LiveWire

Artgal says:

Just started listening to the podcast & had to pause so I could comment on your opening remarks regarding artistry.

I am very much in agreement with you. I don’t mind modern technology to facilitate the creative process (cuts down on costs & gives a truly creative person more control of their work), but technology should not be used to take over entirely. In all truth, the technology is only as beneficial or good as the person using that medium. Lots of people are familiar w/ design, music & animation software, but unless they have the natural talent and foundational art skills down, they will not have meaningful work – that’s what we largely have now. As you correctly pointed out, much of the ‘talent’ is manufactured; interestingly, so is much of our political class, the president and the economic upheaval. Funny how arts parallel with politics and other factors in life.

On to animation.

Though 3D animation has it’s place, it’s not something I love working with as much as in the 90’s and early 2000s when it was an evolving artform. Now, it’s been ‘done to death’. There are many traditional cell animators who continue to work successfully – just not commercially; in the very near future, we will see more people embracing traditional methods.

The animation courses I teach at an art college are traditional animation principles and methods (the hand-drawn art). When I have taught the History of Animation course, my college students largely express their interest in producing claymations, cell animations, stop-motion – the true art forms an animator can really delve into in a way that cannot be done in the computer.

In the 1920s, people approached animation with a playful, carefree, inventive attitude particularly because it was still new and evolving – indicative of the economic conditions and culture of that time until 1929. Going into the 1930s, animations became more sobering in delivery and storylines. Many of those storylines were based on the hardships of the era, but using the animated characters – be it the personified animals in Disney’s work or a sailor named Popeye – to provide entertainment, elevate the mood and give people a feeling they could overcome difficulties. Popeye was definitely an underdog who always came out on top and that was a driving theme of that era.

In 2012, I sense there is a longing we have for tradition and it is evident in the popularity of Reagan’s legacy, Palin’s presence and in restoring the heart and soul of our nation. We want to simplify our lives and that will translate into the kind of artforms we will be drawn to also. Fine arts are a clear indication of tradition as those forms are intuitive and get right into one’s heart and soul. Art indeed imitates life.