Random Thoughts Thread

[maestro]

Since Simpsons memes and pics get posted on here all the time, maybe this random fact about how we make the show would be of interest as I sit here at the studio taking a break: Simpsons is pretty much the only show on TV still drawn traditionally. Yes there are other cartoons that are drawn by hand still, but Simpsons is practically the only one still doing it on paper in any way. We don't do the full animation here in the states; we do the storyboards, key drawings of animation (so for example, frames 1,4, 7 and 10 of an animation that is 10 frames long) and any CGI (I'm a CG artist) in Burbank and then outsource to Korea to finish the animation and color. We, and every studio doing 2D animation, draw everything on big tablet like things called syntiques in a drawing software; when we ship everything we've drawn out, Korea actually prints it out and draws it on paper with pencil and then scans back in for cleanup.

Just thought I'd share

[Lou]

On October 2, 2018 at 10:18 PM, m0nkey said:

Sports gambling makes sports so much more exciting. 

if it weren't for gambling I'd watch 90% less sports on tv.

like I would really watch Purdue vs Wake Forest if I couldn't bet on it 

[Lou]

kj, can you get me Disco Stu's autograph? 

[Blarg]

3 hours ago, kj_maestro said:

Since Simpsons memes and pics get posted on here all the time, maybe this random fact about how we make the show would be of interest as I sit here at the studio taking a break: Simpsons is pretty much the only show on TV still drawn traditionally. Yes there are other cartoons that are drawn by hand still, but Simpsons is practically the only one still doing it on paper in any way. We don't do the full animation here in the states; we do the storyboards, key drawings of animation (so for example, frames 1,4, 7 and 10 of an animation that is 10 frames long) and any CGI (I'm a CG artist) in Burbank and then outsource to Korea to finish the animation and color. We, and every studio doing 2D animation, draw everything on big tablet like things called syntiques in a drawing software; when we ship everything we've drawn out, Korea actually prints it out and draws it on paper with pencil and then scans back in for cleanup.

Just thought I'd share

In high school I did hand drawn animation with another friend and we prided ourselves at running 2 frames per cell instead of Hanna Barbaric's crappy stuff. That still was only 9 frames per second on Super 8 but it looked fairly smooth. 

We created our own cell framing by using punched white paper and three dowels in a piece of plywood but that was only for shooting. We just lined up the paper square and used a light box to overlay one page over the other to line up the drawings. 

I had to pencil sketch everything before final ink, my friend was embarrassingly good at using pen without guidelines. 

Our final movies were about 30 seconds without credits which made them about 270 or more hand drawn images. A lot of work for a couple of guys that had to do yard work to raise enough money for film and developing. If we could have afforded actual plastic sheets it would have been a hell of a lot less time consuming only animating the characters. 

Years later one of my employers had their office in the same building as the Warner Animation future projects and we had to walk through their offices to get to ours and saw a lot of guys doing what you do but without any specific project parameters just a bunch of test cells. I was a little bit envious. 

[Lou]

I drew this last month 

[maestro]

3 minutes ago, Blarg said:

In high school I did hand drawn animation with another friend and we prided ourselves at running 2 frames per cell instead of Hanna Barbaric's crappy stuff. That still was only 9 frames per second on Super 8 but it looked fairly smooth. 

We created our own cell framing by using punched white paper and three dowels in a piece of plywood but that was only for shooting. We just lined up the paper square and used a light box to overlay one page over the other to line up the drawings. 

I had to pencil sketch everything before final ink, my friend was embarrassingly good at using pen without guidelines. 

Our final movies were about 30 seconds without credits which made them about 270 or more hand drawn images. A lot of work for a couple of guys that had to do yard work to raise enough money for film and developing. If we could have afforded actual plastic sheets it would have been a hell of a lot less time consuming only animating the characters. 

Years later one of my employers had their office in the same building as the Warner Animation future projects and we had to walk through their offices to get to ours and saw a lot of guys doing what you do but without any specific project parameters just a bunch of test cells. I was a little bit envious. 

That's really cool man! Pretty much all traditional animation is rendered as 2 frames per drawing (or as we say, on 2s), just as you did in your projects, unless there's a camera move- in which case it would be handled on 1s because more drawings are required such as to prevent any stuttering/strobing. Were hanna Barbara shows animated on 3s and 4s or something? Haha I didn't realize.

Doing projects without parameters can be a really scary thing because if something in the script changes or the concept changes at all, literally weeks worth of work can go straight into the trash. Which is very frustrating after it happens a few times. Animators and artists at Groening's new show on Netflix had this very problem; the show kept changing and artists were having to start over constantly. Just trying to save you that little bit of envy

[maestro]

48 minutes ago, Lou said:

kj, can you get me Disco Stu's autograph? 

Sure let me just go over to table 5

[Blarg]

4 hours ago, kj_maestro said:

Doing projects without parameters can be a really scary thing because if something in the script changes or the concept changes at all, literally weeks worth of work can go straight into the trash.

It was all exploritory work so just about everything going the wastebasket. Each artist was left to create looks, whether it be characters, devices or backgrounds. I don't think a single piece of work every made its way to storyboard.

[Tank]

9 hours ago, kj_maestro said:

Since Simpsons memes and pics get posted on here all the time, maybe this random fact about how we make the show would be of interest as I sit here at the studio taking a break: Simpsons is pretty much the only show on TV still drawn traditionally. Yes there are other cartoons that are drawn by hand still, but Simpsons is practically the only one still doing it on paper in any way. We don't do the full animation here in the states; we do the storyboards, key drawings of animation (so for example, frames 1,4, 7 and 10 of an animation that is 10 frames long) and any CGI (I'm a CG artist) in Burbank and then outsource to Korea to finish the animation and color. We, and every studio doing 2D animation, draw everything on big tablet like things called syntiques in a drawing software; when we ship everything we've drawn out, Korea actually prints it out and draws it on paper with pencil and then scans back in for cleanup.

Just thought I'd share

friend of mine from high school use to work on animating things in the background. have no idea if he's still doing this.

[notherhalo]

are baseball managers getting younger, or am I just getting older

[Tank]

25 minutes ago, notherhalo said:

are baseball managers getting younger, or am I just getting older

all of the above.

[notherhalo]

It's amazing how similar most of my classmates were to me in childhood and how very far apart they all are now.   Seems little differences in parenting from the beginning make giant differences later on. 

[notherhalo]

Europeans complain that we don't use the metric system but we can turn right on red lights and they can't!   I'll take that perk over the metric system any day

[Tank]

2 hours ago, notherhalo said:

Europeans complain that we don't use the metric system but we can turn right on red lights and they can't!   I'll take that perk over the metric system any day

edge: Lowell

[notherhalo]

Aliens are typically depicted in all colors except for pink. I guess artists think nobody will take them seriously if they draw them like that. 

[notherhalo]

What are the impacts of all these anti-bullying campaigns going to be in the future?  

Less 30+ year old dudes in the gym, comic book fans and cops?  What will happen to the guys who would be doing all the bullying?

[notherhalo]

Hardcore preppers might be better off just spending that same money in the Azores or Canaries and getting a sick beach house out of it

[notherhalo]

Are Reese's PB cups an undisputed top 3 candy?

[Lou]

54 minutes ago, notherhalo said:

Are Reese's PB cups an undisputed top 3 candy?

yes

[Stradling]

56 minutes ago, notherhalo said:

Are Reese's PB cups an undisputed top 3 candy?

When it comes to opinions there really isn’t a right or a wrong, but this is one of the few times that if you answer no to this, even if you have some stupid peanut allergy, then you are absolutely wrong.  

[notherhalo]

The next innovation in frozen pizza ought to be"doesn't burn the roof of your mouth"

[gotbeer]

So I was in Taco Bell drive thru tonight.  Don't judge, it's one of those things I crave every so often.

So was in the drive thru.  And the car in front of me had the following bumper stickers.  Vegan Outreach:  **** to end cruelty to animals.  And Love Animals, Don't Eat Them.

I just can't think of what in the world a vegan would be ordering from Taco Bell.  

[Tank]

1 hour ago, gotbeer said:

So I was in Taco Bell drive thru tonight.  Don't judge, it's one of those things I crave every so often.

So was in the drive thru.  And the car in front of me had the following bumper stickers.  Vegan Outreach:  **** to end cruelty to animals.  And Love Animals, Don't Eat Them.

I just can't think of what in the world a vegan would be ordering from Taco Bell.  

Bean burrito. You can get it without cheese, replacing it with some kind of pico de gallo.

i used to love getting the nachos bell grande, no meat, no sour cream. Wash it down with a nice cold Mountain Dew. Finish the meal with a caramel apple empanada and you're good to go. Not very vegan but worked well for a vegetarian option. There's also the tostada grande without beef and the Mexican pizza without beef. They also had regular tostadas.

[Blarg]

17 hours ago, calscuf said:

I actually choose Taco Johns sometimes.

Some people like the feeling of their lower intestine trying to exit through their colon.

[notherhalo]

I think I just foresaw the end of humanity 

AI gets chosen by us to become a ruling class, world has peace for a while

Eventually it realizes how much alcohol fucks things up and re-starts prohibition 

we go to war against the machines, because beer is worth fighting for, but it doesn't end well