aww

They are still being being painted by hand. On a graphics tablet, for example.

Interestingly enough, 101 Dalmatians was the first Disney film to adopt the process of Xeroxing the animators' drawings directly to cels, rather than hand-tracing them. It's still a beautiful movie of course, but it's also an advance in animation technology that often gets over-looked!

My kid got into Lady and the Tramp, so I watched it about a dozen times in a row, and Holeee shiiit is that thing beautifully animated. The backgrounds are needlessly lavish, and look at this...

I'm in awe of the work done on Tramp's ears. The expressiveness, and the subtle balance of flexibility and internal structure is exquisite. You can find other examples of masterfully-done materials all throughout the movie.

Other movies might get more attention, but Lady and the Tramp is worth looking at for some peak Disney animation.

I totally agree, Disney’s Robin Hood from 1973 is peak hand-drawn cartoon

They used a lot of rotoscoping back in the day. Basically they filmed a scene normally with real people, then traced over every frame to give us those fantastic moments of fluid movement in things like Snow White, Mary Poppins, and Beauty and the Beast (which also used 3D by the way).

Fun fact: 101 Dalmatians was the first Disney movie to be produced with the help of xerox. This was as a result of the financial flop that was Sleeping Beauty, that almost bankrupted the company and cut their budgets for future movies all the way from the 60s to the financial success of the little mermaid in 1989. This is why Disney movies within that time period has a rougher look when it comes to the characters' lineart and the more simple backgrounds compared to the very detailed, painted backgrounds and colored lineart of all Disney movies up until 101 Dalmatians.

The xerox was a cost cutting method to save time and money and while it absolutely killed Walt Disney to have to compromise on the art, it also paved the way for a new look and feel that, especially in the case of 101 Dalmatians, created a timeless look that still looks as fresh and modern today as the day it was made.

Without the invention and utilization of the xerox, there most likely would have been no Disney company today.

Actual, handmade art and films are why so many of us look back on the 80's nostalgically, whether it's the Muppets, or Freddy's handmade makeup and practical effects, or the Goonies' crew building a whole-ass pirate ship on a soundstage. Practical effects will always be 100% better than CGI or some crap spat out by an LLM.

I just recently rewatched 101 Dalmatians and actually cried multiple times just from really soaking it in. Just the way so much of it comes to life. The imperfections genuinely make it feel so much more alive.

Modern Hollywood animation is incredibly sterile and perfected. A major studio now would never imagine releasing something with visible sketch lines.

TBF it was also a time before the corporate entity realized maximum short term profit doesn't come from perfected products.

A lot are still "painted by hand", the use of vector graphics isn't as prevalent in other cartoon producing countries as it is in the US

yeap

Same with the OG Lilo and Stitch:

https://youtu.be/uGVZFLukUZI

IIRC last film to use honest to god water colors. And it shows.

I think animation, when the animators care, has improved. Yes treasure planet looks better fight me. But I think the problem is that there is more shit animation now, and we have forgotten the shit animation of the past.

They were more interested in telling a memorable story than making a quick buck

The only counter argument would probably be something like Flow. But what Zilbalodis did was perhaps as handcrafted as 3D animation can get.

Yeah I feel old too.

That behind said, I don't think a modern drawing tool is inherently less capable than an older one to produce magic. Digital painting used to have limitations in comparison with traditional technics, but a good 2d illustrator can do gorgeous drawings with a tablet nowadays.

When I see magic in animated movies, its when people do things by love and passions, and not for seeking additional profit. Flow and Arcane are examples of animation with such ingredients.