Disney Erases Hand-Drawn Animation

[Limbo]

Disney Erases Hand-Drawn Animation

BY JOHN CANEMAKER

Tuesday, August 9, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

In the 1960s, Walt Disney joked that one day he'd replace his elite corps of animators, known as the "Nine Old Men," and their slow, expensive way of making hand-drawn movies, with Audio-Animatronic figures.

At the end of last month, Walt's joke came true. The studio bearing his name announced that, due to a "changing creative climate and economic environment," it will be shutting DisneyToon Studios Australia next year. The studio, which turned out sequels (such as "Tarzan II," "The Lion King II" and "Bambi II") was the company's last remaining facility creating hand-drawn (or 2-D) traditional animation. To compete in the 3-D computer-generated imagery (or CGI) arena, the house that a hand-drawn mouse built will become a pixels, rather than a paper-and-pencils, place.

As the old animators often asked themselves, "What would Walt think?"

The decision was not entirely unexpected. In the past few years, Disney 2-D facilities in Florida, France, Canada and Japan have been closed, and 3-D computers have replaced all the traditional animation drawing tables at the studio's home base in Burbank, Calif.

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Funny thing... I always though Anime studios would turn to 3D way before Disney. I guess they value tradition over shareholders.. :/

3D Mickey anyone?

[bsu legato]

Computer animation doesn't necessarily mean 3D. Most, if not all of Diznee's last few animated films were done on computer, yet retained the appearance of traditional cel animation. I think the Dreamworks 'toons (before they gave up and decided to stick with 3D) were also produced with CGI.

[rnurmin]

Ouch, I feel bad for those people that are going to get laid-off

Hopefully they have armed themselves with all the Computer + 3D knowledges in order to find new jobs

[Druna Skass]

Meh, I like the stuff comming from Japan better anyway...

[BoBe-Patt]

ahh, well that kinda sucks for traditional animators. A friend of mine had some mad skills in drawing and wanted to become an animator. He has his porfolio together n all, but the only problem is, he doesn't know how to use any programs on the computer. So when he went in for a job interview, they told him that his artwork was good n all, but he had to at least know illustrator and photoshop. Oh well, I'm just glad I'm better on the computer than I am with a pencil.

[Limbo]

I just think it sucks because our kids will grow in a world completely, and by completely I mean COMPLETELY, different from ours.

Even the stuff you see on Cartoon Network, most of them look like a flash animation to me. Hopefully we'll always have some old dinosaurs willing to keep up a small studio pushing traditional animation.

[JKeats]

I'm kind of on the fence about this. Stories like Bobe-Patt's are sad to hear about but then again, when I think about all of the recent traditionally drawn Western animations, I can't remember any that I really liked.

[dedalus001]

I'm kind of on the fence about this.  Stories like Bobe-Patt's are sad to hear about but then again, when I think about all of the recent traditionally drawn Western animations, I can't remember any that I really liked.

319106[/snapback]

i agree; the last western-animated thing that i was impressed by was sleeping beauty. but yeah, i'm kinda sad that hand-drawn cels are finally declared obsolete. then again, i felt the same way switching from manual photos to digital, and i'm okay with that...

things shouldn't go away just because they're technologically inferior, because maybe someone will push the old system to its limits again. argh at least keep it as an option.

[azrael]

Oh well. It's not the end of 2-D animation, but it is the end of all hand-only animation. These days, even 2D animation has some computer enhancement. It's hard to avoid it. I remember a few year ago I saw a guy take his hand-drawn pic and enhance it with Photoshop. It's hard to avoid taking hand-drawn work and run it through a computer these days. The only way you can do it is if you do actual paintings.

things shouldn't go away just because they're technologically inferior, because maybe someone will push the old system to its limits again. argh at least keep it as an option.

There is a question in that. Have we come to the point where traditional hand-drawn work has reached its limit?

Edited August 10, 2005 by azrael

[ogami]

Time to rewatch DYRL for some hand-drawn animation goodness.

It is sad to see Disney giving up Hand-Drawn Animation however that is the way western animation are moving into.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

You guys should not worry. A lot of the 2d animators that Disney laid off last year were hired BY Pixar. Pixar is going to a 2d direction and directly competing with Disney. I heard about this last sem in my film class.

The trends in animation are all a cycle, hand animation pretty much started it, over time many will come back to it, and a lot will stick with it through and through. I wouldn't worry about anything, now as far as Disney, I am dissapointed but just because they are eliminating 2d sure as hell don't mean their competition will.

[Keith]

Not to sound cold, but If these animator's being laid off are responsible for such trash as the recent Disney sequels, then they're no loss to the 2-D cause. Over 50 years later, and these guys are churning out vastly inferior art to what Disney was doing back then. It's no wonder interest is fading in 2-D.

Take a look at the Bambi special edition, specifically, the fire scene. The shading is so awesome there that if it were done today you'd swear it had some computer enhancement.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Not to sound cold, but If these animator's being laid off are responsible for such trash as the recent Disney sequels, then they're no loss to the 2-D cause. Over 50 years later, and these guys are churning out vastly inferior art to what Disney was doing back then. It's no wonder interest is fading in 2-D.

Take a look at the Bambi special edition, specifically, the fire scene. The shading is so awesome there that if it were done today you'd swear it had some computer enhancement.

319328[/snapback]

For the most part they probably were not the ones responsible. One of the primary complaints is that a lot of the animation now is being sent to cheaper studios to do overseas. Disney is not new at laying off 2d animators, its gone on for quite some time. Bruce Timm who is not from disney, but is an animator nonetheless, tweaked his style and simplified it so that the overseas animators have less of a chance to screw up the DC cartoons. This is a growing source of frustation, the US' dependency to go overseas rather than let most of their own animators do their work.

I'm not saying the US is relying on japan, BOTH are relying on other countries at increased rates. This is a problem over there in japan too.

Cheaper rates=cheaper production=lesser quality.

It makes sense but its not something I'd agree with.

[JsARCLIGHT]

It's the wave of the future.

Being someone who has a #D component to my company I do not hire anyone who does not have at least some knowledge of general 3D apps and understand the basic workings of it. I myself have had to study and bring myself up to a level of understanding just to keep current with the industry. Here is a question put to some people: when computers revolutionised architecture and did away with all the hand plotters and hand plans did it affect the industry? Yes it did. It made things faster, cheaper and by result you now have more people cranking plans meaning the rate of crap design to good design is higher than ever. It used to be that only a big firm with drafters out the wazoo could design a building... now anyone with some technical knowledge and a computer can in their basement. The same can be said for animation now. Anyone with a computer, the knowledge and the right programs can make their own animation to a degree.

Computers are the wave of the future and they will make things cheaper and increase competition. I see this as nothing but a good thing in the long run. Sure the level of crap to quality will increase but that always happens when signifigant financial barriers are removed from production.

[buddhafabio]

i can see it now, a kid will come up to their parent and say" i dont like the lion king, its too flat"

look at my avatar now that is a toon

Edited August 11, 2005 by buddhafabio

[Nightbat]

Disney's problem isn't the type of animation, it's the quality of it

If I animate something and it looks like crap, it doesn't matter if it's done on a

computer, with handdrawn cels, or using you ass and a piece of toiletpaper

compare 50-bloody-years-old Snow-White to Hercules and Snow-White looks marvelous

ofcourse Disney would never blame their incompetent staff

[bigkid24]

Ouch, I feel bad for those people that are going to get laid-off 

Hopefully they have armed themselves with all the Computer + 3D knowledges in order to find new jobs 

319088[/snapback]

There are actually grants for people that need to upgrade their skills to stay competitive in the work place, and, yes, it covers animators having to learn computers.

[azrael]

319375[/snapback]

... It used to be that only a big firm with drafters out the wazoo could design a building... now anyone with some technical knowledge and a computer can in their basement.

I wouldn't exactly trust that person who designs buildings out of their basement...

The same can be said for animation now. Anyone with a computer, the knowledge and the right programs can make their own animation to a degree.

Computers are the wave of the future and they will make things cheaper and increase competition. I see this as nothing but a good thing in the long run. Sure the level of crap to quality will increase but that always happens when signifigant financial barriers are removed from production.

It's business sense to find a cheaper way to do things. You're stupid not to. Crap is crap but if you're making money off that crap...

Edited August 11, 2005 by azrael

[Radd]

Wacky thread. Just to get things down as I know them. Disney is ceasing production of all their 2D animated features and tv series. They've been scaling back in this regard for quite some time. Eisner went so far as to claim 2D was dead, because of the Disney's recent failings at the box office.

For 2D computer animation, it takes just as many people, and almost as much time. All the cels still need to be drawn, whether on paper or on the computer, an animator is still required. There are no magical computers that create the inbetween frames.

Is this just a technological step? Were 3D CG works destined to put an end to 2D animation? Stupid question. 2D and 3D animation are different types of art. Saying CG animation makes 2D obsolete is like claiming sculpture makes illustration a thing of the past, or that markers put an end to paint.

Should 2D animators run out and learn 3D animation? Well, currently if they want to remain in the animation industry then yes, however it's like telling a physician to become a dentist to remain in the health industry. There is some crossover in skills, but also a lot that has nothing to do with the other.

That's just to put some perspective here, because a lot of people commenting seem to think it's just pencils and paper being given up for wacom tablets and computer monitors, and anyone who isn't keeping up has no one to blame but themselves.

Disney is burying an artform just because they've screwed up most of their major 2D animated features over the past years. Their mindset is, "Well, Atlantis and Treasure Planet bombed at the box office, it must be because people don't like 2D animation." They haven't stopped to consider that maybe, just maybe, it's because movies like those were utter crap.

Remember when Final Fantasy bombed in theatres? You know what people said then? They claimed it was because audiences did not want 3D animated movies.

Add to this that for years now the entry level grunt work in animation has been moved overseas, leaving almost no way for new talent to get into the industry.

Disney has a history of treating their animators rather poorly. I hope the rumours that Pixar is moving into 2D animation wind up becoming true, and that Pixar becomes very successful in their 2D endeavours. Meanwhile, the people responsible for Disney's latest box office bombs are probably the same people heading up their new 3D movies. I wonder what they'll say when those movies fail?

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

I wonder if little kids will even know the difference in the future between a hand drawn and hand animated image and cg model? (either hand animated or mocapped)

Eg: the celshaded monster in macross zero when it makes its appearance and moves around, looks just as good as a hand drawn one. Maybe having to draw the monster would take more money to do, than just designing a 3d model and letting the person play around with the camera a bit offered a little more freedom?

Using a camera to photograph something has kind of eliminated the need to have somebody draw or paint what something looks like when you have the technology to just take a quick snapshot.

Or take the use of 3d image in games as an example: you can digitally enhance a flat image or paste textures onto a 3d object and with special 3d fx, and lighting tricks, you can manipulate the enivironment to get the right mood. If you only ever specialised in making 2d games and animating sprites, you might lack the skills necessary to compete with other companies who have experience in both.

It's one of the reasons why we don't see many 2d sidescrolling action games with gorgeously detailed hand-drawn backgrounds and hand-animated sprites any more sadly. (on high level platforms at least. It is because there is this stigma with mainstream gamers that if something is flat, it has crap graphics and must be a bad game) So I can see where they are coming from.

Personally I still like my 2d hand drawn animation over 3d though.

Edited August 12, 2005 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[Keith]

2D just has a level of appeal that can't be achieved in 3D animation, that afterall is why it's there in the first place (as we've had 3D live action to comopete with it). It will never die, though like 2D games, it's at a definate lull right now. And Eisner be damned, they've got no one to blame but themselves for releasing all the sh!t that they've been putting out for their box office failings.

[Mercurial Morpheus]

2D died at Disney with Home on the Range. This is just sweeping away the last remnents. Man does this tick me off.

It's a shame that Roy reconciled. Had their lawsuit continued, it's possible Save Disney could've done something. Now that he's back on the board, who knows, but this isn't a good step forward.

While I have nothing against full CGI films(I loved The incredibles and look forward to Advent Children[though mostly due to a love for FF7]), I just greatly prefer the work, look, and artistry that goes into a wellcrafted cel animation. It's not dead, despite what Eisner thinks, and cel-shading is a poor, hard to convincingly light, substitute.

[Radd]

Well, Eisner is gone within the next couple years, isn't he? That could be a good step forward for Disney. Still, the company shouldn't be buddying up to him and letting him run the company into the ground.

I'm hoping that the increased popularity of anime, and animation aimed at the 18-35 year old crowd will help push a new boom of animation in the States, but I'm not holding my breath. Japan seems to be having its own problems, with more and more of their domestic animation jobs going to countries like Korea. People over there seem to be concerned about the anime boom ending in Japan.

Even if animation does get big again, more than likely all the jobs will remain overseas.

[Mercurial Morpheus]

Well, Eisner is gone within the next couple years, isn't he?

319880[/snapback]

Actually, he steps down next month. Not a moment too soon in my opinion. He did great things early on, but his departure is long overdue.

The real question is what Bob Igar's going to do about it. He supposedly agreed to take Roy Disney as an "adviser". Knowing Roy, a return to traditional animation would most likely be on his list(though he did work to get CGI together). Mostly, I just hope that some effort can come towards returning Disney Feature Animation to its former glory.

[Prime]

And Eisner be damned, they've got no one to blame but themselves for releasing all the sh!t that they've been putting out for their box office failings.

Indeed. They churn out crap that does poorly, and then conclude that it must be the medium, not the content.