Is there a Market for 2D animation anymore?

[sly's hand]

Just curious, I see cartoons like Codename Kids Nextdoor and I want to shoot myself, new animated features are normally three D now unless they are anime and that can only take you so far, what the hell Does anyone look for 2D animators anymore, is it a Dead art form, Am I missing something, is it only flash animation comedies, not bad persay but very similar shows using just flash, or horribly animated shows like the first mentioned, what Happened to the animated superman animation animators, or the batman animated series animators, even the Justice league is is not as good as the others. Hell I am just ranting now guess I am just curious.

sly

[NoSeRider]

http://www.mpsc839.org/_Jobs/Jobs_h/jobs1.html

According to the Animation Guild these places are still active.

[aesir]

Theres still some cool independent stuff getting put out, but you'll probably never see any of it on TV.

I agree though, the majority of the 2d animation being put out around the world, although especially in America, sucks. And I dont mean the animation sucks, just the ideas that these shows are based on... Unless we're talking about Asia, then for the most part, the animation does suck :) although their stories are somewhat more engaging.

And I don't know if you were asking about this, but as far as the job market for 2d animators, almost all the animating for American shows takes place in places like Korea. We just send em the storyboards.

[Cinsev]

just allow me to say http://www.conanrednails.com/

looks like it will be good and its all hand drawn 2d! sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet hope for my industry yet!

[darth massacre]

Unless we're talking about Asia, then for the most part, the animation does suck although their stories are somewhat more engaging.
I don't know where you get this idea from. The bulk of 2D animation work....the non creative parts....had gotten outsourced to Philippines and South Korea for the past 20 years. And we're talking about huge WB and Disney feature animation titles and The Simpsons & Futurama. The filipinos are moving ahead with flash and 3D too. I've worked with a few of them and they're are such wonderful animators and background painters.

As for 2D animation. The industry trend is leaning towards 3D but I honestly don't think 2D animation is dead. Even if it does eventually get phased out, the basics still lie in 2D animation. If you can't draw or visualize, you can't animate. Animators who had never been trained classically are at a huge disadvantage.

[Steph Laberis]

This is what I've been hearing from my animator/art director friends:

If you are an animator for 2D animation, get a day job. Most 2D animation is being done in Korea now, very efficiently at that. I'm not saying there is no future for 2D, only observing a trend in employment...

...but if you are an illustrator who gears their work toward animation, you are in much higher demand. Concept art, prop design, and costumes are all still done domestically.

[VirusArtist]

in addition to conan-red nails: http://www.xombie.ca/

dont know if you folks are familiar with james farr's work ( http://www.xombified.com/main.html ), but the movie looks promising.

I think 2d animation outside of asia will go more and more into the hands of independent publishers, wich is a good thing in my eyes, since independent publishers tend to put a lotta passion into their productions (unlike most major animation studios who recently tend to either go into 3d animation or into a direction where money outweighs quality).

its the same with video games: although 3d titles dominate the market, the 2d scene refuses to die (best example: alien hominid).

I dont think that (western) 2d animation (both in games and movies) will have a second renaissance soon, but I believe that the few titles that will be published in the near future will change the quality back to a status quo that hasn't been seen since the early 90's.

Or at least thats what I hope... would be a shame to see 2d animation go down the drain because the market is flooded with 3d -rendered cartoons

cheers,
Etienne

[figure2]

...but if you are an illustrator who gears their work toward animation, you are in much higher demand. Concept art, prop design, and costumes are all still done domestically.Good advice. Diversify your skill set. Also, look for opportunities outside the film and game industry. A few years ago, I did a 3-month assignment with a vending machine company whose machines used video touch-screens. They wanted me to create simple characters of the types of snacks & drinks sold in their machines and do simple animations with them in Flash. These animations would run during the periods when the vending machine was not being used and would switch to a digital touch-pad as soon as someone touched the screen. While the work wasn't the kind of glamourous work animators dream of it involved my using several of my skills and I found it interesting.

[Ilaekae]

Whine whine whine...

After nearly a hundred years, we've barely touched the possibilities inherent in 2D annimation. The slack-jawed with limited attention spans and no imagination will wet their pants over each new toy that comes along, and the truly creative will sit quietly and ponder the lack of limits and ease of bringing something from the next century into being NOW for mere pennies, not billions of dollars invested in lifeless electronic gizmos.

The fact that such a question can even be asked is just a tad disheartening to me.... Is there no room left for visionaries anymore?

[Steph Laberis]

just allow me to say http://www.conanrednails.com/

looks like it will be good and its all hand drawn 2d! sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet hope for my industry yet!

Not to be a wet blanket, but my ex works as an art director at Conan and told me what I had posted previously. >_<

Still, it keeps 2D going and I don't think it's the end of the medium. I just wish we had more Miyazakis in America!

[sly's hand]

I have a renewed faith in your responses, It is something I would love to persue, so I am feeling alot better about getting into the nuts and bolts of animation. It also looks like I need to learn how to surf the internet a little better concidering some of the jewels yall have helped me find.

Ilaekae even though I am whining just by asking the quetion I did I think I see what you are saying, a sheet of paper or 500,000 dollars worth of 3d studio max hmmm.... I think that there is room left for visionaries, realistic or not there is room, without the inspired where would all of us be... But I am glad to see that there are still studios and a use for the skill.

I appriciate the support on mental level and the sites were inspiring. I did come across http://www.awn.com/ in my searches it is a rather nice network of info but there is an incredible amount of information on the site, schools as well, not much in North Carolina in the way of schools, but there is a whole lot of info to swim through.

Thanks guys it was very helpful.
sly