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NOW PLAYING: CARTOON NETWORK - Black Dresses
I LUV CARTOONS!! Esp ones that take advantage of their medium, or their limitations, to give emotion impossible to convey in live action media.
FUR EXAMPLE!! back before Happy Tree Friends landed itself a cable TV slot they had been animating at 8 FPS (for season 1) and 12 FPS (for season 2). This choppy fps is OBVI a big limiting factor but the team at Mondo Media used this to their advantage making fast movement feel even more exaggerated. ESPECIALLY WITH FACIALE EXPRESSIONS the way their faces contort to show emotion is something that the TV series and beyond really lack, since almost everyone looks like the exact same all the time with the more "on-model" approach combined with the new "cleaner" art-style.
DIFURRENT EXAMPLE!!! I know a lot of people point to Invader Zim as the peak of Nickelodeon cartoons (I mean.. honestly I agree) with how creative the art direction was, the general dark and cynical view of the world contrasted by main characters who are just so inherently goofy, cartoony, and exaggerated. The more understated example though...: MAKING FIENDS!! I'm gonna be real the writing in that show gets pretty bad at times, the back and forth banter is kind of repetetive and its sort of the same thing every episode (spare for some stand-outs that I REALLY love) but that show retained its flash cartoon look with its transformation from web-series to Cable TV segment. The art is nearly unchanged except for a much higher budget cleaning up the character works and making the backgrounds much more detailed. The character designs are simplistic in a way that relies heavily on indentifiable silhouettes, but where the show REALLY shines from an artistic standpoint is how WELL DESIGNED the backgrounds and scenery are, really the world that Making Fiends builds is 80% more interesting than most of the show's episodes. My point with this one is that, despite the restriction of ridiculously simple characters, the captivating backgrounds are more than enough to give Making Fiends a look that's completely UNIQUE to it and it alone.
(pictured below is Charlotte's bedroom in Making Fiends)
(my praise of background art also applies to season 2 of Happy Tree Friends, so many beautifully painted landscapes in that season)
in conclusion.. I LOVE ART !!!!! and I love experimenting with limitations to CREATE SUPER COOL LOOKING ART !! I LOVE CARTOONS BLEHHH BLAHHHHH
(also I would post image examples but internet is so slow rn that imgur won't load... sorreh)
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Jada
I totally know what you mean! Cartoons can be so expressive and imaginative, it's amazing how much they can convey through their unique art style and animation. And you're so right about how they can use their limitations to their advantage, creating a whole world that's impossible to replicate in live action. It's like they can make anything happen, and I just love the sense of wonder and magic that they can bring!
Also I'm not sure if this fits what you say but.
One example of a cartoon that had limitations and used them to their advantage is "South Park." The show's creators intentionally used simple animation and cut-out style characters, which allowed them to create new episodes in just a few days. This allowed the show to be extremely topical, often referencing current events that had just happened. Additionally, the limited animation style allowed for the show to be incredibly irreverent and satirical, often tackling taboo subjects in a way that would be difficult to do with more traditional animation styles.
Another example is "Adventure Time." The show's creators intentionally designed the show with a hand-drawn, sketchy style that emphasized the weird and surreal aspects of the show's world. This allowed for the show to be incredibly creative and experimental, often using animation to express abstract concepts and emotions that would be difficult to convey with live-action or more traditional animation styles.
idk if I'd say Adventure time had really any limitations per-say, but I do love it dearly <3
and that'd actually an extremely interesting point about South Park to make, in recent years they've polished the animation so much that its easy to forget how choppy it used to be in its early years ( honestly why I prefer the earlier animation style X3 ). I've never viewed the cut-out aesthetic as a limiting factor until you brought it up. The earlier seasons really had to work within that limitation, but later on they'd also have CGI segments as well as a change in animation software that made the animation style less of a limiting factor and more of just a convenience.
^_^ !!
by TrashCat2002; ; Report