[RESEARCH] The Decline of Hand Drawn Animation

"At first the cartoon medium was just a novelty, but it never really began to hit until we had more than tricks, until we developed personalities. We had to get beyond getting a laugh. They may roll in the aisles, but that doesn't mean you have a great picture. You have to have pathos in the thing." - Walt Disney

Animation has come along way since digital drawing has come about, from CGI to Flash animation there are just so many easier ways to animate without using a light-box. But does that mean animation has improved? Personally speaking I do not think it has, CGI animation has come along way and is still wowing audiences even now, however I feel the quality of 2D animation has decreased in recent years, frame by frame is becoming less common in mainstream films and television. Only recently Disney shut its doors on hand drawn animation and has no plans for it in the future, big named companies such as Cartoon Network, MTV, IMAX, Warner Brothers and even Disney are outsourcing their animation to India and we are seeing more and more model based animation shows and less hand drawn.

My research will focus on how animations are created in recent years and how even with the advancements of technology; whether or not the quality has decreased. For my practice, I want to incorporate both traditional animation along with digital animation, I will create a short film about a digitally animated animator and his traditionally animated cartoon character, the character will come alive and embody the techniques of traditional animators. The animation style of the cartoon character will be a sort of rubber hose, 1920s Disney animation with a hint of the wackiness from Warner Brothers animations.

I want to have the animator to be model based, so to get the contrast of rubber hose traditional animation to the model based animation style. I will do some more research into both the styles and come up with some concepts in the near future, this is early stages for my practice project and hopefully I can make it look appealing.