Why are cartoons today so horribly drawn?

[Evil Genie Jafar]

I mean, just take a look at this:

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends



Camp Lazlo



Ed, Edd and Eddie



Fairy Oddparents




Is it that animators now don't care one bit of their work or is because they think children don't deserve quality?

[Loomis]

I actually like the stylised look of some of those, especially Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

It reminds me of Mary Blair or some of the concept art on Monsters Inc.

That said, I'd say much of the explanation for the simpilicity of all the modern cartoons (and we could include stuff like Kim Possible in there as well) is the cost of producing a weekly animated series.

Besides, I think those simple pieces of animation are often the most iconic. Look at the way Mickey Mouse has evolved over the years, yet still maintained the original simple design.

[memnv]

I dont see anything wrong with these. I think it is good that the animators have there own style. Who wants all characters to look the same. Do you think cartoons like the Flinstones were horribly drawn too.

[Evil Genie Jafar]

Nothing wrong? Have you seen them in motion? They're painful to look at.

What happened with the animation of the 80's and 90's? : Thundercats, He-Man, Silverhawks, Pirates of Dark Water, SWAT Katz....

I mean, for me there are levels of simplicity in design and they've already achieved them with shows like The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory and such... But these are just hideous. I was at my friends' house and there was her ex-husband (that dislikes animation) and even he noticed and said: "why don't they make beautiful designs anymore?"

PS

No wonder people are turning their sights to other places like Japan...

[Isidour]

maybe is cheaper,need less time, take less effort to make it nd you need even less employes...

think cheap and you`ll get cheap stuff...

Bt what`s wrong with teh Odd parents fairies? I like those

[Wonderlicious]

Nothing wrong? Have you seen them in motion? They're painful to look at.

I have seen The Fairly Odd Parents and I must say that I like the way that the characters move. They seem to retain the classic Hannah Barbera look but make it seem less clunky and lifeless when in motion. The others I haven't seen, so I can't comment.

What happened with the animation of the 80's and 90's? : Thundercats, He-Man, Silverhawks, Pirates of Dark Water, SWAT Katz....

I know that you have some affection to those cartoons surely, but I must say that, in my opinion, those pieces had the more mediocre designs in that they appeared blander. Whilst the above designs may go a bit over the top in design terms, I'd rather have cartoons like that than He-Man.

[singerguy04]

Nothing wrong? Have you seen them in motion? They're painful to look at.

I have seen The Fairly Odd Parents and I must say that I like the way that the characters move. They seem to retain the classic Hannah Barbera look but make it seem less clunky and lifeless when in motion. The others I haven't seen, so I can't comment.

What happened with the animation of the 80's and 90's? : Thundercats, He-Man, Silverhawks, Pirates of Dark Water, SWAT Katz....

I know that you have some affection to those cartoons surely, but I must say that, in my opinion, those pieces had the more mediocre designs in that they appeared blander. Whilst the above designs may go a bit over the top in design terms, I'd rather have cartoons like that than He-Man.

i'm going have to agree with Wonderlicious here. In fact it seems to be an overall american style now. also cheap costs equals cheap animation. also these designs are easy to replicate so then it would take less time to animate a series and you could switch out team members easily if needed. beisdes these designs work for today's children.

i think the 80's and 90's cartoons that you are talking about lookin good in still frame but i always hated the way they moved. I think Ducktales is a better example for quality.

i hate to offend anyone but i can't stand anime. i mean i enjoy a lot of the stories like spitited away. but i think it's hardly a break-through in animation since every piece looks and acts the same. yes it can be very beautiful, but i just feel like there is a lack of imagination in character and background design when it comes to anime. that's just my opinioin though.

[Evil Genie Jafar]

Well, I'm not going to force anyone into liking something but at least you admit singerguy04 that they're beautiful to look at and the way they move is just beautiful.

May I suggest you to watch:

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and Metropolis.


And regarding the topic, I must say then that I have nothing less to add since it seems I'm the only one with this opinion.

[Loomis]

What happened with the animation of the 80's and 90's? : Thundercats, He-Man, Silverhawks, Pirates of Dark Water, SWAT Katz....
[...]No wonder people are turning their sights to other places like Japan...

I've watched some of the 'classics' from the 80s again recently - Voltron and He-Man in particular - and 'animated' is certainly not the word that I would use to describe them. Obviously we forgave a lot when we were younger, because most of them are still drawings with the mouths moving occasionally (definitely the case with Voltron).

The Japanese were virtually the ones that developed that 'cheap' form of animation through the 'illusion of movement'. Move a still character past a background quickly, or move the lips and not the rest of the body etc. By comparison, these newer Nickelodean and Cartoon Network shows are positively state-of-the-art.

[lord-of-sith]

Well, I do like Foster's Home's design. I also like the Fairly Oddparents too. Ed, Edd, and Eddy is a bit messy, but it's intended to be, it's from the boy's point of view, and they are always on to the next scheme and therefore, never take time to notice the detail, therefore the animation and such is messy. And Camp Lazlo is just a bit too uneven for me. The characters are oddly shaped and they don't realy stand apart from each other.

[ichabod]

What happened with the animation of the 80's and 90's? : Thundercats, He-Man, Silverhawks, Pirates of Dark Water, SWAT Katz....

I know that you have some affection to those cartoons surely, but I must say that, in my opinion, those pieces had the more mediocre designs in that they appeared blander. Whilst the above designs may go a bit over the top in design terms, I'd rather have cartoons like that than He-Man.

I would've made this comment if Wondy hadn't beaten me too it! Curse he

The rose tinted glasses and the "In my day" hat seem to get worn a bit too often when it comes to TV and film, and everyone things that kids TV "in their day" was far superior to "this modern rubbish". However if you compare He-Man and Thundercats to those shows you mention, I for one thing that the modern shows have a FAR higher quality of animation.

Abstract design, does not appeal to everyone that much is true, but that does not mean a show is badly animated. I can't help but be reminded of the comments made about "Home on the Range" saying that is was poorly animated, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth! Something animated or designed to emulate a particular style, as with Home on the Range would have taken much more skill and precision than standard animation, and as has been testament from the Disney animators themselselves, there were a lot of entire scenes from Home on the Range tossed out and lead animators replaced entirely because their work was up to scratch, because changing to the abstract style had been a rude awakening and the precision needed was far greater because the angular designs were far less forgiving if a line was incorrectly placed.

So different, Yes they may be, but there is still a ridiculous amount of skill needed and a lot of work that goes into them.

[Zoltack]

Maybe its cheaper, takes less time, effort and employees to make it...

Bingo! Cartoon artist only have a short, limited time to make these half hour animation shows. If you noticed sometimes you'll see the same background over and over again when a character walks, that's also to reduce time and cost of the cartoon. So these cartoons look like that for a reason. I mean when South Park started out they only used construction paper to make the characters and the backgrounds because that was really cheap to do. Now they use computers to do their animation which of course is more expensive.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

I have to agree with Evil Genie Jafar.

I mean I have only seen 2 of those shows, Ed, Edd and Eddie and The Fairly Odd Parents, and the animation in both of those shows SUCK!

Ed, Edd and Eddie looks sloppy and Fairly Odd Parents has awful designs for the characters it's just painful to look at.

I mean I like stylised animaton as much as the next guy(Chuck Jones cartoons, Jay Ward catoons etc.), but man these shows don't even put effort.

Even shows from the 80's and 90's didn't look this bad.

Why do they look this way? Well they have to make ALOT of different cartoons at a time, animation is probably not one of their priorities(but then that wouldn't make sense because stories and characters certainly aren't).

[magicalwands]

I guess everyone has their own opinions on how these cartoons look. They probably are "cheap animation" because maybe the animators weren't given a whole lot of money to make a show. I really don't think the Fairly OddParents animation looks that bad, I think it would be a turn off if it was drawn like anime. On Channel Chasers they were drawn in anime style and I just started to not give the movie much thought anymore and spacedout. And anyways, it's probably more expensive now to make a cartoon then in the past.

[Isidour]

yeah, from those three, Fairy Oddparents is the best,(I would say Ed, Edd n' Eddy but is just fun for me because of the dub they do it here, so in its original form is mere crap )

[Alan]

I don't think its badly drawn, I like the unique animation.

[BrandonH]

I'd be happier if the cartoons of today took a page from the classic Nicktoons. They didn't have to have a new episode every day or week, so they could take their time on the quality of episodes (both writing and art). Even though there were more reruns, the reruns were fun to watch.

[anger is pointless]

i agree Evil Genie Jafar those shows are horribly drawn i prefer quality cartoons like

he-man
she-ra
care bears
david the gnome
the looney tunes cartoons
tom and jerry ect

sigh they just dont makes cartoons like that anymore

[Pluto]

I think its just different style, i mean, the artists from the 80s or 90s had theier own styles, i think we cant compare them...

[MickeyMousePal]

Well, I know that all Anime is great drawing but some cartoons have other styles because they think it looks better that way.