"Back to Hand Drawing for Disney"

Came across this article a few minutes ago, thought I'd post it here. What with all the talk about 'too much CGI.' floating around. Those of little faith. ;)

I've included a copy of the article below. You can find the originating article on the web by clicking HERE[=http://www.cinematical.com/2006/12/19/back-to-hand-drawing-for-disney/]HERE

Back to Hand Drawing for Disney

Posted Dec 19th 2006 9:00PM by Jennifer DeFilippo
Filed under: Animation, Disney, Newsstand

Pencil. Paper. Have you two met? I think the better question may be directed to the animator -- do you remember how to use them? I remember when Toy Story came out in 1995 -- it was huge! It broke barriers being the first full-length computer animated film. It was exciting and quickly became the thing to do; seemingly making hand drawing the thing of the past. Disney animation is now putting a stop to the CGI addiction and returning to a more traditional drawing plan.

This change, just announced today by John Lasseter and Ed Catmull, will take place in Walt Disney Co.'s Burbank studios, leaving Pixar to exclusively work onCGI projects. There isn't a specific answer to why the change happened, but one rumor centers around Chris Sanders who is responsible for Lilo and Stitch and the upcoming film American Dog. Lilo and Stitch, if you can remember, was hand-drawn -- and was a huge success. Perhaps they're hoping the same hand-drawn success with American Dog.

I do think it's nice to know that there is an effort being made in preserving this art form. I often times get worried with how great technology has become that we get further and further away from our origins. Being a bit of a technology dunce I don't understand the steps necessary in making a CGI film but I do fondly reminisce about the making of Steamboat Willie. I still vividly remember watching how they drew out the story to create the film. It was exciting seeing the characters come to life right off the page. I find relief knowing that there are many films to come made in that same historical way ... and I'm sure many animators are relieved too.

Finally we return to our humble roots. :D
Don't get me wrong, there have been good CGI movies out. They were pretty good when they were first introduced. But now they are all basically the same thing over and over. Hardly any original storylines or nothing. But that's not to say CGI is evil. I think it's just overused. I strongly support Disney's decision to return to the good old days of animation.

Finally we return to our humble roots. :D
Don't get me wrong, there have been good CGI movies out. They were pretty good when they were first introduced. But now they are all basically the same thing over and over. Hardly any original storylines or nothing. But that's not to say CGI is evil. I think it's just overused. I strongly support Disney's decision to return to the good old days of animation.

I got the impression they weren't going to stop doing CGI movies completely, but rather going to focus a bit more on traditionally animated movies. Heck, even some of their past '2D' animated movies had bits of 3D used in it. I believe Lion King was one such film.

I like both CGI and Traditional animation. Both are art forms in their own right. I think both art forms should be used together, as well as independently of each other.

Finally, Disney is using it's head! I'm a huge fan of classic 2D animation and I'm glad to see they're trying to keep it from dying out.

Best news Ive heard in a loooong time!

Now if they could only make some movies that are NIMHish, then I will be truly content :P

As soon as I heard this news I found this out too..which I found was kinda odd.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/archives/2006_12.html#002554[]http://www.cartoonbrew.com/archives/2006_12.html#002554

As soon as I heard this news I found this out too..which I found was kinda odd.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/archives/2006_12.html#002554[]http://www.cartoonbrew.com/archives/2006_12.html#002554

Am I the only one who didn't think that Lilo and Stitch was very good? Cute, maybe, but... Ah well. Anyway, guess we'll wait and see.

Am I the only one who didn't think that Lilo and Stitch was very good? Cute, maybe, but... Ah well. Anyway, guess we'll wait and see.

I thought it was an OK movie. Better than a lot of animated movie's I've seen in the past. Nothing particularly special though. It's popularity is something I never quite understood either.

As far as Disney returning to its roots is concerned, I think overall that this is a good thing. As evidenced by the vociferous clamoring on this forum alone, one quickly senses that there is indeed a demand for traditional 2D style animation. This is not to say that CGI animation is all bad. As one respondent noted; There are some good CGI films out there. Two that come to my mind are Toy Story and Finding Nemo. I would also like to point out the fact that there has been some poor quality 2D animation as well. IMHO Disney's Home on the Range would qualify as such. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the style should only count as a small part. It's the substance that really matters.

Peace :)
NIMHmaniac

I think they're talking in general. You're right in the fact that there are exceptions to the rules: good CGI movies and horrible hand-drawn flicks.
For the record, I'm a fan of Lilo and Stitch (but I think Disney is starting to overdo the series).

For the record, I'm a fan of Lilo and Stitch (but I think Disney is starting to overdo the series).

Starting? They cancelled the series after Leroy and Stitch, there hasn't been much of anything since.

I don't have Leroy and Stitch. I also didn't know they quit the series. Are they ending the movies or just the TV show?

Tv show, as far as I'm concerned. Leroy and Stitch was the final conclusion to the television series, I highly doubt they're going to make anymore movies but they're always interested in bringing something back.

The Little Mermaid 3 is a good example.

They're making a Little Mermaid 3? I never really liked the first two movies (alright, the first one was decent). The TV show of that is so old I'm surprised they still air it on Toon Disney.

It's apparently going to be one of those origen movie dealies. Not entirely sure.

Many of Disney's movies didnt even call for a sequal..Lion King, Little Mermaid, Dumbo (glad they canceled that one) just to name a few. None of those movies really left any important unanswered questions. Every time I see a disney title with a number beside it I automatically shrug it off and dont take the time to see it.

Glad they are going back to doing a bit of traditional animation though..In the inevideable chance that they do milk somemore of their older franchises, atleast they may have a chance of going to theaters instead of just direct-to-video.

Well, to tell the truth, though most Disney sequels are horrible dreck, not all of them are totally bad. I actually thought brother bear 2 was pretty good. Even the music by Melissa Etheridge was nice, in fact I liked it much better than Phil Collins' music from the first movie. The moose were still pretty funny and although it was disappointing they didn't use the same voice actor for Kenai the different guy didn't do a bad job. And all the other voice actors from the first movie were the same. The story and plot were not that out there and were fairly good. Although I did kind of think the ending (I won't give it away) was a little bit too catch-22 obvious and blatantly convenient. (wow, that was easy, why didn't she just tell her she could tap her shoes at the very first?)

...but overall it was a pretty good film I might actually consider buying the dvd of just because I like the Brother Bear franchise.

...Oh, and let's not forget the Aladdin sequels, those were pretty cool. Return of Jafar kicked ass.

MUCH better than the horrible things they did to the Lion King.

It's only the movies with stories that didn't call for a sequel of any sort at all that are just awful. Lion King is one thing, but for God sakes, Bambi 2? What does he do, grab a gun and seek to avenge his mother? Peter Pan 2, Cinderella 2, Hunchback of Notre Dame 2, Little Mermaid 2, Pocahontas 2, the very concept of adding a '2' to any of those famous titles just sounds assinine. Most of those movies weren't even good originally anyway, what the hell was Michal Eisner thinking???

Oh, and don't even get me started on what they've done to Pooh... Let's just say they've pooed all over Pooh.... The Milne family has been trying to sue Disney for years for its runaway robbery and bootleg scamming of the A.A. Milne copyrighted Pooh Corner fiction series character franchise, but to no avail, the House of Mouse is just too powerful.

Thursday wrote
Many of Disney's movies didnt even call for a sequal.

Indeed, many of those sequals didn't really answer much and were downright pointless. ( Though I must admit, from what I've seen from the Cinderella III trailer, it looks pretty good.) Also, I think there were some films they should have made a sequal to, but never did. ( Mainly Robin Hood, but thats mostly because I think it needs some fleshing out.) Eisner is an idiot.

Indeed, many of those sequals didn't really answer much and were downright pointless.

They weren't pointless. Their -entire- point was to rob the pockets of children's parents the world over. Why are they going to dump time and effort to make quality when half-assed crap with a successful franchise look, feel and logo will suffice? Then again, I suppose what the consumer and what the producers see as 'pointless' is two different things.

lidies from a sequel overdoseli
If they made making crappy sequels a crime, We'd need to make an entire US state into a prison. And we would still have overcrowded prisons. I liked the Aladdin movies (until they made that demonic TV series). I've never seen Brother Bear 2, but would love to. I can't believe they dared try to make a Dumbo 2 (and didn't know they tried at all).
On one TV show I watch on Animal Planet (Tha New Planet's Funniest Animals), they did a series of clips around a joke on a Disney movie they recently sequelled. They called it, Bambi 10: The Revenge.

I have to agree that some Disney sequals have some of their 'ups' too. I watched Lilo and Stitch 2 and it practically stuck to it's roots in both humor, story, character, and animation. Though it didn't answer anything it's new story was ok, I thought it was rather emotional.

what the hell was Michal Eisner thinking???

He was thinking "Mo money, mo money, MO MONEY!" That's about it.

Bambi 2? What does he do, grab a gun and seek to avenge his mother?

That sounds like a certain angsty black hedgehog I know.
Shadow: That is WHO I AM.

Not that it has anything to do with animation, but everything to do with disney:

Did anyone hear about the Tigger that hit a kid in the face when he was trying to give him a hug/put his arm around him to pose for a picture?

Disney did not fire Tigger, he's on suspension currently, but only the video and the kid/kid's family have spoken to the media. Tigger ain't talkin.

I had to giggle when I saw it on the news tonight....I can't imagine TIGGER of all things hauling off and punching a kid in the face.

Did anyone hear about the Tigger that hit a kid in the face when he was trying to give him a hug/put his arm around him to pose for a picture?

I had to giggle when I saw it on the news tonight....I can't imagine TIGGER of all things hauling off and punching a kid in the face.

Without seeing any video clip, or much more info on the matter beyond your post, I bet the guy in the costume didn't realize the kid was there and brought his arm around and nailed the kid on accident. Those costumes -seriously- impede vision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuA0La81y3k


watch closely to the kids arm that goes around him, and tigger's arm that PINS the kids arm, and then brings the other one around to whack him. It may very well be that the kid pulled his tail or something, but still...

The thing that sealed it for me is the guy in the suit refuses to apologize, and has made himself unreachable so no one can ask his side of the story.

That reminds me of the time when Pluto ate my head at that Character Breakfast dealie.

I don't know, it looks accidental to me. That movement looks like a simple trip on the curb, causing Tigger to swing around to regain his balance. The kid just happened to be in the crossfire.
But I'm usually wrong, so don't go by me. 8)

Personally, I think that what happened might have been an accident, that swing looked too slow to do any damage. Maybe the guy was just horsing around, and is so embarassed that it didn't get taken as such that he's hiding under a rock, so to speak. Not to mention, Disney might fire him if they find out that he was about without his spotter, who as far as I can tell was nowhere to be seen.

--Tzolkin

I'm embarrassed to ask, but what is a spotter? :oops:

I'm embarrassed to ask, but what is a spotter? :oops:

A spotter is a person, not in costume, who is designated to stay with a costumer while performing, to make sure the costumer doesn't get into a situation he can't handle.

--Tzolkin

I'm surprised as well. Wouldn't the spotter have said something?

Ah, thanks.
And you have a point. If Tigger didn't spill the beans, a spotter would do good to explain everything on his behalf.
Now I'm not sure what to believe. On one paw, I still believe it was a freak accident and the spotter was either nonexistent or just lazy and didn't notice.
On the other paw, Tigger may be guilty and the spotter was either still absent, or keeping his mouth shut for fear of letting the truth come out.

I'm still fairly sure it was something along the lines of the first one.

Now that I reviewed the tape again, it appears that the Tigger cast member was getting the kid in a technique called an armbar. When done correctly an armbar can snap a person's arm, leg, or whatever so that it is not only broken but beyond medical repair. The kid was obviously trying toget the suit open and Tigger retailiated. However, should the cast member be brought into a court room and is proven to have a background in martial arts then our old buddy Tigger is going to jail for assault.

Mmm.. well, that just keeps getting better, doesn't it? Tigger might just be proven viscious and locked in a cage.. wonder what that'll do for public opinion.. :shock: Oh, what life is coming to these days.. :roll:

Anyway, what was the subject of this thread, again?

--Tzolkin

I don't think opinion can get worse for that "hunny" chugging bear. Not that I have anything against our yellow friend. Disney just overmilks the poor guy. I'll bet no one even knows his origins or what he originally was like in the books (which I have never read).

Terrible news. Disney is releasing a Cinderella 3!!! :shock:
After how bad the second movie was, I can't believe Disney is trying to make a third sequel. Granted the plot seems relatively new, I doubt it will be accepted by the Disney community (except the very little kids).

On the positive side, maybe MGM will take a hint and make a SoN3 in the even Cinderella 3 makes it good.

Oh god. No SoN 3 please. It'll most likely follow after what happened in SoN 2 and stink even worse, unless Don Bluth is in charge and it show more of the Rats origin even though we know how they got there.

I'm actually looking forward to Cinderella III; it looks interesting.

I'm willing to give it a try as well. Maybe Disney took a hint and learned from the mistakes made on the first sequel and did it right. Perhaps if there is a SoN3, MGM will take the same idea and make it a decent continuation of SoN2. They could find a way to save the series after the sad sequel. Don't give up hope on the fools, they may do something right every once in a while.