I want to tell you that your article was at the right place at the right time for me. I am a full time night student at the Fashion Institute of Technology, or at least I was before they canceled my nighttime class I need to graduate. I should be finishing my associate’s degree in Illustration this coming summer. That is if I don’t run into any more Bulls#!% from FIT. Anyway because of my situation I was contemplating going to a school for animation. But the question of do I stay or do I go and find another school came up. I just want to say that your article gave me something to think about. It made me reevaluate my decision to be at FIT and to ask “Do I still what to be there?” But the most important thing it gave me was some insight in to what Questions I should be asking myself. For that I thank you SHYAMAL

I found it very interesting but you did not say anything about an independent feature film that is also the first CGI film in Europe, was in top ten of Spanish films box office in 2001 and won two Spanish film academy awards. It is called The Living Forest and when I met Dan Sarto last November at LEAFG and I gave him info, also check www.thelivingforest.com Best regards, Manuel Cristobal Executive Producer

I would like to say that firstly that this article is a very unfair analysis of features in particular that have not even yet even been released, hence the scooby doo movie, and as a co-animator working on the flick, I feel very distraught that someone can describe our animation not on par with that of the legends such as art babbit, tex-avery, who's to say there are'nt more would be legends lurking within the CGI community, I myself have put a great deal of work into the animation, and feel we have taken the scooby one step further, than that of the traditional scooby cartoon, and some of the guys I am fortunate enough to be working alongside have committed many man hours into producing quality animation, and what I have seen of the feature myself, it looks very entertaining, are'nt we supposed to suspend disbelief when watching these films, are'nt they just a source of entertainment, who cares who particular stars in them, just enjoy the movie, and I can say that the actor who plays the shagster, is absoulutly awesome, even growing up myself with the scooby cartoons, I think that what i have seen so far, proves to be a excellent rendition and compliment to the traditional scooby cartoons, and also more importantly, we should realise that these features are targetted at a much younger audience, and the children I have witnessed getting a sneak peak, have been rolling around in laughter, and were really exicited by the film. Personally my hat goe's off to all the people who have worked on this movie, it's been a barrel of laughs, and I think this will certainly be portrayed in the flick..

Mr. Goodman I agree with your comments on LAAFs. But one thing I don't agree with you on is the comment you made about Forest Whitaker. Mr. Whitaker is very talented and gifted actor, director and producer. He directed four movies and produce some as well. I didn't see when hope float but I did see Waiting to Exhale. In my opinion it was a good movie with a talented cast. Not lightweight.

"It is irrelevant, I suppose, that Freddie Prinze Jr., a Latino, has been cast as Alan and sports a bleached-blond do over his swarthy features." Excuse me, mr. all know it all, that's Freddie, not Alan in this movie(unless WB has gone nuts and changed his name). Maybe you were thrown off by mr. stupid freddie prinze jr.'s name.. If you're going to rant about classic cartoons being made into movies, make sure you truelly know your cartoons, or you come off as a hack.

Aside from "Rocky & Bullwinkle," virtually all 'toon-to-film conversions have been abysmal and as Scooby-Doo is so dumb it insulted a friend's 5-year-old, which is rather telling, wouldn't you say? As with film noir, certain mediums should be left as they are; their original states are a large part of what makes them memorable. Some "films" should be used as ukelele picks and never released at all. I found a small plastic Scooby in a parking lot. I cut off the head and swapped it with the head of an Alien action figure. I will mail the results to two friends who will laugh like big dawgs. Thus, you can see where I stand.

This business of turning cartoons into live action properties is nothing new. However,it seems that the combination of print cartoon characters (those originating from comic strips, panel cartoons or comic books) and television works best. Dennis the Menace, Superman, Batman, the Hulk, Wonder Woman,The Adams Family, Sabrina the Teen Age Witch, etc. all fall into this category. It seems that audiences are more forgiving than taking an animated show and making a live action movie out of it. I think Dr Toon is right about the visualization aspect-a show like the Flintstones is harder to create in live action than say, a superhero comic where the artists draw more "realistically" than cartoony. Even Disney has taken two classic features (101 Dalmatians and Jungle Book) and turned them l.a.! I think what bugs me more is when they take live action stuff and turn it into a cartoon to cash in!

Cutting Corners in 3D Render at a lower resolution and upres in Photoshop. Render at 24 or 15 FPS. and if you need ones you can use Retimer to create them. Motion blur can be added as POST (Reelsmart motion blur for after effects) as well as DOF effects using depth maps. Good animation will cover everything else. Animate using Low res version of your high res models. then switch at rendertime. Far away objects can be less detailed. and the main thing is dont be afraid to cheat...just make sure that what does get seem doesnt suck. And while i hate to criticize anyone, and i only saw 2 minutes of BUM....the martians didnt have any life to their motions...i believe they should be animated more like ANTZ. SNAP, Squash and stretch!! hope this helped out someone.

In your article you mention the lack of DirectX support in the Wildcat series of cards: "Film, broadcast and post-production animators, however, will hardly notice the problem." I must say this is far from the truth. Many of the post production and broadcast work is now being done with the output going to DVD. You need DirectX in order to run most (if not all) of the DVD players such as WinDVD, PowerDVD, etc. Without the DirectX support and thus without the ability to do post production onto a DVD-R(w), the high end graphics card does no good.

Jhonen is a comedy genious. JTHM brought about a new prespective to my life. It's the most entertaining thing in the world, aside from maybe squee or Invader Zim. I personally dont have cable but my boyfriend tapes em for me (^_^) EEP! so sweet. NEways, thanks Vasquez for everything you've created.

I love Zim and I watch cartoons 8hrs. a day so in my mind Nic. sucks

Um..I seem not to be able to start these kind of things so great so um...yeah.There I started it! First of all I happen to be a huge Jhonen Vasquez fan.I was also like that other kid who posted a comment working on a commic with a writer,i guess you can say friend. I have grown not to like that because you never know what may happen,I mean the kid that wrote my comic and I aren't speaking.I also plan on never speaking to him again, so I think you(the kid who wrote that comment) should try once to write your own,and NO I am not trying to be mean.JTHM was the first comic book I read believe it or not,and it was the past November 23rd.Yes,it's sad really.What also is sad,is that I haven't read any of Jhonen's work besides JTHM. I want to.Since then I really started to enjoy drawing in that style.Although I don't exactly count on doing anything about it in the future, I don't exactly want to make an animated TV show when I get older...not at all,it won't happen. I don't even have a good reason for it,I just don't want to.I would like to write a comic though.I am working on one write now,one that I plan on writing myself. Well,I WOULD write more but this comment is just way to long as it is.TY for your time...Oh and I agree,watching Scooby Doo is like watching feces for a half hour.I don't like it >.

Thank you, this web site has been such a blessing and learning tool into the world of animation. Being a writer and creator I have found some very important lessons. I am only small fry at this stage of my new adventure. I would like to pass on a Quote from an old Tutor: "Failing to plan is planning to fail." Once again Thanks. Anthony Fay

This was a good interview, and actually addressed a few questions that I had about Jhonen Vasquez's work. One item of particular interest to me was his mention of blurring the lines between good and evil. There aren't any clearly drawn lines to divide "good" and "evil" into respective camps. I first noticed this theme in JTHM, of course, and I also noticed it in Invader Zim, so I was wondering about its significance to the author, given its seeming prevalence. It's something that I've been thinking about for a while, so maybe that's why I became such a fan of Jhonen's work. Of course, I *do* realize that it's entertainment, so I have a lot of fun with it, thinking all the while. :) It's brilliantly funny, and with a point. Jhonen Vasquez, if for some reason you ever happen to read this, thank you for unknowingly clearing up that question I had about the theme in your work. :) Kudos on all the recognition - you deserve it. I'm quite upset about Zim's cancellation, but I trust that you'll move on to bigger and better things.

While I agree with general statements made above, my reflections bring me to ponder what I will deem as the 'Disney' target audience. Commercially, it may seem viable to target 11-14 yr olds to sell other products to, but what does this do for our respectful artform. Many in the community, both closely and more distantly aligned with the animcommunity are still touch and entertained by that 'good little un-spoiled part deep down in all of us' I think the recent production 'Shrek' and it's subsequent success illustrates this poignantly. Target this demographic, have fun with any production and as sure as oreos have cream 'tween, you'll succeed.

Zim is cancelled. Forever.

Thanks for such a article. please keep on... thank you.

My first animating stint was on TOM TERRIFIC, Gene, and what a pleasure it was working with you and Connie Rasinski, Bob Kuwahara, and Jim Tyer directing. I pass the old Terrytoons building nearly every day here in New Rochelle...(it's now a huge fresh fruit and veggie outlet)...and I swear that on some beautiful terrific days I can hear Tom saying..."You're TERRIFIC, Manfred !!!" And Manfred of course responds, "No...YOU'RE TERRIFIC, TOM".
45 years later, I'm still animating, and I can't think of another character that I enjoyed working on quite as much as TOM.

Thanks for letting the world know about Bill Weiss. When I'd been working at TERRYTOONS for eight years, out of a clear blue sky (I had finished my animation apprenticeship and was due to be classified a "master animator" with a $30 dollar a week raise to $176...) he fired me on an overcast Thanksgiving Eve. What a thoughtful, considerate, wonderful guy !!!

It was a pleasure and an inspiraton working with you, Gene....and altho Eli, and Connie and Bob and Jim and Lars and Artie Bartsch are gone, I'm so glad to see that YOU are -- not only still around, but still full of the fire and enthusiasm of old.

Thanks, Gene !

While I respect the point that is being brought up, I would like to pose an additional thought. The Animation Pimp has a valid point in thinking that whom ever was involved with the terrorist attacks of September 11th is mearly striking out because they lack the ability to communicate what is truly bothering them. But I ask, how many times would your child try to tell you what they want before they explode at you? How many times do you say, "Just a minute" before you acutally listen to your child? How many times, at a lesser level, have those terrorists tried to get their message accross? How many times have we ignored them? What else is going to happen before we pull our heads from the sand and look the problem straight in the face.

I was interested to see Waking Life because I had seen Bob Sabiston's previous work, and his new program was similar to one I wrote myself... This film was experimental on a number of fronts: - the artists in most cases didn't know anything about animating and didn't really need to. - each scene was handled by different artists (although I wish more of them had strayed from the original visual material more) - the film was extremely talky and philisophical, which I think did not go well with the idea of animating it. I hope Linklater's actual dreams are not this talky. So I see this film as a good experiment, and a harbinger of much better films to come. Films that perhaps don't have much in the way of dialogue, but express themselves in dynamic imagery. Animated work that neither looks like "reality" nor like the same hardlined characters we've seen for decades. Films that may not even have "characters" or any licensable material in them.