Hand-Drawn Animation Dead at Disney

[Kyle]

Did he do that without any kind of under drawing? That's insane.

[sunhuntin]

incredible to watch.

[blackcauldron85]

That was so cool! A question that popped up for me was, All of the characters were 100% spot-on. Is it likely that he's drawn Flora or Mr. Smee or Jiminy before? Did he practice before the video? I know in the Parks, characters practice autographs; do Disney animators have to practice drawing spot-on characters, even ones they're not working on? Or can most of them just draw like that, 100%-accurate looking characters, because they're just fabulous artists?

*edit* Kind of an answer I was looking for:

Animator Eric Goldberg On Drawing Every Disney Character
http://blogs.disney.com/insider/2015/10 ... character/

[D82]

Well, Eric Goldberg made his interpretation of many Disney characters in a collection of drawings that were first displayed in an exhibition and now are collected in a book that has been published recently, so he has drawn them before. However, maybe he had some drawings of the characters near that he used as reference.

And I think he actually has a finished drawing under the sheet where he’s drawing. There are two sheets of paper on his drawing board. And, it’s hard to see, but if you pay attention to the shadow of his hand while he’s drawing, in some moments you can see the drawing that is under. At first, I also thought that he was drawing it from scratch, but it would have been difficult to place all the drawings in the correct position to form the number 92. But, it is impressive anyway how well he draws.

[unprincess]

amazing! and I may have to pick up his book!(he even drew Dodger. omg!)

[D82]

I replied to your post before seeing your edit, blackcauldron85. I see you found out about the book for yourself.

Yes, the pictures in the book are fantastic. I’d love to have some of those drawings as posters on my room.

[blackcauldron85]

I replied to your post before seeing your edit, blackcauldron85. I see you found out about the book for yourself.

Yes, the pictures in the book are fantastic. I’d love to have some of those drawings as posters on my room.

Yes, thank you for letting me know! I think that he was a great choice to draw all different characters - I think he's such a fantastic draftsman.

[Semaj]

Eric Goldberg's talent is being severely under-utilized at Disney today.

[D82]

Yes, that's a real shame. At least they could keep doing shorts in 2D.

[Sotiris]

At least they could keep doing shorts in 2D.

They could but they're not.

[D82]

I know they aren’t making any shorts in traditional animation right now. I suppose I haven’t written it well. I try to write in English correctly, but it’s still difficult for me. What I meant is that if they don’t do full-length films in 2D anymore because they think they’re not profitable, at least they could make shorts in 2D, which is a less risky format, to give their hand drawn animators something to do. But they don’t even do that.

[blackcauldron85]

I know they aren’t making any shorts in traditional animation right now. I suppose I haven’t written it well. I try to write in English correctly, but it’s still difficult for me. What I meant is that if they don’t do full-length films in 2D anymore because they think they’re not profitable, at least they could make shorts in 2D, which is a less risky format, to give their hand drawn animators something to do. But they don’t even do that.

I can't imagine them *not* doing more hybrid-format shorts (like Paperman & Get a Horse)...

[unprincess]

they wont do anything 2d b/c the CGI animators have self-esteem issues.

[Semaj]

What I meant is that if they don’t do full-length films in 2D anymore because they think they’re not profitable, at least they could make shorts in 2D, which is a less risky format, to give their hand drawn animators something to do. But they don’t even do that.

This was something they could've done back in the 80s when they were training their then-newer animators. And this is something they could be doing now to give their hand-drawn artists a safe haven.

Although Disney never officially stopped making shorts, they have been quite inconsistent since disbanding a cohesive shorts unit. When they were making occasional short subjects back in the 1990s/early 2000s, they got very little exposure. (What conceivable reason did they have to withdraw John Henry?)

[Sotiris]

2D-turned-CG animator Kevin O’Hara who currently works at Pixar asserts that it's easier animating in CG than in 2D.

I follow up with my second standard question: “Do you miss hand-drawn animation, do you wish you were still working in it?”

“I’m passionate about it,” Kevin answers. “I love the drawing, but I do love…there are challenges to the computer also, but the ease of making changes more than makes up for it. A lot of time in hand-drawn you animate a scene, but when you look at it you think a three-quarter view might work better, and then you have to redraw everything,” a problem easily resolved in CGI when all that’s involved is repositioning the virtual ‘camera.’

“What’s nice about Presto [Pixar’s proprietary software] it has a draw tool built in for us. We have a bunch of hand drawn animators that have converted to the computer. We’ll be in dailies and the first version will be an animated pencil test we can show the director. It helps us work quickly. We’re open for notes and we can get back to our desk with a great blueprint of what we’re going to be animating online.”

Source: http://www.awn.com/blog/pixar-good-anim ... visits-nyc

[Sotiris]

CG animation keeps making significant strides in Japan. I fear it won't be long before it eclipses 2D animation there as well. Kadokawa, a major entertainment and multimedia company in Japan will be pursuing CG animation and only recruit CG animators for their future projects.

Kadokawa is not only relying on Hosoda and other well-established talents for future anime hits, but is also looking to the generation coming after. “We are going after directors who were born around 1980,” Inoue says. “We want to establish a relationship with them from their small-scale start until they are able to work on larger productions.”

The reason: Animators of the millennial generation started high school and college about the time computer animation was finally taking off in Japan. “They can make animation entirely in the PC, unlike the generation above them, who have come up making realistic hand-drawn animation. The younger generation has changed the way animation is done here. We’ll be focusing on them from now on.”

Source: http://variety.com/2015/film/asia/kadok ... 201616019/


Also, at Siggraph Asia 2015, various Japanese animation studios will be hosting panels and talks about the rise of CG animation in the anime industry.

CG in Anime – Seven major animation studios from Japan -- Digital Frontier, Graphinica, Kamikazedouga, Polygon Pictures, SANZIGEN, SHIROGUMI and Toei Animation -- present their creative challenges on implementing computer graphics and digital production to Japanese traditional "Anime."

Source: http://www.awn.com/news/siggraph-asia-2 ... kobe-japan

[Semaj]

This may have already posted, but Glen Keane is involved with a type of software where hand-drawn animation is done thru virtual reality.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSbkn6mCfXE[/youtube]

[DisneyFan09]

This may have already posted, but Glen Keane is involved with a type of software where hand-drawn animation is done thru virtual reality.

No offense, but yes it has been posted.

[Sotiris]

Please help fund a great-looking Disney-esque animated short called "Tito Luvdeer". On top of great visuals, the story includes a gay romance! This is the closest thing you'll ever going to get to a gay Disney love story.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28uy5zIVekw[/youtube]

[kiseki]

CG animation keeps making significant strides in Japan. I fear it won't be long before it eclipses 2D animation there as well.

Unlikely to happen. The only reason it's making "significant strides" is because most Japanese CG animation is still pretty awful. Most of the time, 3DCG is just used to save money on 2D for things such as cars, detailed mecha, or (motion captured) dance routines, and currently the best of Japanese 3DCG is trying to emulate the look of 2D. It's still a medium welcoming improvement.

They can make animation entirely in the PC, unlike the generation above them, who have come up making realistic hand-drawn animation.

I...don't know if something was lost in translation here? There are plenty of digital 2D animators out there, the web generation, etc. etc. etc. There's also Studio Colorido, a new animation studio striving to produce all of their work digitally.