The Animation Guild blog took one of his walks through the Walt Disney Animation Studios to network with the members of his guild this week, and he couldn’t help noticing that as ‘BOLT’ wraps up production, not only are the short term hires being let go, but so are some of Disney’s digital artists who have been with the company since Dinosaur, The Walt Disney Company’s first foray into CG Animation.
Yes, it’s not official policy that Pixar will get all the CG Animation and Walt Disney Animation Studios will be handling the hand-drawn stuff (although there is a considerable amount of computer use in hand-drawn animation these days). But returning WDAS to a position of prominance in hand-drawn 2D animation is an announced goal.
That’s bad news for CG animators unable to make the transition to the more traditional form. The good news, is that the field of CG animation is stronger than ever with a half-dozen other animation studios producing CG animated work, a growing gaming industry that requires talented artists, and movie special effects are moving closer and closer to cg animation every day (witness the TR2N teaser just released at SDCC). I hope they all land on their feet, but I can’t wait for Disney to return to the glory days of hand-drawn animation.
While I look forward to the day WDAS start becoming hand drawn, it won’t be anytime soon.
We do have The Princess and the Frog, but after that:
Rapunzel – computer animated (I love this ones style)
King of the Elves – computer animated as of now, unless they decide to change course.
That means we won’t see another 2D film until at least 2013. That’s half a decade away.
I think you’re mistaken on WDFA plan to go 2D only. There are many CG movies in the works down in Burbank. That is a rumor formed by someone who took an announcement out of context.
I don’t know about you, but I would be pretty disappointed if WDAS gave up computer animation. That seems to go against the legacy of innovation that Walt Disney stood for.
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