"We currently have no traditional hand-drawn animated motion
pictures in production or development."
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
I'm paraphrasing what Disney CEO Robert Iger said at the recent shareholders
meeting in Phoenix, AZ.
But whether he knew it or not, the Disney chief executive had just announced
the sad death of an art form that had once been the foundation of this
prestigious media company. And with the passing of a unique art form that had
been embraced and nurtured by Walt Disney nearly eighty years ago, we can only
wonder where we go from here.
Now before you begin shouting at me and insisting that I
don't know what I'm talking about, before you loudly remind me that hand-drawn
animation is alive & vital today and hundreds of animation artists are
creating films drawn by hand, let me hasten to add that I'm totally on board
with you. I'm only saying that the art formerly used to create magical motion
pictures at the Walt Disney Studios has finally gone the way of the Dodo Bird.
Of course, others will continue to create hand-drawn animated movies. But let's
face it: None of them will have a budget approaching a hundred million dollars.
Sorry. Not gonna happen.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
Of course, the animated film will continue to flourish and
the road ahead is limited only by the imagination of the film makers. Plus
we'll probably see even more innovation and unique blending of CGI and
hand-drawn images much like the recent WDAS short, "Paperman." Having said
that, I doubt we'll ever see the likes of the famous Nine Old Men or even Nine Old
Women for that matter. The age of legendary animators like Milt Kahl, Freddy
Moore and Bill Tytla will become a thing of the past as well. Don't believe me?
I haven't read any books about famous CGI animators recently. And I don't
expect any coffee table books on the subjects of rigging & rendering.
Now, before you consider me a Luddite, I'll remind you I
brought my own computer to work at the Disney Company back in the 1980s and I
was creating storyboards on an Apple Mac long before Cintiq developed their
tablet. In no way would I consider myself anti-tech and I remain committed to
advances in technology. Of course, I can't help but lament the untimely passing
of hand-drawn animation because this art form could have had an amazing future
as well. Should you think I'm wrong, I can only add that the recent departure
of animation masters Andreas Deja & Glen Keane hardly assure me of any
change in Disney's plans.
Disney's modern masters of hand-drawn animation (L to R) Andreas Deja, Mark Henn
and Glen Keane tour "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure" in early 2011
while this DCA attraction is still under construction. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
As colorful animated images recently danced across a large
computer screen in a Disney lobby, an old gentleman standing nearby asked me a
question. "Why don't cartoons look like that anymore?" he inquired. "Most
movies made today are computer generated," I replied. The old gentleman seemed
puzzled. Clearly he knew nothing about animation or technology. "Well, that's a
darn shame," he grumbled. "I liked the old ones better."
"My sentiments, exactly," I replied, "It is a darn shame."
Copyright Focal Press, Taylor & Francis Group, an
Informa Business. All rights reserved
For those who found today's Toon Tuesday column a bit too
depressing, I do have some good news. Floyd Norman's latest book, "Animated
Life: A lifetime of tips, tricks, techniques and stories from an Animation
Legend
" (Focal Press, April 2013) ships next week. On April 4th, to be
exact. So if you'd like to be among the
first to get your hands on this sure-to-be-entertaining 288 page beauty, I
suggest that you pre-order a copy today.
And if you haven't yet gotten around to purchasing Mr.
Norman's original collection of cartoons and stories — "Faster! Cheaper!
The Flip Side of the Art of Animation" – this paperback is still available
for sale over at John Cawley's Cataroo. And if you still haven't had your fill
of Floyd at this point, feel free to move on over to Mr. Fun's Blog. Which is where
Mr. Norman posts his musings when he's not writing for JHM.