Wednesday, July 11, 2007

How Can We Bring Back Cartoony Cartoons?

These close ups are in that style I thought was Willard Bowsky. Peter has cast some doubt in my brain as to who actually drew them, but whoever it is, is a real cartoonist and his stuff is really fun to look at.This is a cartoon that exults in being a cartoon. It's not trying to hide it.

It's not trying to compete with live action on its own terms.It uses what cartoons do best-funny magic.
Fun to look at pictures that do crazy things.
Characters with funny personalities and distinct funny voices. (Listen to the voices in that Ratatouille clip! Is there anything remotely distinct about them?)
This whole blog is dedicated to bringing back real cartoons. There are still many real cartoonists alive today who could do this really fun type of animation but there is no studio that will take advantage of them.
It's also hard to learn how to be cartoony, when nothing in the media is anymore and there are no schools that teach it. That's why it's great that there are so many blogs that are making a whole new generation of cartoonists aware that drawing can actually be really fun.

Wouldn't it be great to look look forward to coming to work every day and be able to actually use your imagination and think up ways to make people really laugh and pleasure their senses?
The reason I put up modern animation styles and make fun of them is to contrast them to this fun stuff. To really show how hugely different the philosophies are.
I'm not against having other types of animation on the planet, I would just like to have a reasonable % of cartoons doing what they do best.

The Pixars and Dreamworks and Disneys could exist if they wanna make the same films over and over again. If they want to abandon all cartoon tradition, fine.
But some smart studio oughta make room for real cartoons and really funny cartoonists and let them loose to actually use their imaginations.
If someone put 10% of the money that they spend on animated features or prime time animated shows into an unashamed cartoon studio, that studio would clean up. I think it would largely kill at least all the Pixar and Simpsons imitators.


Maybe the next generation of cartoonists will see all these possibilities on the blogs and then do what's so obviously fun and right.

BTW, if you click the label "cartoony" below it will take you to other posts about particularly cartoony cartoonists.

Isn't it crazy that we have to add an adjective to cartoons so that you will recognize the ones who actually draw cartoony?

I'll put up the clips from these scenes this weekend so you can see how much the animation is.