Paperman - Why is Disney Faking Hand Drawn Animation

This is a poster for Disney's new animated short  Paperman, which will come out with the new movie Wreck-it-Ralph. I was really excited to see this short and I still am. Especially after I heard how the creators are planning to combine CG and Hand Drawn animation so seamlessly that no one would be able to tell the difference. From the few screen shots that were released, the potential and style looked amazing!! But then I saw a video at the website called IT'S ART MAG.COM. You can see the video HERE

 

 
Even though I want to see the short... I feel really disappointed with they way it's being made. I need to repeat the title of this post because I feel completely confused on what is happening to the animation industry. Why, why, WHY... is Disney (the company that practically put animation on the map) is using a technology that makes CG animation look like traditional hand drawn animation? I find this ridiculous! To clarify more what I'm talking about here are some videos to the behind the scenes of Paperman. CLICK HERE

Although I think that the technology is pretty cool, and I see some pretty cool potential for it. (I really want to play with that software, like right now) But I have to honest, I have a major problem with it. I don't understand, why would Disney invest so much time, money and work to develop a technology to create a style that already exists? They spent so much time making CG look like hand drawn animation, when they could have done this whole short in hand drawn animation. Although I find the technology cool and interesting, it seems like a huge waste of time. There are plenty of extremely talented hand drawn animators who need work, but instead of using them, Disney decides to fake it. This is insanity! It's not cheaper to do it in CG, it's actually more expensive. CG doesn't create better animation, it's actually very limiting in comparison to hand drawn. Hand drawn animation is NOT old fashioned or a thing of the past or anything like that, it's just a different medium to do animation. Hand drawn animation has it's place today as much as CG and stop motion does. As many of you already know, I not only work in computer animation, I teach it too. I love CG animation, I think it's great, but it will never replace Hand Drawn animation. I have been working more with Hand Drawn animation recently, and it truly is magic. It creates an appeal matched by nothing else. When my students see me doing Hand Drawn animation they become more astonished and are in awe more so than when I do CG animation. I even still get that feeling of amazement when I animate in Hand Drawn or I see a new Hand Drawn animation made by someone else. I love the stuff that Ryan Woodward is doing. CLICK HERE And I hope the John Musker and Ron Clements' new animated film is leaning more towards hand drawn. CLICK HERE There's the lame excuse that the audience prefers CG is a complete lie. The audience doesn't care, all they care about is being entertained. That is why the majority of all TV animation is Hand Drawn. I hope this post reaches someone at Disney and wakes them up. DO MORE HAND DRAWN ANIMATION!!!

I hate to say this, but this is just auto tune for animation.