Animation: PIXAR 20th Retrospective

The best thing about Disney and Pixar visual development in animation:

1.There's something about seeing work that you can see the artist's hand on.
2. It's so very well done and, the best part,
3. it's usually a totally made up world.

I, unabashedly, very much still love Disney. Correction : I unabashedly still love Disney Classic Feature Animation. It's no secret, as a fan, that Disney Feature has, ahem, lost its coolness for sometime now. Pixar is the New Disney. This is not a new saying obviously, but coming from me, it's a huge thing. It's like Pixar holds the heavyweight championship belt for storytelling.

I recently read about the Disney Studio's "mandatory switch" from 2-D to 3-D. The animators were told to learn to draw using a computer, or they could leave the company. Quel horror, I'd imagine. Their next film is Rapunzel---a story I've been dying for Disney to tell . Glen Keane will be primarily directing, I believe, which is something he has always wanted to do (who doesn't?) but the caveat was that it must mostly be in 3-D and that he needed to learn how to animate on the computer.

Maybe you're thinking, so what? EVERYONE has to move on the 21st century at some point. And maybe you would have a point. But I don't think the Disney bosses get it. Switching over to 3-D is not going to make more people come to your movies. It'll just make your workers (who happen to be artists) hate you more since you're not really creating, you're imitating. Getting back to telling a GOOD STORY will do it, not trying to be like Pixar.

At the Pixar 20 Year Retrospective, I experienced the most magical of two floors that I ever did see at MOMA . It all unfolded in such a lovely way, I knew who all the characters were, it was like being greeted by an old fuzzy friend hanging out in a posh building. And Pixar just happens to makes some very good looking films that are extremely entertaining. There are an entire cast of uber-talented drafters, illustrators, sculptors behind the 'magic' you see on screen.

Everyone knows this, but have you actually seen one of these pieces? Up close? Unfortunately, we could not take photos of the exhibit)

Some artists gave me chills when I looked at their work. With some I couldn't even breathe. But on with my report:

I noticed that there were quite a few French names---I wonder if they were brought over as a result of Disney closing the Paris studios....I jotted a few names of those whose work stood out..

Teddy Newton: I liked his elegant line--his illustration of the Incredible's Frozone looked like it had been etched out by a brushpen that was an ice skate. It was that clean and crisp.

(<---------Here is my crappy rendering of the drawing. Don't you love the feet and cartoon chicken leg hands?)

Simon Vladmir Varela was another one whose work I loved. I seriously want to buy that charcoal he did for the scene where Nemo and his friend are standing right before the huge coral dropoff. Other favorites: Lou Romano, Nicolas Marlet, Nelson Ray Bohol, Robin Cooper, Tia Kratter. I don't know if you google these people if they would come up, but they really ought to, they are so damn talented. I'll be going back, so I'm hoping to drag a bunch of people with me. You should go see it too!