was wracking my brain trying to know where the hell i remembered his from, i looked him up and to my immediate regret found his overwatch animation (yes i know its good but it make me feel weird i cant help but not like it) and thought god i haven't seen this in a few months. I check the comments and THREE years ago i commented ' what the hell did i just watch' surprised how long its been

I remember watching one of his first animation and that is where he is arguing with his wife (Mrs Adobe). And I'm surprised they still didn't got divorce yet.

I went to uni with James studying animation back in 2004-06. He animated allot with 'Flash Animation' at the time. He made a final year film called Tarboy, which is phenomenal if you get to see it. From memory, he was dating a girl into music, and she did allot of the music compositions for him, which was pushed with the timing of the snappy movements in his films. Nice to see you do an homage to James...he deserves the recognition.

I love James Lee. His style is soo cool. Definitely innovative and creative and so fun.

He's a truly unique artist

this guy rocks!

James has actually explained how he does the glasses effect before on Twitter as a response to a now deleted post: "UV lights on matte white glasses, then color correction to take out the blue. Then 'glow' effect in AE."

This is a fun guy to watch, i like his stuff

the glasses is literately just a taped image to the inside of them.

He is keying his glasses, likely via the contrast between frame and lens in AfterFX, but also just as likely by physically altering them like a green screen key. That printed dot matrix is a red herring to make it seem like a digital screen on the glasses.

i love his animations they are top notch.

some of his shots remind me of Kevin (Sin City) movie

Always love seeing Newgrounds artists spread elsewhere and grow Long live Newgrounds

Oh yes his stuff is sick, come across it every now and then but turns out I wasn’t subscribed. Fixed, thanks!

The first ones were great, i think he's burning out. 🔥

4:02 I think you can kinda seee here that the glasses have two layers? I might have caught a glimpse of that again in another video as well, but I think the glasses have a greenscreen.

The glasses have green on them. Effects added in post.

Reminds me of max head room a bit

Imagine if James Lee made a sin city movie

Oh that's live action? I honestly thought i was a really really good 3d model. It would never crossed my mind that it was him.

This video reminds me of Nerd City.

Homie stop-motioned himself. 😂

Sin City style animation and film.

why isn't the video you discussed linked anywhere?

retrorefrelective film for his glasses?

I call this style silly because he's silly i love james lee james lee the character james lee from RU-vid just like basil basil from omori i like the character basil from omori i like james lee and basil from omori,,,

I also make animations, albeit 2d animations, but still!

Bro THATS VECTOR

I thought his animation style was smart. When flash animations first came out I didnt think theyd evolve into what they have.

Facilmente você se passaria por um irmão do Mark Z

I have those same headphones. Xm4s, right?

watches sin city once

What happened to your fingers?… you OK?

Sunglasses 👓 😢

Man ive always wondered how he does what he does. Still dont know haha. I mean i knew he was manipulating live action footage.... but... is he photoshopping every frame??!! Like.. none of it looks like footage straight from a camera. Its not just individual films its like hes editing ecery frame individually