Ever since I started posting here at Toon Zone, I've gained more respect and knowledge of the animation industry. I've even started watching Cartoon Network again (laughs). But one thing eludes my understanding. The differences between art and animation. People claim that there's different animation styles but all I see is different art styles. Take Totally Spies as an example, it looks like anime to me but people call it fake or pseudo anime. If there's no Japanese animators behind it, how can it be any kind of anime? Unless of course... you're looking at the art style. So please, please, please explain to me what's going on because it seems like there's a bunch of confusion and double standards when it comes to animation.
Art style and Animation style
- Thread starter Floyd M
- Start date
Art style refers to the look of the show- the character designs, the backgrounds, the coloring/shading, the outlines, the detail level in characters and backgrounds, etc.
Animation style, as the name implies, refers to the actual animation, i.e. how the characters actually move. Is it rubbery squash and stretch like classic cartoons? Is it limited movement like Rocky and Bullwinkle? Do characters quickly jerk from pose to pose or do they flow through them like your typical Disney film would do? Is it generally animated on threes, twos, or ones? Is there a fluidity to the motions or is it choppy? Is character detail sacrificed in animation, or is it, for the most part, intact? Do the characters stay on model or do they frequently go off-model and, if they go off-model, is it the good kind (i.e. wacky poses or exaggerations to enhance action) or the bad kind (i.e. sloppiness and inconsistency in animating the characters from frame to frame)?
Hope that answers your question.
Animation style, as the name implies, refers to the actual animation, i.e. how the characters actually move. Is it rubbery squash and stretch like classic cartoons? Is it limited movement like Rocky and Bullwinkle? Do characters quickly jerk from pose to pose or do they flow through them like your typical Disney film would do? Is it generally animated on threes, twos, or ones? Is there a fluidity to the motions or is it choppy? Is character detail sacrificed in animation, or is it, for the most part, intact? Do the characters stay on model or do they frequently go off-model and, if they go off-model, is it the good kind (i.e. wacky poses or exaggerations to enhance action) or the bad kind (i.e. sloppiness and inconsistency in animating the characters from frame to frame)?
Hope that answers your question.
Well,Totally Spies is from Canada.Most people here would think you were very ignorant (not necessarily in a rude way) about what anime is.Anime is not just classfied as being from Japan as many people seem fit to think,but is really classfied by trademarks.Examples being sweatdrops,glare on sunglasses to signify possible evil intentions,etc.
Teen Titans is an anime in some respect for it includes a lot of those features.Now,TT may be mimicking the Japanese and it may not be as good as some Japanese anime,but since it includes a lot of anime aspects...it's anime.
Avatar occasionally uses anime trademarks, but not enough to classify it as such.Ultimately,it's just another animation style.It may be more popular then other kinds but styles are started by someone and replicated.
Like Butch Hartmen's zany,fast-paced style is a sort of replica of Animaics.
Teen Titans is an anime in some respect for it includes a lot of those features.Now,TT may be mimicking the Japanese and it may not be as good as some Japanese anime,but since it includes a lot of anime aspects...it's anime.
Avatar occasionally uses anime trademarks, but not enough to classify it as such.Ultimately,it's just another animation style.It may be more popular then other kinds but styles are started by someone and replicated.Like Butch Hartmen's zany,fast-paced style is a sort of replica of Animaics.
Headsprung
New member
Actually it is simply classified as animation from Japan, but please lets not start that debate again.
What does "animated on threes, twos, or ones" mean?
What does "animated on threes, twos, or ones" mean?
It simply means if a drawing is repeated in the next frame or not. Animation on threes will appear more choppy because it's essentially using the same movement three times in a row before moving onto the next movement. Two is the standard for most animation, especially TV-wise. One will be really smooth, but it's obviously more time-consuming and costly to accomplish that because it frequently requires more drawings.
Or, to put it another way:
On ones= 24 unique frames per second
On twos= 12 frames per second
On threes= 8 frames per second
And so on.
Or, to put it another way:
On ones= 24 unique frames per second
On twos= 12 frames per second
On threes= 8 frames per second
And so on.
I wont even get into that "what is anime" debate but I've never for a second felt that one could classify Teen Titans as anime in any way. It's got it's own style that's similar to anime, but it isn't technically anime.
Not in the slightest, in my opinion. Animaniacs' style is nothing like the flat, bland, thick-outlined look that infests Hartman's cartoons. You can't even compare that to the quality work that was turned out by TMS, Startoons and Wang in the 1990s.
Not in the slightest, in my opinion. Animaniacs' style is nothing like the flat, bland, thick-outlined look that infests Hartman's cartoons. You can't even compare that to the quality work that was turned out by TMS, Startoons and Wang in the 1990s.
That actually answers a lot, thank you. But what if a cartoon has good animation but the characters don't have the big eyes, small mouths, etc? Should I call it anime?
Why would anime have to be debatable in the first place? People are making careers and livings off of anime, right? I think that an industry like that shouldn't be something that doesn't even have a proper definition. I just can't see myself using the word anime without any good reason. Sorry if I got a little off topic. :sweat:
Why would anime have to be debatable in the first place? People are making careers and livings off of anime, right? I think that an industry like that shouldn't be something that doesn't even have a proper definition. I just can't see myself using the word anime without any good reason. Sorry if I got a little off topic. :sweat: