Hand-Drawn Animation Dead at Disney

[DisneyJedi]

Oddly enough, in my eyes, this turn of events is reminding me of that Order 66 scene from Star Wars Ep. 3. Ironic, huh?

Either Iger or Lasseter represent Palpatine, the animators represent the Jedi being killed and the whole layoff thing represents the Order itself.

Thanks, Lasseter and Iger. Thanks for nothing. You just made Disney and animation fans hate you/want you booted out of office sooner!

[DisneyAnimation88]

So LucasArts has been shut down and it's staff laid off, there've been lay-offs of long-serving employees at the theme parks, ILM, the film studio, WDAS, now there have also apparently been lay-offs at Marvel.

And while all these people are losing their jobs across the company, Disney stock is trading at an all-time high and Bob Iger is getting compensated in the region of $40 million. I'm beginning to look forward to 2015 when Iger will be gone, hopefully taking Jay Rasulo with him.

[DisneyJedi]

This is going to be EXTREMELY vindictive of me to say...

But I really hope Iger gets fired BEFORE his contract is up!

[SWillie!]

After this, do people still believe that 2D animation is not dead at Disney? Where's the legacy? Where's the sense of tradition? Who's going to pass the baton to the new generation of 2D animators? Are they even going to be new 2D animators at Disney? How long will it be before Disney lays off the handful of 2D animators left? Who's going to animate the rumored hybrid projects at Disney? Will there even be any at this point?

I'll preface this by saying that this whole layoff thing really does suck, and I agree that it's no way to treat top talent. They should be there until they are ready to leave of their own accord.

That said, I think a number of your questions can be answered.

As for legacy and tradition, this definitely does make a dent in that, no doubt. But, even with this handful of amazing artists leaving, there are still a ton of artists at Disney who seem to understand that legacy and who truly wish to be the next group who live up to that legacy. I think for the past several years that baton has already been being passed to the newer generation. There are some amazingly talented, young, 2D animators at Disney right now. Mario Furmanczyk, Jin Kim, Jen Hager, Hyun-Min Lee to name a few. They will undoubtedly prove worthy of picking up the torch. In my opinion, they already have. Eric Goldberg, Mark Henn, Randy Haycock, Dale Baer, and Alex Kuperschmidt are still around to lead these younger artists.

Disney's 2D animation internship is still going for this summer, so they are obviously still interested in recruiting and developing new 2D talent. I have no idea if they'll actually be looking to hire more 2D artists anytime soon, but my best guess is that there probably will not be until the hybrid projects go into production.

As for the hybrid projects, I'm sure they're still full steam ahead on them. As I said, while these 8 artists are of course a great loss, they do still have a good number of 2D animators left at the studio that I'm sure are probably working on them right now.

I think these layoffs are more about money and less about hand-drawn animation. These were some of the top money-makers at the studio. From a numbers standpoint, they can hire a number of younger animators for the same price. It happens in all lines of business - the older employees get the boot to make room for young, cheap labor. It sucks, and it isn't right, and I wish Disney of all companies could understand the talent these guys brought to the studio, but I think that's all this is. Money money money.

[DisneyAnimation88]

This is going to be EXTREMELY vindictive of me to say...

But I really hope Iger gets fired BEFORE his contract is up!

He won't be fired but I hope he doesn't change his mind about stepping down in 2015. He's done a good job in terms of getting things at Disney back in order and doing some very good business deals but the company is drifting further and further away from what it once was and perhaps some fresh blood at the top could rectify that. It might be too late for that to happen now but whatever happens I think it's time for Iger to stand aside.

Strange how as the company prospers and gets bigger, it seems to feel a need to cut it's workforce. If you're shareholder things have never been better, if you're an employee you're probably looking nervously over your should right now.

[TsWade2]

All right! That's it! Bob Iger and John Lasseter are now enemies of Disney! If I was at the Disney company, I would be acting like her!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOqBBf0Eqj8[/youtube]

Note: Skip to 1:00.

[DisneyJedi]

All right! That's it! Bob Iger and John Lasseter are now enemies of Disney! If I was at the Disney company, I would be acting like her!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOqBBf0Eqj8[/youtube]

Note: Skip to 1:00.

Wade, I'm just about as upset as you are, but that's not exactly helping with things.

[disneyboy20022]

All right! That's it! Bob Iger and John Lasseter are now enemies of Disney! If I was at the Disney company, I would be acting like her!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOqBBf0Eqj8[/youtube]

Note: Skip to 1:00.

Wade, I'm just about as upset as you are, but that's not exactly helping with things.

You know someone is overreacting when DisneyJedi calls them out

No offense

[TsWade2]

Wade, I'm just about as upset as you are, but that's not exactly helping with things.

You know someone is overreacting when DisneyJedi calls them out

No offense

First of all, non taken.

Second of all, I know I'm overacting, but Bob Iger and John Lasseter used to be nice, but now, there being of bunch of bastards. When 2015 comes, I'll be happy when Bob is gone. I suggest we hire Roy E. Disney's son, Roy P. Disney as the new CEO or Kathleen Kennedy since she supports hand drawn movies.

[DisneyJedi]

Roy E. Disney had a son named Roy P. Disney? Or are you just saying?

[estefan]

Me thinks somebody didn't read Swillie's post above. Of all of us here, he always seems to be the most knowledgeable about what's currently going on inside of the hat building.

On a different note, Maybe it's just the optimist in me, but I just find it hard to believe that somebody who studied hand-drawn animation (and taught by the Nine Old Men at CalArts, no less), won two Student Academy Awards for hand-drawn animated shorts, was heavily involved in helping distribute Studio Ghibli's films in North America, whose favourite movie is Dumbo and who began his career on The Fox and the Hound (working alongside Glen Keane) and Mickey's Christmas Carol would want to end hand-drawn animation.

[DisneyJedi]

Me thinks somebody didn't read Swillie's post above. Of all of us here, he always seems to be the most knowledgeable about what's currently going on inside of the hat building.

Really? I always thought Sotiris was the one knowledgeable about the up and up at Disney?

[estefan]

Oh, Sotiris is knowledgeable, too. I've just noticed Swillie is actually in the industry, been to Disney animator events, knew about Paperman and the new Mickey shorts before any of us.

[disneyboy20022]

Roy E. Disney had a son named Roy P. Disney? Or are you just saying?

He does indeed have a son. Roy Patrick Disney

http://www.imagiverse.org/interviews/ro ... _07_10.htm

[milojthatch]

Film animation period, outside of maybe new Pixar films, may not be the biggest priority anymore at Disney. Check this out!

http://variety.com/2013/biz/features/ho ... 200324380/

[DisneyEra]

I'm really frustrated about this.

All of them veteran hand-drawn artists. Why am I not surprised? Is this how Disney treats their top talent? Is this the thanks they get for defining a whole era in animation?

After this, do people still believe that 2D animation is not dead at Disney? Where's the legacy? Where's the sense of tradition? Who's going to pass the baton to the new generation of 2D animators? Are they even going to be new 2D animators at Disney? How long will it be before Disney lays off the handful of 2D animators left? Who's going to animate the rumored hybrid projects at Disney? Will there even be any at this point?

Is this what Lasseter promised? Is this how he would be bringing hand-drawn animation back?

Disney cares now only about 1 thing: Profit & $$$! And they will eliminate anything "2D animated features & long time animators" that will prevent them from this. Pixar is ontop of Mt. Olympus annoucing sequeals to Nemo & talking about a sequeal to Brave, while WDAS is laying off animators & pulling leaked images of Frozen from around the web! Greed & Selfishness triumphs all!

[DisneyEra]

Film animation period, outside of maybe new Pixar films, may not be the biggest priority anymore at Disney. Check this out!

http://variety.com/2013/biz/features/ho ... 200324380/

And you know why this is? Because it is "Cheaper" to do projects on Disney Channel than invest $100mil on new animated features! Plus they make huge profit while saving $$ in the process! After Hanna Montana & HSM burned themselves out, replacement shows were easy to fill in. Like I said before: Greed

[TsWade2]

Film animation period, outside of maybe new Pixar films, may not be the biggest priority anymore at Disney. Check this out!

http://variety.com/2013/biz/features/ho ... 200324380/

And you know why this is? Because it is "Cheaper" to do projects on Disney Channel than invest $100mil on new animated features! Plus they make huge profit while saving $$ in the process! After Hanna Montana & HSM burned themselves out, replacement shows were easy to fill in. Like I said before: Greed

Like I said, Bob Iger is a bastard! I think it's time we create an angry mob and force Bob Iger out of the Disney Company for good. No good deed goes unpunished!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPNB4VWeJrM[/youtube]

[SWillie!]

Haha thanks for the support, estafan. I'm certainly no expert though, don't take my word for gospel. But I do try to make logical conclusion about these types of things. I hate that hand-drawn animation is all but extinct at Disney every bit as much (and probably more so) as everyone else here, but it's always darkest before the dawn, and while it really sucks to see top talent let go, I take solace in the fact that there are still many, many amazing artists at Disney who are trying their best to live up to the legacy they are stepping into, despite having the odds stacked against them.

This same thing was happening in the 70s and 80s, when artists that had been there since Peter Pan, Cinderella and the like were being let go. That was also in favor of younger, cheaper talent. And then we got Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Lion King. It sucks to see people go, but I think it's just as exciting to see new people come. As always, I look forward to seeing what they do in the future.

[Disney's Divinity]

So LucasArts has been shut down and it's staff laid off, there've been lay-offs of long-serving employees at the theme parks, ILM, the film studio, WDAS, now there have also apparently been lay-offs at Marvel.

And while all these people are losing their jobs across the company, Disney stock is trading at an all-time high and Bob Iger is getting compensated in the region of $40 million. I'm beginning to look forward to 2015 when Iger will be gone, hopefully taking Jay Rasulo with him.

This is how it always is unfortunately. Even in the education system, all the job cuts happen at the teachers' level, while the principal and their 5 assistant principals, and the superintendents, suffer few to no firings or pay cuts. So, basically, the people who aren't directly involved in the work/product are the ones who rarely ever suffer.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/break ... 81043.html

The layoffs include Nik Ranieri, Ruben Aquino, Alex Kupershmidt, Frans Vischer, Russ Edmonds, Brian Ferguson, Jamie Lopez and Dan Tanaka.

Poor Ruben Aquino (who animated Ursula). Well, bad for all of them, but he's the name I recognize the most initially.

Of course the usual suspects will talk doomsday about never having hand drawn back again, I still say it'll be back, just not any time soon.

And that is, effectively, "dead."

I don't take this as a sign of anything really, since I already considered 2D "dead" at Disney. Dreamworks are also cutting jobs right now. Hmm.