Western Animation - Discuss American, Canadian, and European cartoons here (or just bitch about wokeshit, I guess)

[Coolio55]

I think we might already be there; Helluva Boss’s two episodes are easily on par with what you see on TV and Long Gone Gulch’s pilot is also TV quality.

It’s pretty amazing, especially if you remember that two decades ago, web animation was synonymous with Machinama and Newgrounds flash.

Say what you will about newgrounds flash but I had way more fun watching and playing that shit than I did most TV in the past decade.
That shit had soul even if it was the lowest quality crap imaginable

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

I think we might already be there; Helluva Boss’s two episodes are easily on par with what you see on TV and Long Gone Gulch’s pilot is also TV quality.

It’s pretty amazing, especially if you remember that two decades ago, web animation was synonymous with Machinama and Newgrounds flash.

Compete in the business sense. Animation quality is one thing, but where do the pilots go from here?

 

[Private Pyle]

Compete in the business sense. Animation quality is one thing, but where do the pilots go from here?

Well Hazbin Hotel has already been picked up by A24 and is currently securing a TV deal. I believe the creators for LGG want something similar for their pilot.
So it can be said that they’re currently entering phase 2.

 

[AnOminous]

Well Hazbin Hotel has already been picked up by A24 and is currently securing a TV deal. I believe the creators for LGG want something similar for their pilot.
So it can be said that they’re currently entering phase 2.

I thought there were mutterings and rumors that A24 was having second thoughts. Not sure if there's any actual basis in fact for that though.

 

[Commander X]

An "amazing" thread from a professional artist autistically going over all the rules you need to know to draw beanmouth (he uses that term) just right and he's completely serious. He actually refers to it as beanmouth.

https://twitter.com/ncrossanimation/status/1353063346841378816

Alright, you smart-asses think beanmouth is EASY to draw? You have another THINK coming! Better study these if you want to learn How To Make It in this industry!

DON'T BE CLICHE, he says, but also make sure to follow these draconian rules for nonexistent "appeal"

'These expressions are not natural and specific' sure and these are, I guess, huh

 

[Life is Hell...]

An "amazing" thread from a professional artist autistically going over all the rules you need to know to draw beanmouth (he uses that term) just right and he's completely serious. He actually refers to it as beanmouth.

https://twitter.com/ncrossanimation/status/1353063346841378816

Alright, you smart-asses think beanmouth is EASY to draw? You have another THINK coming! Better study these if you want to learn How To Make It in this industry!

View attachment 1873570
View attachment 1873568

DON'T BE CLICHE, he says, but also make sure to follow these draconian rules for nonexistent "appeal"

View attachment 1873579

'These expressions are not natural and specific' sure and these are, I guess, huh

Considering this guy also helped make Over The Garden Wall, which is an Animated Masterpiece, this is just extremely painful....

 

[Coolio55]

Yeah, we have one of the most lazily drawn shows in the universe but we still can't have those dang dirty animators getting creative with it.
Why don't they just go full Tim Buckley circa 2009 if they hate art so much?

 

[Grass Mud Horse]

An "amazing" thread from a professional artist autistically going over all the rules you need to know to draw beanmouth (he uses that term) just right and he's completely serious. He actually refers to it as beanmouth.

https://twitter.com/ncrossanimation/status/1353063346841378816

Alright, you smart-asses think beanmouth is EASY to draw? You have another THINK coming! Better study these if you want to learn How To Make It in this industry!

View attachment 1873570
View attachment 1873568

DON'T BE CLICHE, he says, but also make sure to follow these draconian rules for nonexistent "appeal"

View attachment 1873579

'These expressions are not natural and specific' sure and these are, I guess, huh

I hate to get into semantics, but a quick glance at the Twitter thread indicates that these guides were designed for the people working on the pilot you linked rather than an impromptu lecture for aspiring cartoonists. I remember seeing similar guides designed for the overseas staff on King of the Hill, so it doesn't seem too far-fetched an idea.

Still, it's amusing to see a set of elaborate specifications written for such a simple-looking character. I appreciate the sentiment of trying to go beyond the cookie cutter, emoticon-tier character expressions typical of ultra-simple geometric "beanmouth" styles, but, uh...I'm getting a different message from the end result. Adding more depth and range to a character's emotions sounds easier said than done when they look like a 20-second napkin doodle.

Honestly, I think it's a little strange that someone with such an impersonal art style is trying to make something unique and layered with bare-bones character construction. Ideally, your work's art direction should reflect — or at least compliment — the rest of its components. The art doesn't have to completely match the work's tone, of course, but a little cohesion can help prevent it from clashing with the written direction (eg. characters, stories, tone, even humor).

Spoiler: example

Just look at Flapjack and Chowder, two shows with similarly rounded character designs and textured lineart, but use color and design choices to craft their own distinct aesthetics. Flapjack's filled with muddy, washed-up colors and textures to emphasize how grimy and miserable the setting is — save for Flapjack himself, whose brighter color palette expresses how he contrasts with the setting without words. Chowder, on the other hand, is filled with bright, candy-like colors and textures — perfect for a show centered around food. It also has softer, less grotesque character designs than Flapjack, which compliments its lighter style of humor. Flapjack tends to lean towards morbid absurdity and dark comedy, so its characters look a little more "ugly" in terms of conventional character design.

(I've been storing that little tangent for a while, haha.)

That's my philosophy, at least. I like dissecting a work's art direction and thinking about how it affects the general feel of said work when you put everything together (writing, sound design, etc.). I get the feeling a lot of artists currently working in cartoons/comics don't find much importance in that method of creation. Beanmouth shape piles take much less thought and artistic knowledge to pull off, so if making that kind of art is appealing to you, I doubt you're going to take the time to fine-tune your design choices.

TL;DR — Those kitschy, ultra-streamlined geometric "beanmouth" styles that've plagued commerical American animation have minimal nuance to them and feel really impersonal. I don't get how a cartoonist can extract so much meaning and design philosophy out of whiteboard-art-tier doodles. Feels a little egotistical if you ask me.

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

I hate to get into semantics, but a quick glance at the Twitter thread indicates that these guides were designed for the people working on the pilot you linked rather than an impromptu lecture for aspiring cartoonists. I remember seeing similar guides designed for the overseas staff on King of the Hill, so it doesn't seem too far-fetched an idea.

Still, it's amusing to see a set of elaborate specifications written for such a simple-looking character. I appreciate the sentiment of trying to go beyond the cookie cutter, emoticon-tier character expressions typical of ultra-simple geometric "beanmouth" styles, but, uh...I'm getting a different message from the end result. Adding more depth and range to a character's emotions sounds easier said than done when they look like a 20-second napkin doodle.

Honestly, I think it's a little strange that someone with such an impersonal art style is trying to make something unique and layered with bare-bones character construction. Ideally, your work's art direction should reflect — or at least compliment — the rest of its components. The art doesn't have to completely match the work's tone, of course, but a little cohesion can help prevent it from clashing with the written direction (eg. characters, stories, tone, even humor).

Spoiler: example

Just look at Flapjack and Chowder, two shows with similarly rounded character designs and textured lineart, but use color and design choices to craft their own distinct aesthetics. Flapjack's filled with muddy, washed-up colors and textures to emphasize how grimy and miserable the setting is — save for Flapjack himself, whose brighter color palette expresses how he contrasts with the setting without words. Chowder, on the other hand, is filled with bright, candy-like colors and textures — perfect for a show centered around food. It also has softer, less grotesque character designs than Flapjack, which compliments its lighter style of humor. Flapjack tends to lean towards morbid absurdity and dark comedy, so its characters look a little more "ugly" in terms of conventional character design.

(I've been storing that little tangent for a while, haha.)

That's my philosophy, at least. I like dissecting a work's art direction and thinking about how it affects the general feel of said work when you put everything together (writing, sound design, etc.). I get the feeling a lot of artists currently working in cartoons/comics don't find much importance in that method of creation. Beanmouth shape piles take much less thought and artistic knowledge to pull off, so if making that kind of art is appealing to you, I doubt you're going to take the time to fine-tune your design choices.

TL;DR — Those kitschy, ultra-streamlined geometric "beanmouth" styles that've plagued commerical American animation have minimal nuance to them and feel really impersonal. I don't get how a cartoonist can extract so much meaning and design philosophy out of whiteboard-art-tier doodles. Feels a little egotistical if you ask me.

Even with simple stuff, little things in a design mean a lot, so I get where he's coming from.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

I hate to get into semantics, but a quick glance at the Twitter thread indicates that these guides were designed for the people working on the pilot you linked rather than an impromptu lecture for aspiring cartoonists. I remember seeing similar guides designed for the overseas staff on King of the Hill, so it doesn't seem too far-fetched an idea.

Still, it's amusing to see a set of elaborate specifications written for such a simple-looking character. I appreciate the sentiment of trying to go beyond the cookie cutter, emoticon-tier character expressions typical of ultra-simple geometric "beanmouth" styles, but, uh...I'm getting a different message from the end result. Adding more depth and range to a character's emotions sounds easier said than done when they look like a 20-second napkin doodle.

Honestly, I think it's a little strange that someone with such an impersonal art style is trying to make something unique and layered with bare-bones character construction. Ideally, your work's art direction should reflect — or at least compliment — the rest of its components. The art doesn't have to completely match the work's tone, of course, but a little cohesion can help prevent it from clashing with the written direction (eg. characters, stories, tone, even humor).

Spoiler: example

Just look at Flapjack and Chowder, two shows with similarly rounded character designs and textured lineart, but use color and design choices to craft their own distinct aesthetics. Flapjack's filled with muddy, washed-up colors and textures to emphasize how grimy and miserable the setting is — save for Flapjack himself, whose brighter color palette expresses how he contrasts with the setting without words. Chowder, on the other hand, is filled with bright, candy-like colors and textures — perfect for a show centered around food. It also has softer, less grotesque character designs than Flapjack, which compliments its lighter style of humor. Flapjack tends to lean towards morbid absurdity and dark comedy, so its characters look a little more "ugly" in terms of conventional character design.

(I've been storing that little tangent for a while, haha.)

That's my philosophy, at least. I like dissecting a work's art direction and thinking about how it affects the general feel of said work when you put everything together (writing, sound design, etc.). I get the feeling a lot of artists currently working in cartoons/comics don't find much importance in that method of creation. Beanmouth shape piles take much less thought and artistic knowledge to pull off, so if making that kind of art is appealing to you, I doubt you're going to take the time to fine-tune your design choices.

TL;DR — Those kitschy, ultra-streamlined geometric "beanmouth" styles that've plagued commerical American animation have minimal nuance to them and feel really impersonal. I don't get how a cartoonist can extract so much meaning and design philosophy out of whiteboard-art-tier doodles. Feels a little egotistical if you ask me.

At least with the King of the Hill model sheets, not only were they working with detailed designs, but they were being farmed overseas to studios who probably need to have their collective hands held for something like that, as Rough Draft and Plus One were more used to simple and cartoony styles (or the rougher style of Beavis and Butt-Head), or in the case of Yeson, brand new at the time.

This is just pointlessly excessive for the sake of being pointlessly excessive.

 

[starborn427614]

Animation can be a complicated process. Doesn't matter if it's beanmouth or Fleischer, the gears and cogs behind the scenes often require a fuckton of grease to keep going. I've picked up some artbooks for shows I enjoy and they give good insight into how things are made which the process of sending out boards to be animated and so on.

 

[Oats12345]

Looks like our old friend Alex Hirsch is getting cancelled over this tweet from years ago
View attachment 1860063

Soos is in the United States illegally? I'm just joking Alex Hirsch is just a moron.

That's like a 6 on the yikes meter really. Not that he should've implied violence at all, mind you.

He seems like he wants his characters to hurt innocent people just because they have different views than him. He's just plan nuts.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

Someone made an observation.

 

[Dark Emporer Dood]

Yeah, we have one of the most lazily drawn shows in the universe but we still can't have those dang dirty animators getting creative with it. Why don't they just go full Tim Buckley circa 2009 if they hate art so much?
View attachment 1873666

Thats actually what they do, they use "rigs" and re used assets left and right like mouths and hands.

An "amazing" thread from a professional artist autistically going over all the rules you need to know to draw beanmouth (he uses that term) just right and he's completely serious. He actually refers to it as beanmouth.

The bit about the eyes not overlapping and such is typical for model sheets in the industry. Though the "natural expression" things a bit unusual, and unnecessary when most of them come out looking like they were copied from Regular Show. You'd think they'd create a 3D model to help animators with the eyes.

 

[ZMOT]

Even with simple stuff, little things in a design mean a lot, so I get where he's coming from.

I remember reading craig mccracken being super particular about PPG's design, which looks like quite simple.

 

[KoldHardTruth]

I also think Teen Titnas Go isn't that bad, if you don't like it, don't watch it. Only whiny cartoon spergs would waste their time being consumed on a show that they don't like. The show sells a bunch merchandise, and does well with little kids, that's why it's currently the longest running show (by episode count) on cartoon network. Who cares that TTG is filling up the schedule on cartoon network, cable is dying, it you wanna watch other shows so bad, do streaming, and stop acting like a whiny little bitch.

 

[starborn427614]

The upcoming Sonic cartoon finally has a name and premise:
Sonic Prime

Info:
- Viewers are expected to see Sonic traverse through a high-speed adventure in a packed 24-episode series where “the fate of a strange new multiverse” is at stake.
- “Sonic’s adventure is about more than a race to save the universe, it’s a journey of self-discovery and redemption,” said WildBrain in a official statement.
- The program is geared towards audiences six to 11, but will reportedly respect the “scale and scope” of the adventures exhibited throughout the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

Source:

https://tailschannel.com/sonic-the-hedgehog/sonic-prime-is-the-new-sonic-netflix-cartoon/

 

[A Grey Cat]

I also think Teen Titnas Go isn't that bad, if you don't like it, don't watch it. Only whiny cartoon spergs would waste their time being consumed on a show that they don't like. The show sells a bunch merchandise, and does well with little kids, that's why it's currently the longest running show (by episode count) on cartoon network. Who cares that TTG is filling up the schedule on cartoon network, cable is dying, it you wanna watch other shows so bad, do streaming, and stop acting like a whiny little bitch.

while i appreciate the sentiment and respect your opinion you posted in the wrong thread. The unpopular opions about western animation thread is three doors down between the reeb machines and the pictures of rosechu dickgirls. oh and speaking of

The upcoming Sonic cartoon finally has a name and premise:
Sonic Prime

Info:
- Viewers are expected to see Sonic traverse through a high-speed adventure in a packed 24-episode series where “the fate of a strange new multiverse” is at stake.
- “Sonic’s adventure is about more than a race to save the universe, it’s a journey of self-discovery and redemption,” said WildBrain in a official statement.
- The program is geared towards audiences six to 11, but will reportedly respect the “scale and scope” of the adventures exhibited throughout the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

Source:

https://tailschannel.com/sonic-the-hedgehog/sonic-prime-is-the-new-sonic-netflix-cartoon/

how long before chris spergs "THAT IS MY IDEA SEGA!" simply because he started calling himself sonichu prime to clarify he's the original sonichu piloting "mamma's" body?

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

The upcoming Sonic cartoon finally has a name and premise:
Sonic Prime

Info:
- Viewers are expected to see Sonic traverse through a high-speed adventure in a packed 24-episode series where “the fate of a strange new multiverse” is at stake.
- “Sonic’s adventure is about more than a race to save the universe, it’s a journey of self-discovery and redemption,” said WildBrain in a official statement.
- The program is geared towards audiences six to 11, but will reportedly respect the “scale and scope” of the adventures exhibited throughout the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

Source:

https://tailschannel.com/sonic-the-hedgehog/sonic-prime-is-the-new-sonic-netflix-cartoon/

Are they doing the multiverse plot from the Archie comics?

 

[starborn427614]

Are they doing the multiverse plot from the Archie comics?

Hard to tell right now, but it's kind of funny that it's happening at the same time Marvel's getting into multiverse stuff as well as Spider-Verse 2 happening. Guess the 2020's are the Decade of the Multiverse. I'm not complaining, I love this stuff.