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Hello, Actual Animator here. Lets talk about this stupid shit right here.
Primetime animation is quite possibly one of the most sterile fields of animation, and you can thank FG/Other animated Family Sitcoms for pioneering that. Artists who work on these shows are incredibly limited in what they can, and cannot do; and that is by design.
Deviation costs money, and when your deadlines for getting scenes animated and through the door is sometimes a week or less for multiple shots, you cannot afford to not adhere to such strict, limited, animation. Same goes for board as artists.
It can be suffocating. you have a studio full of talented artists, animators, board artists who in their own right could produce content far better than what youre seeing on tv. the only barrier is executives not wanting to buy into new, exciting ideas because its a risk.
So to keep your job, you just do as your told. A common myth about adult tv animation is that everyone on board is having a fun time. Most are not. Most of the time, working on shows like this isnt even something we are passionate about. Its just a job, and a paycheck.
But a downside to these kinds of productions is the consumers of this media suddenly turn into the most insufferable armchair critics in the world.
doing things quickly and efficiently for the sake of deadlines and time is mistaken for lack of skill. Crowd shots are THE LITERAL WORST, and even then we arent in control of how theyre set up. Someone higher up calls out which incidentals to use, and place.
Most of the time there are duplicates with minor deviations because, as stated before, major change means more money. which studios dont want to re-budget for. Animators just have to draw, place, etc what theyre told to do.
past that, you literally do not want to draw the viewers eyes away from the action. People are notoriously bad at paying attention. If u have some incidental doing something wacky or looking too weird people will look away from peter, and they WILL complain they missed the joke.
Its a damned if you do, damned if you dont situation.
If you take long to make something good, people complain (ex. Rick and Morty)
If you make things too quickly, people will complain it looks like shit. (ex. Fam Guy)
If you take long to make something good, people complain (ex. Rick and Morty)
If you make things too quickly, people will complain it looks like shit. (ex. Fam Guy)
There are so many talented people in this industry that are beholden to strict deadlines, and a network environment that thinks anything other than the FamGuy style is too much of a risk because "Viewers might not recognize it as an adult cartoon"
Its a self fulfilling prophecy. People who watch tv want something new, and complain when they dont get it, but continue to watch the same old stuff. Your metrics drive the industry. Your metrics force artists to work fast, at the expense of good looking work.
In conclusion, YES artists who work on these shows are very much capable of drawing better than what you see on screen. But we are part of a PRODUCTION. Meaning we arent making our OWN art, we are making someone elses products as a group.
To insinuate that professional artists arent capable of being competent artists because of strict style, placement, and timing guides made by people higher up than us, is incredibly shallow and petty as fuck
Hello, Im not sure why my ramblings ended up garnering this much attention.
Im formally muting this, and if it gets out of hand i'll probably delete this thread because Im not really interested in clout. I just wanted to bring attention to the unseen parts of tv animation.
Im formally muting this, and if it gets out of hand i'll probably delete this thread because Im not really interested in clout. I just wanted to bring attention to the unseen parts of tv animation.
