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tealinDear Guys,
I admire you. I respect you. I've studied your work, and in some incredible cases, actually got to work with you. You're kind, intelligent, talented people, with stories to tell and a passion for your craft. But I've just about had it with the hand-wringing over the death of traditional animation.
I graduated animation school a month after traditional animation 'died' the first time (at Disney, anyway; it followed everywhere else shortly after). I worked other animation-related jobs through the years when most of the commercially produced hand-drawn animation in the world was being pumped out of sweatshops in the Philippines, to fill the spaces between Saturday morning ad breaks as cheaply as possible. I jumped on the moving train the first time Disney brought 2D 'back to life', and for three glorious years you had to put up with really excited young whippersnappers like me learning the ropes of the old ship, then after that either jumping ship or getting pushed off when Disney changed its mind and 'killed' 2D again.
Brothers, I come to bring you the good news: 2D is not dead. 2D LIVES! It's just not living at Disney! Disney does not hold the power of life and death over the medium, YOU DO! If you want there to be 2D animation in the world, DO SOME 2D ANIMATION! You have the power, you have the skill, God knows you have the experience, the only thing stopping you is your moping! Yes, Disney gave up on 2D, and yes their abandonment of that legacy is sad and possibly short-sighted and all that. But if you look at it another way, did they not also ... set it free? Would Jamie Lopez have made Hullaballoo if he were still at Disney? (No: he pitched it and they turned it down.) Would Glen Keane have made Duet? Would Andreas Deja be making Mushka? Not only has the talent been freed up, but you don't have to compete with Disney anymore! Back when Disney was The Main Game, they even called the shots of the competitors: woe betide any film that couldn't be mistaken for a Disney film. Now you can do ANYTHING! There isn't a monolith for people to compare it to!
Since I left the studio, I have been working almost nonstop on hand-drawn productions, and have had to turn down at least as much work as I've been offered. I keep being asked by recruiters if I can recommend anyone, and I keep having to tell them that everyone I know is busy. There is so much traditional animation happening – high-quality, too! – that it would make my 2002 head spin. You just need to lift your head up out of the Valley to see it. If you think I'm being foolishly optimistic, remember when we were in the Pit of Despair and you all shut your office doors and Negative Nellie grumbled away in the cold dark cubicle? That was me! If stepping out of the dungeon and seeing the real state of the wider animation world has changed me this much, it can you, too!
I really wonder sometimes whether it's animation you miss, or the six- and seven-digit salaries and being treated like a star. Well, the 2D of today can't bring you the star treatment or big bucks, so if that's what you're after, then find another job that will bring it – your killer animation skills and experience can translate into so many other jobs, if you bend your stiff neck and apply yourself. If you price yourself out of the burgeoning 2D job market, or refuse to take a gig that isn't exactly what you want, then ego is your problem, not the medium. However, if you really genuinely miss traditional animation for its own sake, then please, please, make yourself known; we need you. It takes a couple weeks tops to learn Flash well enough to animate, a few days for TV Paint – not as fun as paper, maybe, but talk about instant gratification! Come, brothers, and join the revolution! We're taking hand-drawn animation back from the bosses and bringing it to the people ourselves! It never belonged to the studios in the first place, they just convinced us it did, and if you continue to believe them then you're letting them win. After all they've done to you, you're going to let them win?
Well, now, I've got to go make some coffee and settle down to another 12-hour day of making drawings come to life, because animating is the best job in the world and I'm not letting it go softly into that dark night. Who's with me?
(No, seriously – I need to know how much coffee to make.)
Viva la animación!
Tealin
In case anyone is wondering about the gender balance in this letter, I did consider opening it up, but I tried to remember one single female animator despairing about the death of 2D and couldn't: they all seem to have put on their big girl pants and got on with things. The new generation is more than half female and in many cases they're leading the charge, so I'm not worried about them. You go, ladies! Show 'em how it's done!
I admire you. I respect you. I've studied your work, and in some incredible cases, actually got to work with you. You're kind, intelligent, talented people, with stories to tell and a passion for your craft. But I've just about had it with the hand-wringing over the death of traditional animation.
I graduated animation school a month after traditional animation 'died' the first time (at Disney, anyway; it followed everywhere else shortly after). I worked other animation-related jobs through the years when most of the commercially produced hand-drawn animation in the world was being pumped out of sweatshops in the Philippines, to fill the spaces between Saturday morning ad breaks as cheaply as possible. I jumped on the moving train the first time Disney brought 2D 'back to life', and for three glorious years you had to put up with really excited young whippersnappers like me learning the ropes of the old ship, then after that either jumping ship or getting pushed off when Disney changed its mind and 'killed' 2D again.
Brothers, I come to bring you the good news: 2D is not dead. 2D LIVES! It's just not living at Disney! Disney does not hold the power of life and death over the medium, YOU DO! If you want there to be 2D animation in the world, DO SOME 2D ANIMATION! You have the power, you have the skill, God knows you have the experience, the only thing stopping you is your moping! Yes, Disney gave up on 2D, and yes their abandonment of that legacy is sad and possibly short-sighted and all that. But if you look at it another way, did they not also ... set it free? Would Jamie Lopez have made Hullaballoo if he were still at Disney? (No: he pitched it and they turned it down.) Would Glen Keane have made Duet? Would Andreas Deja be making Mushka? Not only has the talent been freed up, but you don't have to compete with Disney anymore! Back when Disney was The Main Game, they even called the shots of the competitors: woe betide any film that couldn't be mistaken for a Disney film. Now you can do ANYTHING! There isn't a monolith for people to compare it to!
Since I left the studio, I have been working almost nonstop on hand-drawn productions, and have had to turn down at least as much work as I've been offered. I keep being asked by recruiters if I can recommend anyone, and I keep having to tell them that everyone I know is busy. There is so much traditional animation happening – high-quality, too! – that it would make my 2002 head spin. You just need to lift your head up out of the Valley to see it. If you think I'm being foolishly optimistic, remember when we were in the Pit of Despair and you all shut your office doors and Negative Nellie grumbled away in the cold dark cubicle? That was me! If stepping out of the dungeon and seeing the real state of the wider animation world has changed me this much, it can you, too!
I really wonder sometimes whether it's animation you miss, or the six- and seven-digit salaries and being treated like a star. Well, the 2D of today can't bring you the star treatment or big bucks, so if that's what you're after, then find another job that will bring it – your killer animation skills and experience can translate into so many other jobs, if you bend your stiff neck and apply yourself. If you price yourself out of the burgeoning 2D job market, or refuse to take a gig that isn't exactly what you want, then ego is your problem, not the medium. However, if you really genuinely miss traditional animation for its own sake, then please, please, make yourself known; we need you. It takes a couple weeks tops to learn Flash well enough to animate, a few days for TV Paint – not as fun as paper, maybe, but talk about instant gratification! Come, brothers, and join the revolution! We're taking hand-drawn animation back from the bosses and bringing it to the people ourselves! It never belonged to the studios in the first place, they just convinced us it did, and if you continue to believe them then you're letting them win. After all they've done to you, you're going to let them win?
Well, now, I've got to go make some coffee and settle down to another 12-hour day of making drawings come to life, because animating is the best job in the world and I'm not letting it go softly into that dark night. Who's with me?
(No, seriously – I need to know how much coffee to make.)
Viva la animación!
Tealin
In case anyone is wondering about the gender balance in this letter, I did consider opening it up, but I tried to remember one single female animator despairing about the death of 2D and couldn't: they all seem to have put on their big girl pants and got on with things. The new generation is more than half female and in many cases they're leading the charge, so I'm not worried about them. You go, ladies! Show 'em how it's done!
