Every time that I put a drawing up, I'm tempted to just leave it black and white and just post it. I'm noticing more and more that, when I take the time to add color, the drawing seems to come alive. Yet, some drawings, like the one above, sometimes look better as plain ol' line art.
Oh, yeah! I saw Pixar's Cars today, and I have to say, it's definitely one of the best films of the entire animation industry this year.
The previews before the movie got me thinking about the state of the 3D animation industry and the things that have been bothering me about the industry. I've noticed a huge jump in the amount of 3D animated films being produced--which is a great thing for 3D animators like myself--, but the industry seems to still be suffering from a huge case of greed. Many film executives seem to be more interested in pushing a product than making great films. This fact is demonstrated through the re-hashing of old concepts and premises--a complete lack of imagination and creativity. An excellent example is The Wild by Walt Disney Pictures (2006). The film’s premise is a ragtag group of animals who break out of the zoo and roam through the big city and eventually the jungle in search of a character’s son—prompting a series of ridiculous gages along the way. The Wild seems to be a combination of the animal motley crew found in Dreamwork’s
Other films that I’m concerned about and soon to be released are (issues included): The Ant Bully (Ants and James and the Giant Peach), Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (one of the thousands of “Prince and the Pauper” storylines), Barnyard (I could write an entire blog on how poor this film may turn out to be, but I think you should watch the trailer), and Open Season (so far, appears to be a very loose story held together by a series of situational gages and one-liners). Ty Burr of the Boston Globe reveals the problem I’ve seen in the 3D animation industry the past few years, “In the end, the issue here isn't originality of story but the larger creative bankruptcy in
On the other hand I see that some potentially great animated films are on the horizon: Flushed Away (the story appears interesting, but I am sad that this, Aardman Studios’ newest film, was done in CG instead of their trademark claymation), The Simpsons Movie (I think this movie, if done well and if the humor is kept reasonably clean, could be side-bustingly hilarious), and Ratatouille (Pixar is producing it, so the film had better blow our socks off again!).
Anyway, at least I’m ending this sketchblog/rant on a positive note: The 3D animation feature film industry is in a creative famine, and only true innovators will survive and succeed. The big question each of us as animation filmmakers need to ask ourselves is:
What will I decide to be? An innovator or an imitator?
1 comments:
You have a great point here Jonathan. It’s also about time someone ripped on The Wild. I believe the reason why Arrdman went CG instead of clay is because Wallace and Grommet were in production, I could be wrong. That should be good considering Nick Park is a Genius.
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