Old School (Part 11)

By: Brian Mah

(Now, after that bit of warm up, here are some more serious questions regarding the industry. The next set of questions were debated heavily among industry and fandom a like.)
---------------------------------------------------
With The advent of computers being more present in anime, do you think the art of animation, such as cel painting, have been lost?
---------------------------------------------------
Patrick Macias: Definitely, but it has also opened up new storytelling possibilities.

Rikki Simons: It may be lost as far as being an assembly line staple on large commercial productions. It's difficult to justify the cost of using cel painting on a commercial production. It will always have a place as an art form practiced by individual creators, however.

Jan Scot-Fraizer: Although I like to have cels as souvenirs and I taught hundreds of people to make them, I was extremely happy to help replace them with digital production systems. When I had my studio, I LOST money every time I did cel work because the materials were so expensive. Gallons of heavy latex paint in 327 colors, heavy acetate cels that can be scratched beyond easily, a trace machine that's effectively a big laminator and costs $70,000 but I had to learn to rebuild it all myself because their "support" cost a fortune and they wouldn't go to other countries to fix machines. That tip of the iceberg versus a $500 scanner, some computers and the software. No more benzine fumes, no more expensive retakes, no more paying thousands to move heavy paper, acetate and paint between countries. I introduced the Animo system to Japan to help get past all that so our little companies could survive.

My concern about the real art of animation is mostly that hand created backgrounds don't disappear. I always wanted my backgrounds to be an organic part of the little world I was creating, no matter what tools they were created with.

Computers won't be replacing directors any time soon but if you find one that can replace a producer let me know and I will buy it at any cost!