On 'The Dragon Prince', we wanted to push that even more to leverage the strengths of a CG and 3D pipeline. We wanted details on the character designs, in the costumes and sets, that you really can't get in traditional 2D animation.
Aaron Ehasz
I've always been excited by rotoscoping, the technique used in films like 'Waking Life,' which fuses animation with real-life emotion. It seemed like it was a process ripe for innovation.
Aaron Koblin
For characters where, in a comic, I'd avoid using screen tone because it's such a bother, I'd deliberately use it in animation in order to highlight their individual characteristics.
Akira Toriyama
There was a manga boom, so I read 'Astro Boy,' 'Osomatsu-kun,' and such. But what influenced me the most were things like 'Popeye' and Disney animation.
Back when I watched 'Future Boy Conan,' I thought I might like to try my hand at animation, but now, not at all.
I don't remember the very first animation I saw, but the one that stays deepest in my memory is definitely 'Astro Boy.'
When I first started working at Disney animation, I can't tell you how many people said to me, 'Oh, man, take a powder.' Nobody takes animated musicals seriously. I swear.
Alan Menken
'Snow White' was really hip for its time. Walt Disney was basically using Sigmund Romberg and operetta in the telling of the story, and through animation - that was revolutionary.
In animation, the directors are part of a huge team of animators who all have opinions, too. It's a much more democratic process. Also, the animation executives oversee things more.
Live-action films are very much a director's medium, and that director is going to be a very strong voice, a stronger individual voice than you'd have in animation.
Let's get real: the .GIF format is outdated and is not really that great for the modern web anymore. It was created in 1989, and it wasn't even created for the purpose of animation.
Alan Schaaf
I loved cartoons as a kid, and so many funny moments in animation for me are nonverbal sounds, unarticulated mouth noise.
Alan Tudyk
It's funny: in the middle of making 'The Muse,' I was offered, at the time, the first 'Ice Age,' the part that Ray Romano took: I was offered the elephant. And I couldn't even stop to breathe, so I didn't do it. They've made, like, six of them. And in the animation business, for a voice actor, that's what you want. You want six, you know?
Albert Brooks
Animation is very similar to sketch comedy: you have a short amount of time to do something big and ridiculous and funny.
Alex Borstein
Cute animals have a pretty good track record in animation for inspiring passionate fandom.
Alex Hirsch
If you ask anyone in animation, how long they've been into animation, they'll pretty much always tell you that it's since they can remember, and I'm no exception. I've always just loved drawing and loved cartoons.
I think the No. 1 lesson I learned from 'The Simpsons' was just that animation could be as funny as live-action. That animation could be funnier than live-action. That animation didn't have to just be for kids.
Animation's a small industry, and no matter where you go you're going to meet your friends from CalArts.
The animation of the canvas is one of the hardest problems of painting.
Alfred Sisley
I'm really comfortable doing voice-overs, but it's really fun to do animation. Those animation talents are hysterical. They're so good, and they're so amazingly quick on their feet.
Amy Hill
'How To Train your Dragon 2' is an amazing film. I think it's an extraordinary film. The animation in it is fantastic.
In terms of animation, animators are actors as well. They are fantastic actors. They have to draw from how they feel emotionally about the beat of a scene that they're working on. They work collaboratively.
When you do animation - well, straightforward animation, although it's not straightforward - the voice for a character or something, they're always singular experiences, really.
I learned a lot about 3D animation from and with my dear friend Michael Hemschoot of Workerstudio. Taught me that I want to play more with animation and image manipulation. Fun stuff!
Animation did not become the dominant form of children's television until the '60s.
Animation is very singular. Like, even the 'Toy Story' movies. People will go, 'Oh, gosh, you're so lucky, getting to play opposite Tom Hanks!' And it's, like, 'It may have appeared to be that, but we were never in the room together.'
Hollywood has cracked emotions very well with animation, and that is where India will eventually cover because it is an emotional country, and we just want a right story to tell, which will stir the right emotions with the audience.
I'm a huge nerd, I admit to that. I love to play video games, I love to read, and of course, I've gotta still get my studies in and all. I love to learn. But I also love to do stop motion animation with my little Lego figures. I love to play around on the computer with that.
Acting is a plum gig, and then animation is an even more plum gig.
I have always said and maintained that I think being an RJ is the most difficult job in the media business. To have that energy and animation in your voice alone, to capture your audiences through your show, is entertainment in the true sense.
There was a gap in minority heroes in animation, books, and storytelling for me as a kid, and being a father now, I felt the responsibility I had to the next generation to create stories that allow us to wish and dream and build worlds that inspire young people who haven't traditionally had these heroes to look up to.
I'm definitely looking to do more animation stuff.
The great thing about animation is it's like the radio. I used to do lots of radio when I was a kid, and you get to play parts you would never get to play ordinarily.
I don't dislike the process of animation... I find it daunting, but only as much as I find everything daunting.
Hand-drawn animation is something that I feel really strongly about. A Pixar movie may be really great, but it looks like it was drawn by a machine.
I think it reflects well on the state of animation that people are knowledgeable about it and love the fantasy and imagination that goes into it.
America is behind Europe and Japan in terms of accepting adult ideas in animation.
If I'm really feeling good and not having a lot of interruptions, I can do a minute of animation a day, so theoretically, I could do a film in three months without any interruptions.
Are we blasphemous in saying that 2-D is largely a thing of the past, and computer-generated animation is the present and future? It's all about creating a better experience for the viewer - and that includes 3-D.
Animation is about creating the illusion of life. And you can't create it if you don't have one.
The weird thing is, if I'd made 'The Incredibles,' shot-for-shot - exactly the same script, same timing, same shots - in live action, it would be perceived very differently, and somehow more adult than me doing it in animation. I find that fascinating and frustrating.
I think we kind of changed how people did humans in CG animation after. If you look at films before 'Incredibles,' they tended to be photorealistic in a clunky and ugly way, with pores in their skin and too many eyelashes. It's kind of disturbing. And since, the designs have gotten a lot more playful in a lot of people's films, not just ours.
My parents had a software company making children's software for the Apple II+, Commodore 64 and Acorn computers. They hired these teenagers to program the software, and these guys were true hackers, trying to get more colors and sound and animation out of those computers.
I've auditioned for animation stuff for a long time; that's a tough field to crack into. I don't think I have the strongest voice. I don't have a theater-trained voice or a radio voice, but I think I make good character choices.
I want to do voiceover for animation, so I am looking to do something along those lines. So, my agent is looking for something in that area, and I think that would be a lot of fun.
I'd love to go back to Broadway; I'd love to do animation; I'd love to do hair and make-up campaigns because I love hair and makeup - and, I'd love to do film. I mean, there are a lot of doors I'd love to open up!
We wanted the elemental 'bending' to be based on authentic Chinese traditional martial arts, believing this would lend a beauty and resonance to the animation and the fictitious disciplines. Once we had that idea, I started looking for a Kung Fu teacher/Martial Arts consultant. My search led me to Sifu Kisu and I began training with him right away.
We draw inspiration directly and indirectly from all sorts of things, like movies, documentaries, TV dramas, novels, non-fiction books, animation, science and nature shows, and our own life experiences.
Animation is incredibly difficult - much like doing a giant sweeping fantasy novel.
I think Mike and I would absolutely love to do feature animation. Either another story, or it if worked out, one in the 'Avatar' world. We would be really excited.
