Animation

Animation is one of my favorite artforms. It's a beautiful art, evocative and capable of great depth. Animation has a long, rich history of wonderful work. The beauty and sentiment of Disney can often be breathtaking, and the humor of the Warner Bros. cartoons and the anarchic madness of Tex Avery can be delightfully satisfying entertainments.

I remember spending much of my childhood watching Saturday morning and after school television cartoons, indiscriminately. The quality of the writing or the animation didn't matter — it was a cartoon, therefore it was worth watching. At the time, that meant a lot of Hanna Barbera, and mediocre adventure shows. But gradually, I developed some discrimination.

There has been a renaissance of animation since the Simpsons hit big. Today, animation is a solid presence on television, and there are specialized cable channels devoted to animation, both old and new. Animation is no longer considered as kid's stuff-it can be seen as worthy of respect.

In the movies, Pixar has become a juggernaut of quality movie-making. Their movies are both critical and commercial successes. And internationally, every industrialized country has its own animation industry. Japan in particular produces animation respected worldwide.

There are some great sources for one to follow the history and news of the artform of animation. Cartoon Brew is probably the best source for current news, and Comics Alliance also covers animation news. Animated Views covers news with podcasts, and Animation Scoop is a full online animation magazine. A little looking will turn up many more sites, of course.

From time to time, I'm going to post up a fun animated cartoon here. Here's one for this week. ☺



Peace,

Dave Roel.

We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they do.

- Ethel Barrett