The Inkling Chronicles

New forum to discuss "2D" Animation

2D or Not 2D Forum -  A place to discuss all issues relating to traditional 2D animation in a digital world.

Ok, ok ... it's not exactly "new" , having been in existence for about 9 months ,  but it's had on-again, off-again  pattern of posting , sometimes going dormant for weeks at a time , so I'm trying to remind folks that it's there.

If you haven't signed up for the 2D or Not 2D Forum then please come on over and have a look.  Sign in and join the conversation.  Sure, there are lots of animation discussion forums out there , but only one that I know of which is devoted totally to  "2D"  (aka "hand-drawn", "traditional") animation .  The forum is sponsored by Tony White's  Animaticus Foundation ,  "a non-profit organization dedicated to the preserving , teaching, and development of the artform of 2D animation in a digital world."

And hey, just to remind you of how great moving drawings can look, here's a nifty model sheet put together as reference for the animators working on the the Peter Pan sequel back when it was a production centered at Walt Disney Animation Toronto , Canada .   The drawings are Milt Kahl's from the original "Peter Pan"  made at Disney's in 1953.

(click on image to see it larger)

torch passing

Do yourself a favor and check out these great posts from Will Finn and Tom Sito :

Will Finn shares a letter he received from Ward Kimball in 1973 .  Ward's letter is like an education in Animation boiled down to one page .  Should be required reading for animation students or anyone who loves animation .

Tom Sito writes about "where have all the old animators gone ? "    It's all about passing the torch , ladies and gents .  Read it .

Along with his thoughts Tom posts this photo of some of the surviving crew members of "Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs"  from  1987.

1987 Snow White Crew Reunion. L-R –Thornton “T.”.Hee, Cal Howard, Eric Larson,Grim Natwick,Ward Kimball,Shamus Culhane,Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas. click to enlarge.

In 1987 I had been  living and working in animation in L.A. for about  2 years. Between the years 1985 to 1988 I was privileged to meet several of these legends:   Grim Natwick,  Ward Kimball, Eric Larson,  Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston.  (I never did get to meet T.Hee , Shamus Culhane , or Cal Howard)  There were other giants walking amongst us in those days and I'm glad I got to meet them , too.   That time still seems  "just like yesterday" to me ,  but I realize it's quickly receding into  The Past™ .

(Interesting that probably the healthiest  looking guy in that photo is Grim Natwick who was pushing 100 at that point , surrounded by "youngsters"  in their 70's .  "

So read what Sito has to say .

New Japanese "Ratatouille" trailer

This is too good not to share.  A new Japanese  "Ratatouille" trailer  (found this originally via Alan Cook's blog).

Who knows if it will be allowed to stay up on YouTube , so check it out now .   I'm really anticipating the release of this new Pixar film directed by Brad Bird. This film looks absolutely gorgeous and I'm sure the story and character relationships will be what we've come to expect from Pixar.  Looks like they're going to hit another home-run with "Ratatouille" .  Counting down the days until release on June 29 ...

Interesting that there appears to be a little bit of "2D" animation of the chef, Auguste Gusteau,in the book , when he's talking to Rémy. Whether or not this was done with "traditional hand-drawn" animation or some sort of toonshading in a CG program remains to be seen. The little bit I could see in the trailer looked nice. It would be sort of cool if it turns out that those scenes in the book were done as traditional, hand-drawn animation (even if it was "traditionally hand-drawn" on a Cintiq !) . Goodness knows Pixar has many excellent traditional animation artists in their ranks who could do those scenes .  Now that I really think about it , it's most likely done with "toon-shaded" CG , because that would be easier to integrate with the other CG elements in the scene. 

I read on the "2D-Or-Not-2D forum where "Idragosani" pointed out that the stylization of the chef in the book looks like an homage to Maurice Sendak's  "In the Night Kitchen" .   I can see that resemblance.

Click on  THIS LINK  to see a high-resolution version of this image from "Ratatouille"  ---

A Legacy of hand-drawn animation

                  

                  

A few years ago when the then-reigning Powers That Be  of the Disney Corporation decided in their wisdom that "2D" animation was dead they closed down the traditional animation dept. at the main Burbank studio (retraining some of the staff to do CG animation)  , and completely closed-down the Paris, France and Orlando,FL branches of Disney Animation.   It's a tale of of woe you've all heard and I won't go into much more about it here.    And of course, in the best sort of Hollywood-ending irony we find that a mere 3 years later the former management at Disney has been swept away and now we have the head of Pixar Animation Studios, the most successful CG animator/director ever , John Lasseter,  being the catalyst for bringing back hand-drawn animation at Disney Animation Studios which he now runs along with Pixar's Ed Catmull.

In the aftermath of the forced shuttering of the Orlando,FL studio in 2004 a group of us silly dreamers tried to start up an animation studio of our own.   It was decided that we ought to make a short film as a demo reel of what we could do on our own , outside of the cocoon of the mighty Disney studio, from start to finish , so possible investors or clients could see what we were capable of .   Storyboard artist/director Eddie Pittman  has posted his account of the history of Legacy and how it had holes knocked in the bottom of it's little boat before it even got a chance to sail  and also posted the story-reel of what was to be our little demonstration short,  a story about an unlucky 4-leaf clover , called "Lucky" .   "Lucky" wasn't conceived as some ground-breaking, push-the-envelope, best-short-film-ever animation project, but I think it would have been a cute film once it was fleshed out in full-animation.

Take a look to see a little bit of what might have been...

Legacy Animation's story reel of "Lucky"