Dangerous Duck
You'd better duck, too.
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Animation Appreciation
- Thread starter Dangerous Duck
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I LOVE animation : p In fact, at one time, I wanted to be a writer for an animated tv show, haha. I thought that would be the greatest job ever : p
I have always loved cartoons. Ive been a big fan of many of them, but I think the one to have the biggest impact on me was actually the Simpsons. I watched the reruns on Fox everyday at 6 pm : p They played two episodes, one at 6 and the other at 6:30. Then when I got older and had my own money, I found the show on DVD. I think the first DVD boxset of the show I got was season eight, I think I actually got my little brother to buy it for my 19th or 20th birthday while he, my mom and I were at Target.
I started picking up other DVD boxsets as I found them, too. One thing the staff at the Simpsons do is provide commentary for EVERY episode theyve made : p And of course I watched each one of them, haha. It really made me interested in becoming a writer for a cartoon for a while : p
For a while I was actually a member of a Simpsons forum online, I enjoyed reading what people had to say about the show, and learning things I didnt know before, and even rating episodes, haha. I kinda miss that site : p
I collected Seasons 1-10 of the show on DVD, but I never really went out of my way after that to get any others. I kinda think those were the best episodes for the show. After season 10, I kinda start to not care as much. The show was changing, the characters were becoming different, the humor wasnt quite the same, and it was around that time when they started putting too much emphasis on celebrity guest stars. I wasnt as excited about the show by that time.
My FAVORITE episodes were always the episodes that focused on Lisa and Homer. I always thought the relationship between those two was really sweet. Like, they couldnt be more different, and they obviously dont fully understand each other : p But like, despite that Homer always somehow pulls through for her, and you can see that he really loves and cares about his daughter, despite not being able to understand her : p
They were both my favorite characters, obviously : p In fact Ive collected a few pieces of merchandise of Lisa and Homer.
I won this from my first attempt from a claw machine at my grocery store on my 25th birthday : p
If you look closely behind the Lisa plush, you can see some Simpsons silly bands : p
You can see a Simpsons poster I made in the upper left hand corner above the rats cage, and a Duff energy drink on the right next to my lamp on the tv stand : p
I have more than that, thats just stuff that I have pictures of, haha.
Oh, but I dont have the DVDs anymore, they were actually stolen from me.
I have lots to say about other cartoons, too. But I think I should leave some room for everyone else to post, too : p
EDIT: Kinda feel like I should add more into the "appreciation" aspect of the thread : p
I definitely think my favorite part of animated television is the writing and character development. I think its much different with animation than live action, because since its animation, you can get away with having more far out and creative characters. Like, look at Gravity Falls. The thing that makes that show special is the two main characters, Mabel and Dipper, it would be alot harder to pull off two characters like that with a live action show : p People would think its too silly to watch. Put it in a cartoon, though, and people will appreciate it : p
I think animation gives creators more space for imagination, as where live action has to be "relatable", animation can be anything you want it to be.
I love animation itself, too, of course. I love colorful, animated worlds. But I also really like how it opens up the world for a writer to create anything he/she wants to.
I have always loved cartoons. Ive been a big fan of many of them, but I think the one to have the biggest impact on me was actually the Simpsons. I watched the reruns on Fox everyday at 6 pm : p They played two episodes, one at 6 and the other at 6:30. Then when I got older and had my own money, I found the show on DVD. I think the first DVD boxset of the show I got was season eight, I think I actually got my little brother to buy it for my 19th or 20th birthday while he, my mom and I were at Target.
I started picking up other DVD boxsets as I found them, too. One thing the staff at the Simpsons do is provide commentary for EVERY episode theyve made : p And of course I watched each one of them, haha. It really made me interested in becoming a writer for a cartoon for a while : p
For a while I was actually a member of a Simpsons forum online, I enjoyed reading what people had to say about the show, and learning things I didnt know before, and even rating episodes, haha. I kinda miss that site : p
I collected Seasons 1-10 of the show on DVD, but I never really went out of my way after that to get any others. I kinda think those were the best episodes for the show. After season 10, I kinda start to not care as much. The show was changing, the characters were becoming different, the humor wasnt quite the same, and it was around that time when they started putting too much emphasis on celebrity guest stars. I wasnt as excited about the show by that time.
My FAVORITE episodes were always the episodes that focused on Lisa and Homer. I always thought the relationship between those two was really sweet. Like, they couldnt be more different, and they obviously dont fully understand each other : p But like, despite that Homer always somehow pulls through for her, and you can see that he really loves and cares about his daughter, despite not being able to understand her : p
They were both my favorite characters, obviously : p In fact Ive collected a few pieces of merchandise of Lisa and Homer.
I won this from my first attempt from a claw machine at my grocery store on my 25th birthday : p
If you look closely behind the Lisa plush, you can see some Simpsons silly bands : p
You can see a Simpsons poster I made in the upper left hand corner above the rats cage, and a Duff energy drink on the right next to my lamp on the tv stand : p
I have more than that, thats just stuff that I have pictures of, haha.
Oh, but I dont have the DVDs anymore, they were actually stolen from me.
I have lots to say about other cartoons, too. But I think I should leave some room for everyone else to post, too : p
EDIT: Kinda feel like I should add more into the "appreciation" aspect of the thread : p
I definitely think my favorite part of animated television is the writing and character development. I think its much different with animation than live action, because since its animation, you can get away with having more far out and creative characters. Like, look at Gravity Falls. The thing that makes that show special is the two main characters, Mabel and Dipper, it would be alot harder to pull off two characters like that with a live action show : p People would think its too silly to watch. Put it in a cartoon, though, and people will appreciate it : p
I think animation gives creators more space for imagination, as where live action has to be "relatable", animation can be anything you want it to be.
I love animation itself, too, of course. I love colorful, animated worlds. But I also really like how it opens up the world for a writer to create anything he/she wants to.
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I've always been mesmerized by animation as a kid since I watched a lot of cartoons as a kid. As of late, I've been finding myself more enthralled by the technical aspect of animation and it has also left me lamenting certain aspects about older animation. That is, the hand made feeling of it.
I've had a lot of interest in Dragon Ball Z's animation lately due to how variable it is.
I just thought it was very interesting to see all the different styles of the artists throughout the series. Sadly, that's something that's lost in a lot of modern animation. There's a very large emphasis on trying to keep things on model that it ends up making things look sterile. That's both seen in Western and Japanese animation. I know there's still potential for animation to be even better than the hand drawn days since the tools exist to make things not thought possible back in those days but it's like we don't end up seeing a lot of that.
Anyway, me digging into this subject has lead me to find some really neat things and learn a lot about the animation process that has made me appreciate the subject even more.
I've had a lot of interest in Dragon Ball Z's animation lately due to how variable it is.
I just thought it was very interesting to see all the different styles of the artists throughout the series. Sadly, that's something that's lost in a lot of modern animation. There's a very large emphasis on trying to keep things on model that it ends up making things look sterile. That's both seen in Western and Japanese animation. I know there's still potential for animation to be even better than the hand drawn days since the tools exist to make things not thought possible back in those days but it's like we don't end up seeing a lot of that.
Anyway, me digging into this subject has lead me to find some really neat things and learn a lot about the animation process that has made me appreciate the subject even more.
Something I do appreciate with animation is the time and energy people would need to creating cels(well not anymore) and making characters move and talk as if they were alive. Most of my interest in animation and art in general comes from drawing, drawing at least before got me interested in how things move. Some of the best animated shows out there have always been stuff like the 90s Spiderman cartoon, Batman TAS, and Transformers S1. Everything seemed really fluid, believe that the Transformers 80s show also had Japanese companies helping out with that. Since animation goes hand and hand with merchandise when it comes to it the intro's to shows have always been the most amazing if you want to compare it here.
Aside from western animation I absolutely love Japanese animation as well especially Satoshi Kon movies. Paprika has had some very fluid movements in it's animation that didn't look like papercrafts or anything of the sort. In Japan it's a little different since most shows have some sort of source material this being manga. Sometimes the art from a manga does not correspond to the animation's art due to various things cited by animators or art designers which I don't think is a bad thing entirely. If the manga looked odd compared to an anime then the art direction would be better especially in the case of HxH, in which Togashi's original art from the manga looked more like sketches compared to the 2011 anime.
Always get pretty sad when commercials end up having better animation than movies or show. Animation is money after all and so commercials are more to be eye candy for the consumer if at all. Still love the way it's fluid since they act and move more like a person than being stiff.
Aside from western animation I absolutely love Japanese animation as well especially Satoshi Kon movies. Paprika has had some very fluid movements in it's animation that didn't look like papercrafts or anything of the sort. In Japan it's a little different since most shows have some sort of source material this being manga. Sometimes the art from a manga does not correspond to the animation's art due to various things cited by animators or art designers which I don't think is a bad thing entirely. If the manga looked odd compared to an anime then the art direction would be better especially in the case of HxH, in which Togashi's original art from the manga looked more like sketches compared to the 2011 anime.
Always get pretty sad when commercials end up having better animation than movies or show. Animation is money after all and so commercials are more to be eye candy for the consumer if at all. Still love the way it's fluid since they act and move more like a person than being stiff.
Dangerous Duck
You'd better duck, too.
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I try not to delve too much into how much "better" old animation is in some ways. I mean a lot of recent stuff doesn't have any artistic merit at all like this but...
I mean the old animation probably had more "character" but it was really nothing special and these sorts of shows don't focus or benefit from having great animation.
That being said if they really wanted to they could really go all out if they wanted to.
I just try to see it as something "different" that shouldn't really be compared but can still be appreciated but also criticized in a fair manner. I mean even if you can't see the effort, if the final presentation looks good then you can still appreciate the effort. That being said, I do have some reservations of the overusage of CGI in some instances...
I mean the old animation probably had more "character" but it was really nothing special and these sorts of shows don't focus or benefit from having great animation.
That being said if they really wanted to they could really go all out if they wanted to.
I just try to see it as something "different" that shouldn't really be compared but can still be appreciated but also criticized in a fair manner. I mean even if you can't see the effort, if the final presentation looks good then you can still appreciate the effort. That being said, I do have some reservations of the overusage of CGI in some instances...
Dangerous Duck
You'd better duck, too.
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It'd be incredibly cool f we still got animation that we saw in older commercials, especially video game commercials. Seems like companies of then added a lot more love into being creative. I can see it being incredibly money consuming, since even for commercials this kind of animation is hardly at all seen elsewhere unless they're an op or an ed to a certain show. Sometimes in anime as well the first episode to something will always have better animation and this goes for DBZ as well as a lot of what was going on earlier with @The Big Magma has stated with different art directors and how some are cheaper than others. For good reason, higher quality directors would take much more money and supplies to be done.
Now a days everything looks pretty well done at least now when it comes to Japanese animation, just an example would be how pictures and frames start to look much more prettier like eye-candy. Will post a link to an example of something like that below. Don't have to watch it all but it stands for how things are being made now.
http://www.masterani.me/anime/info/1817-sousei-no-onmyouji
@MonaWare @Angler of Lake Asparagus watched my fair share of Simpsons too, they are all very quirky and fun. Personally I think Futurama is also high up there in terms of how characters would interact with each other and I had a lot more fun watching that, favorite Simpsons episodes have always been the Treehouse of horror stuff a lot of influence from pop culture is always great after all it is the Simpsons.
Now a days everything looks pretty well done at least now when it comes to Japanese animation, just an example would be how pictures and frames start to look much more prettier like eye-candy. Will post a link to an example of something like that below. Don't have to watch it all but it stands for how things are being made now.
http://www.masterani.me/anime/info/1817-sousei-no-onmyouji
@MonaWare @Angler of Lake Asparagus watched my fair share of Simpsons too, they are all very quirky and fun. Personally I think Futurama is also high up there in terms of how characters would interact with each other and I had a lot more fun watching that, favorite Simpsons episodes have always been the Treehouse of horror stuff a lot of influence from pop culture is always great after all it is the Simpsons.
Well, I think I'll toss out a curve ball here.
Ahem...
When I was really little I don't remember how but perhaps as a gift, I received a VHS with a series of cartoon shorts that I was very enthralled with. I'm not really sure why but it was just something I loved watching over and over again and left an impression on me in terms of animation.
Much later, I found out that these were created by a British animator named David Hand who was one of Walt Disney's top animators which was a bit of a shock but not quite a surprise since the animation here is quite high quality for slapstick animated shorts.
Looking at them now, I still quite like them with actually even more appreciation. It's really interesting to see such high quality Disney-like animation combined with rather slapstick content that you'd be more likely to find in a Warner Bros. cartoon. The series of shorts are part of a series called Animaland if you wish to look them up.
Ahem...
When I was really little I don't remember how but perhaps as a gift, I received a VHS with a series of cartoon shorts that I was very enthralled with. I'm not really sure why but it was just something I loved watching over and over again and left an impression on me in terms of animation.
Much later, I found out that these were created by a British animator named David Hand who was one of Walt Disney's top animators which was a bit of a shock but not quite a surprise since the animation here is quite high quality for slapstick animated shorts.
Looking at them now, I still quite like them with actually even more appreciation. It's really interesting to see such high quality Disney-like animation combined with rather slapstick content that you'd be more likely to find in a Warner Bros. cartoon. The series of shorts are part of a series called Animaland if you wish to look them up.
A friend of mine reminded me of this scene here this morning-
Is too bad animated sitcoms rely on lewd toilet humor anymore, I really miss well thought out jokes like this. I mean, yeah, its kinda edgy, but its not horribly lewd.
Its not really as bad as Im making it out to be : p But a show being made for adults shouldnt have to mean lewd and perverse humor.
Is too bad animated sitcoms rely on lewd toilet humor anymore, I really miss well thought out jokes like this. I mean, yeah, its kinda edgy, but its not horribly lewd.
Its not really as bad as Im making it out to be : p But a show being made for adults shouldnt have to mean lewd and perverse humor.
Dangerous Duck
You'd better duck, too.
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One of the best things about animation is just what kind of interesting things art directors or whomever worked on the show talk about the process or characters and how they interacted with one another.
Designing characters must be really fun especially if you can just use your imagination on them.
Designing characters must be really fun especially if you can just use your imagination on them.
That scarecrow guy makes me think of CandleJack for whatever reason. That was a for real creepy character back when I was a kid, I dont think that Ive said his name even up to this day, haha : p
But, when we were teenagers, I did trick my little brother into saying his name one night when he was playing his Xbox. I wrote it on a piece of paper, and told him I wanted to test how fast he could read by having him say what was written as fast as he could. He did it, then stomped his feet and said "Thanks alot! Now Im gonna be kidnapped tonight and its your fault!", haha that really made me laugh : p
Oh, and going back to characters in animation, does anyone here like Bobs Burgers? I love the characters in that show, like I cant even pick a favorite because theyre all great : p Even the B characters that only show up like once or twice, even they are really great and enjoyable.
This show has so much heart in it, like alot of these adult animated shows seem to be more about edgy lewd humor, but this show is really well done, like you can see they really care about their characters. Also I love how the kids actually act like kids, its a way cute show : p
But, when we were teenagers, I did trick my little brother into saying his name one night when he was playing his Xbox. I wrote it on a piece of paper, and told him I wanted to test how fast he could read by having him say what was written as fast as he could. He did it, then stomped his feet and said "Thanks alot! Now Im gonna be kidnapped tonight and its your fault!", haha that really made me laugh : p
Oh, and going back to characters in animation, does anyone here like Bobs Burgers? I love the characters in that show, like I cant even pick a favorite because theyre all great : p Even the B characters that only show up like once or twice, even they are really great and enjoyable.
This show has so much heart in it, like alot of these adult animated shows seem to be more about edgy lewd humor, but this show is really well done, like you can see they really care about their characters. Also I love how the kids actually act like kids, its a way cute show : p
CandleJack? From Freakazoid? Yo I actually still own S1 of that show, it's really good I use to watch it alongside my brother when we were younger. Wrote it on a piece of paper to trick him that sounds marvelous. For some reason we'd always laugh at the whole Freakazoid space or planet song oh wait it was because Uranus!
Yes I've recently been watching a ton of Bob's Burger's on CN, it's actually pretty good definitely. The humor is what makes it stand out compared to other cartoon shows that use a ton of vulgarity. It actually reminds me of Moral Orel in that aspect of it being a show for adults without it needing to like cut some one's butthole open or saying curse words repeated over and over. Don't know why but the fact that Tina and Linda are voiced by dude's also adds to the array of diverse emotions to the characters since a make voicing a female doesn't tend to happen. One of my fav characters in it is definitely Gene mostly because he reminds me of myself and we both do stupid stuff both online and offline.
Dangerous Duck
You'd better duck, too.
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So am I the only one who likes that whole Sketchy look Disney used back in the 60s/70s?
I know a lot of people don't really like it or cared for it that much due to the messy and arguably lazy look it has compared to their older films, but I think there's a certain charm to the style in my opinion.
(Then again The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh had this style and it's my favorite Disney film of all time, so it's probably just nostalgia more then anything.)
I know a lot of people don't really like it or cared for it that much due to the messy and arguably lazy look it has compared to their older films, but I think there's a certain charm to the style in my opinion.
(Then again The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh had this style and it's my favorite Disney film of all time, so it's probably just nostalgia more then anything.)
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Dangerous Duck
You'd better duck, too.
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I have not seen the movie Frozen yet, but just looking at the two next to each other there, while the picture for Frozen is pretty, it also feels more artificial. I dont really know how to put it in words, but the picture for Beauty and the Beast has a more natural look to it. I have a stronger appreciation for that one.
I dunno, I guess I feel like the picture for Frozen looks like just about every other animated film now. Maybe thats why it doesnt feel as magical to look at.
I dunno, I guess I feel like the picture for Frozen looks like just about every other animated film now. Maybe thats why it doesnt feel as magical to look at.
I know this is video game related more then anything but I've always liked how Toei Animation animated Sonic back in Sonic CD.
It's one of the first times Sonic has been animated in anything, and they did a fantastic job with it giving us some of the most memorable moments in Sonic's almost 26 year old history.
And even the original Sega/Mega CD intro and ending still looks pretty sweet even if it's very much held back by the limitations of the Sega/Mega CD
And the effort they went into making Sonic have as much personality as possible without him speaking a single word is very impressive to say the least.
Seriously the time and effort they went into making what is essentially a 1 minute intro and ending for a video game is pretty damn impressive if I say so myself,
And it's the reason why I often consider Sonic CD's intro to not only be one of the best intros to a Sonic game but Video Games in general.
It's one of the first times Sonic has been animated in anything, and they did a fantastic job with it giving us some of the most memorable moments in Sonic's almost 26 year old history.
And even the original Sega/Mega CD intro and ending still looks pretty sweet even if it's very much held back by the limitations of the Sega/Mega CD
And the effort they went into making Sonic have as much personality as possible without him speaking a single word is very impressive to say the least.
Seriously the time and effort they went into making what is essentially a 1 minute intro and ending for a video game is pretty damn impressive if I say so myself,
And it's the reason why I often consider Sonic CD's intro to not only be one of the best intros to a Sonic game but Video Games in general.
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Oh! This is a long running favorite of mine. I have watched the newer episodes and I like them...however I dislike two thing I've noticed from more recent episodes. One, the animation. I don't hate the animation because it's inherently Flash. I have seen some good animation made with Flash though typically not longer running TV series. It's just the style of Flash animation that looks very lazy and ugly. A very lazy application of the "Bone tool" style of animation. I also dislike the more heavy handed tone the show has taken with its humor such as more in your face jokes vs the more subtle ones of the older episodes and the increasing flanderization of Arthur. That being said, the show is still beyond watchable and great to see that it's still running and hasn't gotten stale.I love that episode, especially as someone who loves clowns (whether happy and innocent, comically run-down, psychotic, etc.) The faint screaming as Homer descends puts me in stitches, also that little gesture the man makes at him to do some.... 'acrobatics'. The whole pacing and script is so witty and well done. Nothing like the cheap, desperate, forgettable garbage the show churns out now.
Speaking of long-running toons still around today, I've watched Arthur since its inception in the 90's, and it hasn't declined much in quality over the years. I still find it heart-warming and loaded with life lessons, witty writing, and clever references/parodies. Like The Simpsons, this show impacted my life in a really positive way.
