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Simpsons Storyboard artist. Artist and storyteller. Exploring how to make a living, by being creative.
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You are browsing the Blog for ANIMATION

Top Ten Animated Superhero Movies.

August 22, 2013 in ANIMATION, SUPERHEROES

ANIMATED/SUPERHERO/MOVIES – Top Ten Animated Superhero Movies.

Top Ten Animated Superhero MoviesSimpsons Quote:

Rainer Wolfcastle: Up and at them.
Dialogue coach: No, “Up and atom”.
Rainer Wolfcastle: Up and at them.
Dialogue coach: Up and *atom*.
Rainer Wolfcastle: Up and at them.
Dialogue coach: [frustrated] Better.

I love watching animated cartoons.  And one of my all-time favorite genres is superhero animated cartoons.  There are other great animated Superhero movies out there besides The Incredibles.

Today I’m going to give you my top 10 animated superhero movies.

You can watch the video below or read the post with the links. I’ve embedded a trailer to each movie below.

If you like this list, you might also like my Top Ten Animated Superhero TV Shows:

Some of the links below are affiliate links, thanks for your support.

The Order of the List

Today I’m going to talk to you about my top 10 superhero animated movies.  I consider all of these movies good.

The order that I’m going to put them in from 10 to 1, 1 being the number 1, the highest best one, as far as replay value, as far as me sitting down and wanting to watch it over and over.

So 10 being the one that I would want to experience less of, 1 being the one that I would want to watch over and over the most.

10. Batman Dark Knight Returns (Parts 1 and 2)

Beautiful movie.  Great adaptation of the Frank Miller story, too dark and brooding for me.  I remember reading it as a kid.  I remember loving it.  It no longer resonates with me as much, but the story and the production quality and everything about it, top notch, fantastic adaptation of the comic book.

 

9.  Batman Year One.

Again, another Frank Miller story.  I love how vulnerable Batman is in this movie.  I like how great the adaptation from the graphic novel it is.  Once again, too dark and brooding.  I kind of don’t want to live in that place all the time.  That’s just me.

 

 

8. Green Lantern: First Flight.

Fantastic movie, way better than the live action movie.  It moves a little bit too fast, especially with the origin and all that, but great.  I love it.  Fantastic, highly recommend it, a lot of fun.  If you love Green Lantern, this is the movie to watch.

 

 

7.  Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.

This one’s a fun one.  Evil Justice League versus good Justice League.  Ultraman versus Superman, Owlman versus Batman, fantastic.  Great stuff, very nihilistic, over-the-top ending.  Great, I love it.

 

 

6. Planet Hulk. 

Planet Hulk is great.  Basically, it’s Gladiator with the Hulk in a different planet where he just becomes this — he just gets to let lose and fight and just — it’s epic.  It’s based on a really cool comic book storyline, also, which I’d also recommend you read, but the movie, great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf13JRZKspM

 

5. Hulk Versus.

Now this is kind of almost cheating.  These are not necessarily one movie.  It’s two shorts compiled into one DVD where Hulk fights Wolverine and Hulk fights Thor.  Cool.  I like the designs more when he fights Wolverine.  The story with Thor is a little bit better, but it’s cool fights anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJd4O2blM_A

 

4. Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam.

I don’t own this.  It’s on Netflix.  Fantastic.  I love the fights. The Shazam!/Superma story is part of a showcase.  A lot of those shorts came out as backup stories to some of these other animated movies.  Superman and Shazam fight Black Adam and it’s just epic. There’s a lot destruction.  Great, great, great.  I highly recommend it.  Pick it up.

 

3. Superman vs. The Elite.

I also don’t own this.  One of my all-time favorite Superman animated movies.  And it’s all about how Superman is irrelevant and nobody cares about him and how he should change and be different.  It’s basically saying that to Superman’s face and how he reacts.  Awesome, awesome story.  Great, I highly recommend it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXUu91JrpzA

 

2. Batman Under the Red Hood.

Incredible.  This is one of the all-time best-written Batman movies ever.  It’s so good.  Great, fantastic climactic moment when he has to make this really hard decision.  It is incredible.  If you haven’t seen this, you owe it to yourself to watch it.  If you’re a Batman fan, this is the movie to watch.

 

1.  All-Star Superman.

I don’t own this because it’s on Netflix.  I don’t need to own it right now.  The moment it’s off Netflix I’m buying it.  I’ve seen this movie so many times like six, seven, eight times.  I love it.  It’s great, it’s fantastic.  Highly recommend it.  Best animated Superman movie.  The best representation of the silver age Superman you will ever see.

 

Honorable Mention – Fleischer Superman.

It’s an honorable mention.  Why?  Because it kind of doesn’t fit as a movie.  It kind of does though, because this is the very first movies of Superman ever.  Endlessly re-watchable.  One of the best animated superhero cartoons ever made period.  But they’re not like movies.  They’re just shorts.  And there’s a lot of them.  They’re not quite TV shows.  They’re not quite movies.  So that’s why they’re honorable mention.  I still think that you should watch them.

So that’s my top 10 animated superhero movies.  Let me know what you think.  If you just watch them.  If you think I’m crazy with my list let me know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeKexMAzs6M&list=PLBC90FD5E7FE633BE

If you like this list you may also like:

DC Animated Superhero Movies You Should Watch or Avoid.

Top Ten Animated Superhero TV Shows

Top Ten Anime TV  Series

Top Ten Anime Worth Watching

Best in Science Fiction Animation

6 Reasons Why Watching Justice League Animated is a Great Way to Learn About the DC Universe.

8 Reasons Why AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES Animated Cartoon is the Funnest, Easiest Way to Learn About the Marvel Universe.

My Thoughts on Young Justice Animated.

Thoughts on the Legion of Superheroes Animated Cartoon.

 


 

ANIMATION – How and Why Animated Films Need to Avoid the Same Fate as Westerns

I read this article on Indie Wire.  It’s fantastic, it’s called: How and Why Animated Films Need to Avoid the Same Fate as Westerns.

I agree with this.  I want different kinds of animated movies besides JUST family movies.  I don’t have anything against family movies.  They’re great. My kids and I can watch them together and they’re safe for us to watch, but I’d like animation to explore beyond just those types of movies.

CLICK HERE to read the article.
For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIES If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

 

 

 

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My Thoughts on Young Justice Animated.

August 15, 2013 in ANIMATION, PODCASTS, SUPERHEROES

ANIMATION/SUPERHEROES – My Thoughts on Young Justice Animated.

My Thoughts on Young Justice AnimatedSimpsons Quote:

“Oh, there’s no justice like angry-mob justice.” ~ Skinner

I like animated cartoons.  I watch animated cartoons.  I work in animated cartoons.  But my favorite kind of cartoons are action-adventure.  And today I’m going to be talking about the cartoon show Young Justice.

You can watch the video below or you can read the transcription. Be sure to  scroll down for links and other videos too:

 

Superhero Cartoons

I love action-adventure cartoons.  They’re my favorite.  I kind of wish every cartoon was an action-adventure cartoon, well, almost.  I like comedy cartoons also.  But today I’m going to be talking about Young Justice.

This cartoon oh, it’s so good.  I love superheroes, okay?  I’m a big superhero nerd.  I love Superman.  He’s my favorite.  Second favorite is Spider-Man.

I’ve been watching these shows since the Bruce Timm era when he started his Batman cartoon and then went on to do Superman and then Batman Beyond and then Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.  All those shows, love all those shows.  They’re so good.

Well then there were Teen Titans.  Then there was Legion of Super Heroes, which I made a video about and talked about.  And I’m probably going to talk about those other shows later that I just mentioned.

Young Justice

My Thoughts on Young Justice Animated 03Today I’m talking about this.  This show came after The Batman.  It came after The Brave and the Bold.  It’s about the “sidekicks”.

So we’ve got characters like Speedy, which is Green Arrow’s sidekick.  We’ve got Kid Flash, which is Flash’s sidekick.  We’ve got Robin.  We’ve got Superboy.  We’ve got M’gann, who is the Martian girl.  She’s Martian Manhunter’s niece.  And we’ve got Aqualad.  And it’s a very, it’s a different Aqualad.

So I mean, you’ve got all these characters and I forgot Green Arrow’s sidekick’s name.  I just wasn’t familiar enough with her, but she’s totally awesome even though I don’t remember her name.

So they wanted to become part of the Justice League, but they were much too young.  But they basically got together and said if you’re not going to make us part of the Justice League, we’re out.

We’re going to do our own thing, because we are grown up enough to deal with more responsibilities, which pushed the Justice League to give them rookie kind of assignments.  They got their own headquarters and they’re sent on covert missions assigned to them by Batman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMs6_QOV10g

The Appeal of Teen Heroes

My Thoughts on Young Justice Animated 02It’s a great show because, I don’t know what it is.  Maybe it’s nostalgia, but I like kid heroes.  I like teenage heroes.  I like remembering how much I wanted to have superpowers as a teenager and do cool things.

So I guess it brings me back to that, not because I liked being a teenager.  Not because I had a great teenage life, but that fantasy when I was a teenager was so cool that I like getting sent back to that fantasy by watching shows about young superheroes.

So they create this team called Young Justice.  They are left in charge of doing secondary jobs that the Legion just can’t handle because they’re doing these other primary jobs.  And they’re important jobs, they just can’t be handled directly by the main heroes.

Seasons One

So the first season is the whole getting to know you, introducing all the characters, introducing the bad guys, there’s relationships and all this angst, and it’s great.  It’s a lot of fun.  It’s a big soap opera like superhero cartoons are supposed to be, like teen books are supposed to be.

Teenagers getting together and butting heads and trying to find themselves and the whole bit.  They just happen to have superpowers and have to deal with stuff that’s way more beyond regular teenage problems.  So the first season is great.  I really enjoyed the first season.

Season Two

My Thoughts on Young Justice Animated 01Second season was incredible.  It is so good.  For some reason, they skip five years. A lot of the characters in this show are much, much olde.  So Robin  becomes Nightwing in this show.

And then we also introduce Batgirl and Wondergirl and the Blue Beetle.

And this is the new Robin, Tim Drake.

And relationships have been broken.  It’s weird, because it starts off like, still like this and then it skips five years and suddenly like some characters are bad guys.  Some characters are married.

Some characters are clones that weren’t clones before because, we’ve got Superboy over here, who is a clone of Superman. I’m not spoiling anything it’s still the same.  It’s basically in the pilot episode of this season.  It’s great.  I love it.  I love it.  Cool, cool superhero stuff.

Superman, they do something with Superman in the first season of Young Justice that is really interesting, making him uncomfortable with Superboy.  And it makes him very human and very, “why are you doing that, Superman?”

Can’t you see that he needs a dad, but you’re not his dad?  It’s just like it’s crazy and I like it.  It’s great.

So check out the show if you haven’t seen it.

The DVDs

The Young Justice DVDs; these are actually annoyingly they’ve split the seasons in half and sell them in two part. It just drives me crazy.  Just give me the whole thing.

I don’t understand why they do that.  They’re just gouging, but I guess I’m a sucker because I bought them.

So I highly recommend this show, a lot of fun.

Have You Seen This Show?

If you have seen this show, let me know what do you think of Young Justice?  Do you like it?  Do you think it’s not all that good?  Do you think I’m full of crap?

Let me know.

Subscribe to my newsletter.  If you do you’re going to get my free art of book.  It’s a digital download.  You can get it for free, but if you want a copy of it a physical print copy, you can get it at Amazon.  It’s called Angel Cowgirl.

Go to Amazon.  You can pick it up there, too.  If you like it enough, please by the print copy and help support me.


 

PODCAST – The Corner Booth Podcast Episodes 4 and 5

TCB-Header

As I mentioned WAY back in May, I was working on putting The Corner Booth podcast on iTunes.  Well, it’s up there now.  There are currently five episodes of the podcast on iTunes and a new one will be there in two weeks.

In Episode 4: Chance Raspberry and I talk about what it’s like to work on The Simpsons.

In Episode 5: Larry Whitaker and I have a great conversation with Cynthia Petrovic about her work on Tiny Toons, what she worked on at Disney, her company Red Tango, and many other things. Go check it out.  It’s a fun conversation.

If you like the show Subscribe to it on iTunes.
For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIES If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

 

 

 

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Thoughts on the Legion of Superheroes Animated Cartoon

August 8, 2013 in ANIMATION, ART, BOOKS, VIDEOS

ANIMATION – Thoughts on the Legion of Superheroes Animated Cartoon

Thought on the Legion of Superheroes Animated CartoonSimpsons Quote:

Lucy Lawless: I’ll take you home.

[Lucy flies, carrying Bart and Lisa]

Lisa: Hey, Xena can’t fly.

Lucy Lawless: I told you, I’m not Xena. I’m Lucy Lawless.

Hi. So as I’ve said before, I’m a big fan of animated cartoons, and one of my all-time favorite animated cartoons is the Legion of Superheroes, and today I’m going to be talking a little bit more in-depth about that.

You can either watch the video or read the transcription below:

Some of the links below are affiliate links. Thanks for your support.

A Bit of Gushing

Thought on the Legion of Superheroes Animated Cartoon Superman_XI liked the Legion of Superheroes cartoon. I’m very disappointed that there’s only the first season of it on DVD. I want the second season, because I happen to be a huge Superman fan. A huge Superman nerd. I’m such a nerd when it comes to Superman. Love Superman.

 Legion of Superheroes season two has one of the most interesting versions of Superman. There’s this character in it called Superman X that’s like a cross between Batman and Superman, with Superman’s powers, and it’s good.

Why I Like the First Season

I’m getting way too ahead of myself. Let me at least talk about the first season. Why do I like this show?

Well, first, I really like the approach that they took with the designs. I really do think that these designs are way more pushed than, say, they took the Bruce Timm style and they kind of cartoon-ified it even more and pushed it, and so that’s one of the things. I like the look of the show.

What is the Legion of Superheroes?

Thought on the Legion of Superheroes Animated Cartoon 02Second, the stories are a lot of fun. If you don’t know what the Legion of Superheroes is, it’s a group of superheroes, and they’re all aliens on Earth being superheroes.

They’re a superhero team of the thirty-first century that were inspired to come to Earth to be the alien superhero of Earth because Superman was an alien superhero. So, since he has become a legend by the time of the the thirty-first century, it inspired a group of young kids to also come to Earth and be the superhero of Earth.

There were so many of them, they all kind of banded together and they became the Legion. So one of the things that they did was, because they wanted to meet their hero, they created a time bubble and they traveled back in time to Smallville, and met Superboy, who was at the time their age, and brought him into the future and have adventures with him.

Clark, I guess, just graduated high school or something, and now he’s Superman. He’s about ready to go into Metropolis, but then he goes into the future to have adventures with the Legion.

The Feel of the Cartoon

Thought on the Legion of Superheroes Animated Cartoon 01It’s a great cartoon. I like it. The animation is great, the stories are fun, it’s not as serious as, say, Batman Beyond and the Bruce Timm Batman, and The Batman, and I would even say Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

It’s not as serious, but it also is not as wacky as, say, Teen Titans animated cartoon. It’s somewhere in between. My kids like this cartoon also. But I didn’t get that for them, I got it for me.

All right, so check out that Legion of Superheroes first season. Maybe if they sell enough of them they might release the second season, which I think is much, much better.

Why I liked Season Two

Thought on the Legion of Superheroes Animated Cartoon 03

Like I said, it’s got a clone of Superman from the forty-first century. It’s a fun character. His name is Superman X. I have no idea why DC has not made a comic of Superman X, with Superman X in it.

He’s a cool Superman. I’m going to have to draw Superman X, because he’s cool. And it’s funny because the design of Superman X looks like Tom Welling from Smallville, the live action Superman TV show that went out for ten years. I think that’s great. I’m a fan of tom-welling.jpgSmallville also, so I thought that was a cool nod to that version of Superman.

Below you’re going to put links to some episodes of Legion of Superheroes season two, with a Superman X episode.

You can watch, if not all, most of season two of Legion of Superheroes on YouTube. It’s the only way that you can see them right now.

Have you Seen This Show?

Okay, so let me know if you’ve seen the show. What do you think? Do you have the same opinions? Do you not like this show? I’d like to know.

Leave a comment below. If you want a free “Art of” book from me, with all my artwork in it, subscribe to my newsletter. You will get a free copy of the book, and if you want a copy of the print version of the book, you can go to Amazon and get it there.

 


 

VIDEOS – Legion of Superheroes Season 2

Here are the first two episodes of Legion of Superheroes Season 2. Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbAwetvAW94 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkgg28iTlKI

ART/BOOKS – Art of Draw Fu: Beginner’s Level is Available on Amazon

The Art of Draw Fu Beginner LevelMy book The Art of Draw Fu: Beginner’s Level is now in print! If you want to get yourself a copy, simply go to amazon.

In the book you’ll learn:

  • How learning to draw basic shape can let you draw anything.
  • How to draw stick figures with style.
  • What professionals know about tracing correctly.
  • How to draw basic cartoon characters…and much more

Most “how to draw” books always assume you have some level of competency. This book doesn’t. It helps you from the ground up.
Draw as if you’ve been born to. Amaze your friends. Have fun drawing again, like you did when you were little.

For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIES If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

 

 

 

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Thoughts on the Animated Show, Tron: Uprising

August 1, 2013 in ANIMATION, ART, WEBSITES

ANIMATION – Thoughts on the Animated Show, Tron: Uprising

Thoughts on the Animated Show, Tron UprisingThe Simpsons Quote:

Homer: “Er…it’s like…has anyone seen that film Tron”
Frink: “No”
Dr. Hibbert: “No”
Chief Wiggum: “No”
Rev. Lovejoy: “No”
Patty: “No”
Chief Wiggum: “No”
Frink: “No”
Marge: “No”
Chief Wiggum: “Yes…wait, I mean NO”

My favorite type of animated TV show is action/adventure.   And today I’m going to be talking about Tron: Uprising.  Which happens to be an action/adventure animated show.

You can either watch the video or read the transcription below:

Some of the links below are affiliate links. Thanks for your support.

My General Thoughts About the Tron Franchise

Thoughts on the Animated Show, Tron Uprising 04I like Tron: Uprising.  I watched it OnDemand.  I used to have cable at the time.  And whenever a new episode would update I’d watch an episode and I loved it.

As a kid in the ‘80s, I watched Tron the Movie.  I thought it was weird.  It kind of freaked me out a little bit.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie.

But it was part of my childhood and I liked it okay.  It was all right.  So then I watched Tron: Legacy because I had seen Tron as a kid.  And I made sure that I rewatched Tron before I went to watch Tron: Legacy .

Well, another reason that I liked or at least wanted to watch Tron: Legacy was because I’m a fan of cyber punk.  So I watch Tron: Legacy and I liked it okay.  I liked it about as much as I liked the original Tron movie.

I like the concepts.  I like the idea and it’s a cyber punk movie.

Then I watched Tron: Uprising based on Tron: Legacy .

About Tron: Uprising

Thoughts on the Animated Show, Tron Uprising 03The story takes place sometime in between the Tron movie and Tron: Legacy .  It kind of is like the bridge story.  It’s basically about a program named Beck who takes the place of Tron.  He tries to liberate the grid from Clue who has been established as this guy who kind of oppressed the grid.

So the gist of the story is that this character named Beck pretends to be Tron or at least it’s a little bit Batman Beyond-ish where you’ve got Tron and he’s training his new protégé, Beck, who is going to be liberating the grid or at least, this town.

The First Reason Why I Think Tron: Uprising is Cool

Thoughts on the Animated Show, Tron Uprising 02But what is it about it that makes me excited?  What is it about it that is so good?

First of all, the designs the character designs on Tron: Uprising are designed by this incredible designer by the name of Robert Valley.

Now Robert Valley is amazing.  He’s such a good artist, but I really, really like his designs for this show.  And the show is a CG show.  It’s a computer generated show and somehow they’ve managed to capture the design style, his design style so perfectly and clearly.  It’s amazing.

So it’s really eye-candy.  The look of the show, the colors, the way that it looks, the way it feels, the graphics, something about it, it’s just pretty, so beautiful.

You Can Watch it (as of the time of this writing) on Netflix

Thoughts on the Animated Show, Tron Uprising 06Because I didn’t watch the entire show all at once when it aired as it aired and I only caught it OnDemand I eventually wasn’t able to keep up.  I kept forgetting to watch it.  I just couldn’t make the time to watch it.  So I eventually saw the rest of the show recently on Netflix.

The entire show is on Netflix now, the first season.  The show has been tragically cancelled after the first season and that’s a bummer because the way that the season ends is wide open for the next season.  It’s left wide open so it’s really disappointing to watch the show and then have it just kind of end, right?  And you wanted know what would happen next.

The Second Reason Why I Think Tron: Uprising is Cool

Thoughts on the Animated Show, Tron Uprising 05One of the other reasons I really enjoyed the show was because it’s so well-written.

The stories are a lot of fun.  It expands on the universe.  I don’t know what it is about it, but it just pushes all the right buttons for me.

It has the cyber punk elements.  It’s got this guy Beck is wearing this like white Tron suit that looks great and he looks cool.  Like I said the visuals are great.

The characters, you get to like them.  You get to enjoy their relationships to each other.  It does have a little bit of that Batman Beyond vibe.  If you like that show, you’d probably really like Tron: Uprising.

Back to Robert Valley , the character designs the caricatures of the actors in this CG  show are really great.  It captured their likenesses so well.  Unbelievable how good they look.

Some of the original actors also voice the characters that they played on the movie.

In Conclusion

Thoughts on the Animated Show, Tron Uprising 01It’s a great show.  I highly recommend it.  Go watch it.  It’s great.  It’s so much fun.

Rumor has it that if you watch it on Netflix and if it gets good enough ranking on Netflix that they might consider running another season or creating another season.  Whether or not that’s going to happen is up in the air.

I don’t know, but it’s worth watching anyway.  If you’ve got Netflix streaming or if you can get it on DVD, I highly, highly recommend Tron: Uprising.

Go take a watch.

Have you Watched It?

If you have seen this show, go ahead and let me know so that we can talk about it and see what you have to say about it.  I would like to hear what you think about this show.

Leave a comment below and make sure you opt in and get my free “Art of Book” or buy the print copy from Amazon.


 

ART/WEBSITE – The Drawing Website

The-Benefits-of-DrawingNew post on the drawing website this week.  It’s been six months since there was one on that site.  I’ve been sending newsletters every week to subscribers but post have been long in coming.

This time the post is a guest post by Lisa Fraser and it’s about the health and psychological benefits of drawing. Go check it out, and don’t forget to subscribe to the site when you’re done.

Go To TheDrawingWebsite.com

There’s something special going on with the newsletter starting this week on that site.  Join in the fun and find out what it is.

 

 

 

For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIES If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

 

 

 

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Tags: CG animation, Robert Valley, Tron, Tron Simpsons quote, Tron: Legacy, Tron: Uprising, Tron: Uprising review
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Can the General Public Tell the Difference Between 2D animation and CG animation?

July 25, 2013 in ANIMATION, MOVIES

ANIMATION – Can the General Public Tell the Difference Between 2D animation and CG animation?

Can the General Public Tell the Difference Between 2d animation and CG animationThe Simpsons Quote:

Homer: This place looks expensive. I feel like I’m wasting a fortune just standing here. I better make the most of it.
[Homer burps]

Something has come to my attention that’s kind of odd to me working in the animation industry, but I found this to be relatively true.  I’ve asked on my Twitter page about this and my Google+ page and I found a few things out, but it’s still inconclusive.

So here is what bothers me.

The general public, the non-animation aficionados or geeks or fans or employees don’t really know the difference between 2D animation and computer generated animation.

That’s what this post is video/post is all about.  You can watch the video or read the transcription below:

It all Started at Figure Drawing

I was speaking with a friend of mine at figure drawing at work.  On Tuesdays, we go figure drawing.  We got to talking and one of the things that my friend, Richie Chavez, said kind of struck me as odd, which was, that the general audience doesn’t know the difference between CG and 2D animation.

I didn’t believe him.  I’m like no, that can’t be right.

An Eye Opening Conversation at a Kid’s Birthday Party

But then I went to a birthday party for a family friends’ kid.  Now this is a family friend.  They know what I do for a living, okay?  They know I work in an animated cartoon.

At this children’s birthday party they were showing The Owls of Ga’Hoole and Lilo & Stitch.  That was what was on TV.  And while they were watching Lilo & Stitch I decided to go up to one of my friends.

It was his child’s birthday.  They were watching the cartoon.  And I went up to him and I asked him so, do you know how this is done?  Do you know the difference between the hand-drawn 2D stuff and CG?  And he turns to me and he says,

“Well, now that you mention it, I kind of have an idea that there is a difference, but I’ve only recently become aware of it,”  And I asked him,

“This cartoon, Lilo & Stitch, CG or 2D?”  And he’s like,

“I’m not sure,”  I mean seriously, he didn’t know.  He did not know the difference between hand-drawn.

Explaining the Difference

I told him one is, you know, a computer generated puppet that you move around.  There’s more to it than that, but it’s generally, the gist of it is that you have a computer generated puppet and you move him a little bit and then you take the picture and you move him a little bit and take the picture.

Sort of like that.  It’s not really how it happens, right?  But I just kind of wanted to get his head in, thinking that way.

And then I told him in 2D, you do the same thing but with drawing.  You hand draw the thing and then you put it under the camera.  You take a picture and then you do the other drawing.  You take a picture.  Then once you have 24 drawings of those or 12 drawings of those exposed twice, for 24 frames there’s one second and the same kind of goes for CG.

Sometimes they go with 30 frames a second, sometimes with 60 frames a second.  But I was trying to explain to him the difference between a hand-drawn thing and a CG thing and the difference in the way it looks.

What’s Your Experience with Non-animation Fans?

By looking at the movie, you should be able to tell the difference.  So I guess my question is, is your experience the same as his?  Can you tell the difference?

When you’re a fan of a thing you tend to be really into the thing.  So you kind of know more than the general public.

But if you are part of the general public or better yet ask your mom that’s not in to this stuff.  Ask your spouse, whoever it is that is not into this stuff.  Ask your friends who are not into this stuff.  Ask them if they know the difference between 2D and CG animation.

I would love to know the answer because if you are a fan then you are not the person I want to hear from.  I want to hear from the people who aren’t fans, because I would love to know if they can tell the difference.

So yeah, leave a comment at the bottom of this blog.

Subscribe below and you will get a free digital copy of my Art of Book which is now available in print on Amazon.

But let me know about this.  I’m very curious.  And I’ll see you next time.

 


 

MOVIES – I Wish I Was More Excited About the Man of Steel Sequel

As you may or may not know, the Man of Steel movie sequel was announced at Comic Con.  It’s going to have Batman in it.  Now, this would be great news, except for a few things.

  1. This is the sequel to Man of Steel. I would have liked another stand alone Superman movie before they introduced other Superheroes, so we could flesh out Superman’s character a bit more.
  2. Batman is arguably, more popular, he’s going to overshadow Superman in his own sequel.
  3. It’s going to be about Superman and Batman fighting.

Normally you’d think that if Superman and Batman fought, it’s no brainer, Superman wins right? Well, no.  For the last 30 years, just about every time Superman and Batman fought, Batman would win. So…yeah.

If they keep to this tradition then Superman would lose to Batman in his own movie.  That would suck.

I was going to do a video about why all this bothered me but then I saw the video below.  This guy says EXACTLY what I was thinking and feeling about this whole thing.  EXACTLY. It’s amazing.

He cusses a lot so be warned.  Oh, the only thing I don’t agree with is that Christian Bale should play Batman.  I actually don’t want him to, otherwise, I agree with what this guy says.  He basically said it all for me.

What do you think?

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I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

 

 

 

 

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Is 2D Feature Animation Truly Dead?

May 16, 2013 in ANIMATION, THE SIMPSONS NEWS

ANIMATION – Is 2D Feature Animation Truly Dead?

Simpsons Quotes:Is 2D Feature Animation Truly Dead

“Don’t thank me, thank Hollywood for being completely out of good ideas.” ~ Herman Melwood

Are 2D feature animated films viable?  Can they make money.  Does the general public know the difference between 2D animated movies and CG animated movies? Do they care? Are American animated movies doomed to one genre of films? Namely, family movies?

There’s a lot of questions there.  I don’t know the answers but I want to start the conversation here.  This is what this week’s post is about.

You can either read the post or watch the video.  The information in generally the same but not exactly:

Disney Throws Out Its 2D Department

As of the time of this writing, Disney pretty much got rid off all their 2D animators and have no plans to make any new 2D animated movies.  They will all be CG.

I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago but I think it was kinda lost in the post. Especially since it was at the bottom the post and I didn’t make a video of version of my essay. I’m bringing it up again because I’d really like your opinion The-Hat-Building-webon this topic.

Last week my colleagues at The Corner Booth went to the “hat building” at Disney and spoke to Dale Baer.  We asked him about 2D animation and he confirmed that it was dead. At least, as far as feature film animation is concerned.

An Earlier Discussion I  had About This Topic

And of course, I wrote earlier about the huge discussion over this topic I had with Richie Chavez and Paul Wee.

Here’s a little of what I had written in that post. If you want to read the whole thing feel free to go and read it:

I’m still hopeful about 2d.  I think audiences want to see 2d animated movies.

Richie, had a different opinion.  He doesn’t think audiences care.  He doesn’t even think audiences know the difference.

The reality is that the last two 2d movies Disney came out with didn’t do well.  Never mind the fact that one wasn’t all that well written and the other didn’t really appeal to most people…

That second movie was referring to here was Winnie the Pooh. A movie based on a Disney franchise,  I think,  ruined by it’s direct to DVD sequels.  There’s nothing special or exciting about the franchise anymore. What did they expect?

…How about the “average” person who never thinks about animation at all? Do they feel the same way about 2d animated movies?

We discussed what “average” person meant and narrowed it down to: “parents/families.” Someone looking for something with good values they can trust.

But this begged the question:

Is that the ONLY market for animated movies.  Why not target other markets like anime does?  The answer from the discussion was this:

  1. Anime which is released in theaters that target those other markets, don’t really make all that much money. Even Studio Ghibli movies.

  2. Rise of the Guardians, was more teen centric and it didn’t do all that well (and it was CG!).

Different Genres in American Animation

I think the main flaw with testing different genres of animated movies using anime is that anime has a negative stigma attached to it in the eyes of many people. And Rise of the Guardians being marketed to teens…well…bad idea.  No teenager is going to get all excited to go watch a movie about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny just because they look “hip.”  That’s just bad foresight on the part of Dreamworks.

That said, there’s a few 2D animated European movies, like The Illusionist, which have gotten a lot of acclaim, yet, I don’t think they’ve made much money here in the U.S..

I’m still of the opinion that 2D animation would work with the right story.

If you’re a fan of 2D movies, you will go see them. But if you’re not, why not?  Why don’t you watch them?  What would get you to go watch a 2D animated movie?  If you used to like them but now you don’t, what happened?

I’d love to know. Let’s discuss.  I’m in the inside looking out scratching my head.

This shouldn’t be happening, but why is it?


 

 

THE SIMPSONS NEWS – My Hiatus is Almost Over

This week is my last week of hiatus.  I actually had more fun and relaxed more than I thought I would. Thanks to having our tax return show up just in the nick of time.

I’m going to miss the time off and spending time with the kids, but I’ll enjoy getting the paycheck every week.

Though I relaxed, I’ve still done quite a bit of work too and learned a few things.

For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIES If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

 

 

 

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Hi, Welcome!

This blog is your window into the daily life of a Simpsons artist. See what it's like work on a hit TV show!

I update this blog once a week, on Thursdays and (sometimes) Fridays. If you don't see anything new, just check back on one of those days.

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