Your article is well-thought out and precise, but correct me if I'm wrong- I believe I remember transformers the series came out in 85'. Shortly there after, due to fanbased popular ratings Transformers The Movie came out in 86 (the first time America would see a small series convert to the big screen) . Again correct me if im wrong, it just that it crossed my mind as i read your article.

I thoroughly enjoyed your stimulating remarks on drawing and agree with most of them. What slightly depresses me though is the resemblance of your arguments to the comments sometimes made by pompous theatrical actors towards their counterparts working in film (or sometimes by classical musicians towards pop musicians) ie. that somehow the former are the true 'keepers of the flame' and should shun involvment with their less enlightened cousins. Apart from being gratuitously patronising, this form of art is risking extinction. There has always been cross-pollination between the arts and commerce. So what? Do you really think that artists like Velázquez (court painter to the Spanish aristocracy) and Ingres (portraitist to the French bourgeoisie) or the ludicrously overrated Picasso were unswayed by the temptations of fame and fortune? Or that it diminishes their achievements? The fact is, the difference between art and 'crap' as you call it, is more ambiguous than you seem to realise. It might sound clever to claim that the work of people like Chuck Jones and Kim Deitch is 'crap' because it was done for money, but it speaks more of an abject fear of irrelevance than any creative insight. Perhaps your real argument is with the distorting influence of capital on human life. If so, why not say so? Or would it be too reminiscent the 1970s and its psuedo-revolutionary 'critique' of painting as reactionary anachronism, perhaps? I was attracted to animation precisely because it is the trashy, bastard offspring of comics and film and has (so far) had very little to do with art galleries, museums or scholarly aesthetic doctrines. If that means I'm not allowed to call it art, well excuse me all over the place. I'm sorry to hear that you suffer from an allergy to paint fumes. I can well imagine the frustration, and would suggest (from long experience) that sitting in front of a computer terminal isn't a particularly healthy alternative. Do you want to know what I'm allergic to? The boring pieties of opinionated theoreticians who have inflicted infinitely more damage to the cause of art than Walt Disney could have imagined in his wildest dreams.

martin-dr.toon,thanks for a well-thought-out article-assesment of animation trends. after reading your article (opened my eyes) i was thinking of a SIMILAR parrallel or anology of the current stock market "trends".could this current process of 'recycling' animation, from T V ..to the big screen be the final result....of the entire STRANGULATION...of any new concept-small studio-success? one can only hope for this blantant abuse of "cartoon-creationisim"to eventually be ...IGNORED by audiences, like the (investors) are ignoring the market...because they are not getting any "returns" via -viewing satisfaction.sort of like all the "empty calories' in junk food, and one goes away feeling 'hungry" for more? is this kind of "starving for real-new animation" concepts operating like the junk-food markets? can the future be..MOUNTAINS of plastic-toon pressed characters...piled-up all over the globe? the GREEN-HOUSE effect via.. "commercialisim"-licensing-for-every -T V -to- -animation-to the selling of licensing-trash?will it CRASH...just like the stock market ,because parents will eventually refuse to "sucker-in" to this landslide of "licensing" gimmicks! i see a gigantic-evil-dark dark shadow forming over the very future of animation,with no room for the "visionaries"...just mountains of commercial-trash piling-up ...every year and lots of... "funeral" announcments...of "REAL TALENT"...dying, ..along with (their) dwindling audiences,who no longer have any hope;......like the song.."where have all the flowers gone"...."von vilst mon yagerstayn"....von vilst mon yagerstayn... dawk

Beautiful work. I never could get to the Annecy festival, but these sketches gave me more of a taste of it than any photographs or videos could. Just wondering how they would look like moving...

The titles to the paintings absolutely objectified the otherwise superb drawings, thus killing much of the possbilities of (and brought about as a personal experience) imagination and connection that was initially privileged by Jean's endeavors. A death by closure brought to a work that is otherwise ever expanding. It is so funny. must a painting have a name to it in order for it to be complete? Again an irony set against the preberbal experience that Jean is bringing to our awareness through his writing. ;-)

Good article. I had stopped quicksketching, and this article has inspired me to continuing doing it again.

hello, my name is sarah, im in year 11, aged 16 and i live in sydney australia. ive always had a big crush on japanese style animation since year 8. im not a terrific drawer, but im always practicing and i think im improving. im doing art at school...and for work experience i worked at an animation gallery but i currently can not afford proper art classes. my long term plan for now is to look around for places to get experience in that environment before maybe taking classes in america. Eventually i plan to work in japan to see what its like in that workplace, and if its possible, to set up my own small animation buisness. im willing to try as hard as it takes to learn the talent but its hard to find time now because of school. Am i approching this the right way? Will i be over age to become an animator? Do you have any further advice for me? thankyou for your time Sarah

Annecy was a wonderful experience and watching Don draw such wonderful moments as he was experiencing them was a real treat! Though I am much better looking than MY drawing!.

A trip through the eyes of a wonderful animator. I was captivated by the creative imaginative drawings. My only disappointment was that online they weren't crisp enough. Last year's drawings were presented online in sharper detail.

Hi Don, I enjoyed your fine, happy sketches of the Annecy experience. The best things about the event is being there,and meeting with such a variety of interesting and talented people. However, I always thought that the excitement about animation that brings people there has the ironic effect of keeping them in the dark screenimng rooms, while outside the happy-go-lucky natives are just a short distance away, reclining on the beach at beautiful Lake Annecy taking in the sun and the topless bathers. Best to you, Howard Beckerman

Hey This guy is really good. Should be hung in the Met and Louvre. Same last name? It is a common name like smith.

i really really really like your work.....it gives me something to do before i TRY falling asleep..:) so im wondering why did they cancel IZ?

hey chris- that was entirely too long an article trying to JUSTIFY the current decades of insane "animal" animations, you were too nice,and was hoping there would be more cursing! stewart little -2 promotions have hit the public pages,and i was just thinking about the same (historical- psychological- anilitical) items,you...so elequintly wrote about. these sequils about talking animals, like stewart little are making me wonder...if there are actually real people ..out-there who will go see this kind of commercial-animal-talking-crap! i can recall talking sled-dogs, from dizney,and that one really "skunked" me-out, but as to...WHY, would this kind of ameatureism -animation.......continues, is the big question. the answer needs to be revealed by the many (new concepts) which could easily out-compete this kind of studio-commercial-retro "monkeybusiness". if only the public viewing-movie-going folks NEW what they are MISSING! i feel it is up to the very brave..who will eventually over-come this tidal wave of talking animal trash.these brave "new-concept" folks will need all the media help they can get, as this is a monoply by the "old-school" big- money goons,and they are not going away, unless movie-goers start BOYCOTTING these films..exactly like the stock market.. INVESTORS are doing,with the statment... "stop the rip-off or else" ,and just watch...the "talking animal toons" dissapear! the starved-for-anything-animated customers need to "get-tough" and until they do...this is not going to resolve itself. dawk

The talk in this article about evolution was a distraction, and was poorly used as a literary device. The analogy breaks down (as much as the theory itself does) when the writer delves into clever explanations of theoretical biology, and fails to connect the themes to the narrative of the horses. Also, the narrative left out the many animated horses that were not part of feature length films, including entire shows where horses or ponies are central characters, even on regular Saturday morning TV. Too much focus on Disney to call this "well researched."

Jean Wright is an incredible source of knowledge and knows how to convey it. Thanks for the article on the Television Animation Outline. I'm inspired. Lauri Fraser

Anthopormorphism, taken to its inevitable, hellish conclusion. I don't think this is what ol' Tex Avery had in mind. www.furnation.com Yeep.

Cute, fluffy bunnies are used for the same reason "Star Trek" always delivered its messages through an alien or android: the same message delievered by a human would be preachy and boring. When it's delievered by a non-human character, we Learn a Valuable Lesson on the State of Mankind. I think I'll go have a beer now...one that's advertised by lizards and frogs...

Hello I am so grateful for this article. As a producer I am always looking to understand the process of writing for television animation. This article on outlining an episode was very informative and easy to read. Thanks Angel Harper Producer-Performer

Dear Pamela, I am glad to read your article and it is worth for me. I am a cartoonist. I love cartoon and creating. Now I am working on a hundred episodes funny cartoon series on my own. However, one thing I have wondering is what kind of the company can help me sell them. I hope you can guide me the way and give me some names of those company which want to find out some potential new cartoon.thank you so much. the awn site is wonder site for the cartoonist. I love it so much after I found it by accident. leohuang

I think your use of red arrows in the illustrations kind of confuse the issue: in one you show the force generating the wrinkle,- in the other you mark out the effect(ie the smile versus the frown and snarl examples). I would have thought wrinkle is generated more or less perpendicular to the forces pushing in, so perhaps a side on view of your first illustration would make that clearer(as opposed to a top view as it seems to be).