Ink-wash animation is an animation style that is unique to China. This style combines traditional Chinese aesthetics of Shui-mo and modern animation techniques.

Chinese animation has a history of over 80 years, and ink-wash animation is a major part of it, having first appeared in the 1960s. However, its popularity has waned due to its high time and money costs

In 1960, the appearance of the first Chinese ink-wash animation Tadpoles Searching for Mother signified a breakthrough in the form of expression and aesthetic conception in animation. 

Three years later, another ink-wash film called Cowboy’s Flute, directed by Qian Jiajun, was awarded the Golden Prize at the Odense International Fairy Tale Film Festival in Denmark. People called ink-wash animation the “fifth Chinese invention.”

Feeling from Mountain and Water is the last traditional water-ink animation. The film tells the simple tale of an impoverished elderly scholar and a young girl, who cares for him briefly in return for zither lessons. This last film uses no dialogue because there is no need for it. It bypasses language to tap into an emotional depth that can’t be reached through spoken words. The emotional impact of the film is undeniable.

In traditional 2D ink animation, each scene is painted by a famous ink painter. The Cavalier perspective is the most common use principle in Chinese paintings. This kind of perspective is not limited by a defined field of view. That makes paintings have a lot of viewpoints.

But perspective never becomes the most important element in Chinese painting.

Just like Chinese painting, Chinese ink animation does not focus on perspective, but on white space and the movement of objects in the background.

It can highlight the main character and has a strong artistic quality.
Ink painting has many line variations, with techniques such as outlining, Cun (皴), Ca (擦), dotting and dyeing, etc.

Cun (皴) stroke is to portray the texture and create a 3-D effect of the object.

Ca (擦) is similar to cun, which means gently using the side-brush stroke to create a broken and blurred texture, leaving a very light brush trace.

Taking Feeling from Mountain and Water as an example

And you can see that the animator used these techniques both in the scene and character design.

Today people sometimes use computers to produce water-ink animation.
There are many digital ink animation products in China, such as Fog Hill of Five Elements, Sword, and Lying On Ice. Although the effect is not the same as the handmade versions, it saves time and money.

In the end, the only thing I want to say is most of the Chinese animation films before the 1990s are hidden gems, sadly, for various reasons, the glory is no more