This is making the rounds and as much as I love 2D and I miss 2D movies, I have to say, I'm not a fan of the acting choices. I shouldn't talk, there's no way I could draw like that in a million years, but the acting? Holding arm, scratching neck, twirling hands when unsure, acting out words, it's just all things that are so on the nose. Might just be me.
4 comments:
I had the same thought, I like the fluidity of the movement but I thought he was just moving all the time without taking the time for the character to just be still for a portion that would make it feel more natural.
It's tougher to be still and subtle in 2D. Constant movement might just be a byproduct of that style.
I actually felt the same way as you did, when I watched this clip and it struck me as that upon first impression. But I can also understand why, Nik and many of the veteran 2D animators have been kept in the dark for a long time and it's a long difficult phase for them to endure through the long down time. They also never really go through the kind of animation training the current modern animators have and did learned a lot on the job mostly.
These poses may not work in short test context but watching Hercules, they do have a lot of the neck holding, twirling hands movements and yet they worked wonderfully for that film and is funny, enjoyable to watch. It's a different style and era of animation compared to what animation school teaches today. I hate to also put it this way but I do feel like a lot of the 2D animators are being bounded in the past and are not progressing along. And it can also be difficult given their history, sometimes pride can stop them from learning from the new generation too? Just guessing.
On the other hand, I do miss animation like Hercules and Aladdin that I felt like aren't present in today's animated film. Wild, crazy, whacky in a very classical way. Sure there are animators that animate whacky cartoony style, but they still feel different. There's still something about the classics that have a whole different level of appeal that I just can't find in modern animated feature.
He also did mentioned that when doing this test, they have changed his design a lot and he had to adjust to it a ton. This is especially hard when you are trying to establish a character's trait and personality, with the design changing a lot can also influence and affect it.
Maybe I'm just trying to back him up with excuse. :P But these are just my thoughts.
Long live 2D animation.
-T
Nope, great points and I totally agree. There's a certain feeling in 2D that CG still doesn't have, or very rarely.
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