TV Animation Art Is Mediocre

Perhaps this thread title is harsh, but please hear me out -
Here’s some of my random thoughts.
YMMV

I grew up watching animated TV series such as Bugs Bunny, Looney Tunes, Rocky & Bullwinkle, The Jetsons, The Flinstones, etc.

All iconic art. Memorable.
The quality level is great; rendered with meticulous care and precision.
Lovingly rendered.
Classic Images from those shows quickly and easily come to mind.

However, it seems that most, if not all, recent animated TV series are churned out with “less craftsmanship”.
Shakier and sketchier lines. Overly simplistic. Un-iconic. Bland. Pedestrian.

Did this “visual transition” start after, say, Ren & Stimpy...?
Was it when Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network offshored Animation duties to Korea...?

Perhaps the enormous popularity of Beavis and Butthead on MTV was the first indication that jokes and humor would supersede quality art in importance?

After The Simpsons’ simple but efficient line work took over and dominated the airwaves?
(Kudos to Matt Groening! I think his linework has spawned such “middling art” as Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show, etc.

YMMV.
With these shows, I think the dialogue and plot take priority.)

Teen Titans Go! is a recent show that has a stylistic touch, as did The PowerPuff Girls.

Simple Rule of thumb:
In theory, if you had a choice to frame a dozen “Animation Stills” from any cartoon TV series since the 1930’s or so, which ones would you select?
(Yes, I realize that many current shows are rendered digitally; let’s just pretend...)

I’d bet not many are from:
Spongebob Squarepants
Loud Family
Adventure Time
We Bare Bears
Gravity Falls
Adult Swim shows

What other shows do you think are notably - Great, Good, or Bad?

 

I remember watching "Ppoeye" as a kid in the late sixties on television. Even at that age I could see the drop-off in quality from the old black and white episodes to the later color ones.

 

Before this thread goes where I think it’s going, there’s a lot of bad 60s, 70, and 80s animation. I mean horribly bad. Most are largely forgotten. Also Looney Toons that you’re thinking if we’re theatrical shorts, not TV animation (yes I know there were TV specials and later 80s series and all that)

Plus, I know you’re talking American animation but there is some horrible anime that would make even the worst American TV cartoons look like masterpieces.

 

The only three animated shows I watch these days are Venture Bros., F Is for Family, and BoJack Horseman, and they're all hilarious. The animation is secondary to the characters and stories, but I have to say, the animation quality has gotten better over time. Do I expect "Warner Bros." or "Disney" quality? No. That ain't gonna happen for cable TV/streaming shows.

 

I actually have vintage animation cels from the 50's, 60's and 70's. The best are those from Warner classics although early Scooby Doo was really good for its time (the difference between Hanana Barbera and Looney Tunes and some other studios? They did their backgrounds later as later colors vs. oil).

The animation quality isn't as top notch as it should be but it has improved since the mid-60's where H-B got the background and animation quality minimalist (although they were far from the worst--just take a look at Clutch Cargo by comparison). When I had small kids I would watch Courage The Cowardly Dog, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Bojack Horseman and Rick and Morty.

 

Sorry should have read water colors. They typicall did them on a small scale than traditional animation stand paintings. The backgrounds I have are a little big bigger than 8 1/2 by 11.

 

"Limited animation" like that done by UPA (Gerald McBoing-Boing) was originally an artistic choice, but eventually became the default as producers pushed to cut costs. What I love about computer animation is that there is little savings in limited frame rates. I know not everyone loves it, but the 3D animated backgrounds in Matt Groening's new Netflix series Disenchanted are excellent, and the cell renderer looks great, so they're able to concentrate on the characters and give them full rate of 12 frames per second.

 

Man I loathe anime, and how it seems to have controlled an entire generation.

 

Yes, I vaguely recall seeing reruns of the colored Popeye series, the production seemed to be fairly minimal.
Every era of TV cartoons had such wide ranges of quality.

 

You clearly haven't watched the right stuff. That's like saying "I don't like rock" when that encapsulates so many types.

 

Just to be clear, the thing you're finding fault with seems to do with the stylistic look of the shows, not the quality of animation movement. You mention not being interested in collecting stills from modern shows. Anyway, the look/drawing style/character design is different from whether the movement is smooth or jerky.

Regarding the drawing style, I guess the style you like has fallen out of favor. I can tell you there are plenty of artists that practice drawing in older styles but they aren't often working in animation as hand-drawn animation is just not getting much love these days. (Back in the day I worked on a short that may have the qualities you are looking for but it's not really commercial release.)

Quality of movement is another issue altogether and Hanna-Barbera and others "pioneered" the use of limited animation, very much pre-dating the line you're drawing in the sand.

 

The original Spider-Man had some genuinely awful animation. Just terrible, terrible stuff.

 

And then the Spider-Man series thirty years later

 

I can't say I agree with the basic premise. I will grant you that the classic Warner Bros and Dismey cartoons are the gold standard, but that's more the exception than the rule.

There are plenty of vintage cartoons whose visual 'quality' didn't come anywhere near the aforementioned gold standard. You mention Rocky & Bullwinkle as an example of lost 'art', but the animation there couldn't have been more basic and stylized. The same applies for things like Roger Ramjet, Batfink, Fractured Fairytales, Milton the Monster, Scooby-Doo, etc (we won't speak the Star Trek animated series!).

And yet you bemoan the likes of Family Guy (which I think has pretty good animation, especially the Brian & Stewie adventure themed episodes) and uphold The Jetsons and The Flintstones which have no better animation quality, IMO. Futurama is another modern example of quality animation.

Apart from the WB/Disney stuff, I think you're appeal is more to nostalgia for particular shows and characters, rather than the technical aspects of the animation itself.

 

I'm going to stop you right here, and tell you I've seen half a dozen Miyazaki films, and even the best of them have everything I hate about anime. I have no particular desire to see Grave of the Fireflies but will if forced. And what's the other one that anime defenders always cite, Akira? All of them are terrible because nobody in Japan ever figured out how to use a freaking dope sheet! Not one Japanese animated film has lip-syncing even in Japanese (Yes, I saw Spirited Away in the theater in Japanese with subtitles.) Everybody in the west is known as to how to do that since Steamboat Willie! They just animate flapping lips!

Show me some anime with lip sync. Even the worst and cheapest Western animation has lip sync!

 

I remember loving the 90s show as a kid and, combined with the Raimi films, got me into Spider Man. Going back there’s still good and even great moments but yeah, the animation (especially from second season on) is not one of the show’s strongpoints.

 

Also, most Hanna Barbera animation is pretty low grade, let’s be honest.

 

The weird part is that very early Hanna-Barbera Tom and Jerry films were brilliant. Look for the ones where Tom had three lines for eyebrows.



Any cartoon where Tom and Jerry are friends is terrible.

 

I found The Spectacular Spider-Man to have passable animation, but that show made up for with excellent storytelling, fine voice acting and characterisation.

But most of the animation since the days of Cartoon Network and even Ren and Stimpy, I do have issues with. Samurai Jack was stylish though, for the most part and I also liked Johnny Bravo too. I wanted more of Wolverine and the X-Men as I loved the character models on that show and I also really wanted more of the 2002 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe reboot too. Even the upcoming Netflix She-Ra series is having fans up in arms with the way the character doesn't look anywhere near as beautiful as the Filmation version from the 80's, but I will give the show a chance.

One of the best animated series over the past 10 years by far, has got to be Avatar: The Last Airbender. I even find myself going through repeated viewings.

 

The move to Flash animation for children's programming has more or less killed interesting Western animation's aesthetic appeal. Anime out of Japan and Asia thankfully still prefers traditional hand-drawn art with much higher key-frame rates.

 

Quite trivial compared to what matters such as the quality of the art, animation, story, characters, etc. You hate anime because the mouth doesn't go into a round shape when the character says a word with an "O" sound?

So far, you've cited something unbelievably minor. What else is in that list of things you hate about anime?

 

Flash animation? Think you mean computer animation. No studio uses Flash for animation.

 

I Agree,
Yes, every decade has it’s share of a range Great-to-Good-to-Bad TV animation.

Just as in any mass produced medium, I think the lesser quality product ultimately just get shelved to the dark and dusty closets of time.

I’m not trying to present 20th Century TV animation as a Golden Era with solely classic art. There was dreck, also.

I realise my OP was general and far-ranging (not specifying US TV), skipping time eras, and specific timelines - the Looney Tunes that are considered true classics were indeed initially screened in theatres, IIRC.

Thanks for mentioning that.

 

They literally animate the lips flapping open and closed, and don't even cast the voice talent until the animation is done! If you can't see how vital that is, try watching any live-action film with the audio out of sync.

Poor frame rates. Over-use of walk cycles. Mediocre motion (the "pickle up the butt" syndrome.) Terribly exaggerated expressions - squash and stretch is one thing, but mouths going from a pinhole to the size of a dinner plate is quite another.

You may love your anime, but at best it's little better than radio with pictures.

Please, free free to share some anime that doesn't have the things I'm complaining about. What do I know anyway, I only spent ten years working as an animator.

 

Thanks for citing those shows!
With my limited viewing time and scope, I haven’t heard of them; where can they be seen?