The Rise of Digital Ink and Paint

I've been ribbing about Digital Ink and Paint on this blog for quite a while and I don't know why.

Maybe it's because of my frustrations with the industry preferring puppet-rigs over the hand-drawn approach that I prefer... maybe it's the rise of generative AI tools that I refuse to use... who knows...

But Digital Ink and Paint, the current production tool used for 2D animation, is here to stay no matter how you ponder about it... it is here to stay.

So when did animation start using computers to color and composite animation?

For sure, despite popular belief, It didn't start with the early 90s. The tech goes way back to the 1970s.

And it certainly didn't begin with Disney. It actually began with HANNA-BARBERA.

Yes, that Hanna Barbera. The company both famous and infamous for popularizing television animation productions but also cutting corners to make it happen and as a result, influenced the animation scene to do the exact same limited animation principles that gave people like John K. a headache.

Anyway, the tech was discovered by Marc Levoy...

who at the time wanted to make the next big evolution to animation not seen since Ub Iwerks' patented Xerography process.

You know that part where I said that digital ink and paint did not start with Disney.... well I sort of told half a lie. What actually happened was that Levoy actually pitched the digital process to Disney back in 1979 but the Mouse House's then still living NINE OLD MEN rejected the technology.

The Nine Old Men.... at least at the time, rejected digital technology because they felt the automated nature of the Computer was going to take away their jobs......

Hmmm..... I wonder what modern comparison does this eerily look similar to.....

Anyway, Marc was so frusturated with this type of apathy that he decided to sell the technology to Hanna-Barbera and despite receiving a similar opposition from their employees, 

the company fully embraced his new computer coloring system.
The system helped to reduce labor costs and prove the next evolution in animation.

Though the system was far from similar to the modern x64-based Toon Boom system we use today. 

According to this PDF which I'll put a link to:

https://web.archive.org/web/20170703033828/https://excelsior.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~carlson/history/PDFs/hanna-barbera.pdf

Hanna Barbera's system used DEC's VAX based Minicomputer hardware....

And when I mean minicomputer, I'm talking about those computers the size of...

A Closet

or

A Refrigerator

that make wheeling from room to room easier than mainframes of the time.

Anyway, DEC's VAX computers were used to create the digital ink and paint Cartoons during the 1980s. 

Not every HB Cartoon used them though.

I think the only cartoons that used the new system were:

The Flintstones,

Pacman

The Snorks,

The Jetson's 1980's reboot,

and most importantly: A PUP NAMED SCOOBY DOO

But as exemplified by the Mystery Gang's expression, the rest of the industry was repulsed by the idea of using computers for coloring and compositing animation.

Most of their fears was due to their beliefs of the cost of installation, the automated nature, and worrying that the animation would look synthetic.

A good example of a few animators who absolutely refused to go digital during the 90s are both 

DON BLUTH

and JIM JENKINS.

Don Bluth didn't want to make the switch to digital ink and paint because he firmly stated that art is meant to be something you hold and feel the acrylic paint, not use a paint bucket tool. 

He even said so in the Anastasia DVD featurettes where he stated he fought fiercely to remain the one studio to still use traditional cels.

Speaking about Anastasia, he eventually conceded to digital ink and paint after the failure of THE PEBBLE AND THE PENGUIN as well as getting sick of the whole SACHARINE push from other studio executives who want to trounce Disney as King of Animation in the 90s.

As for Jim Jenkins, even when DOUG switched over to Disney, Jim still refused to let computers be used for the ink and paint.....Ok... Maybe Disney's DOUG did use computers but only for the video editing, animatics, and color correction. Everything else such as actual animation was still done the traditional way.

Why do these screenshots above look so good?

What secret does Plus-One have that HanHo Heung-Up doesn't have?

Or maybe Doug under the MOUSE HOUSE tried too hard to be like

Beavis and Butthead or Hank Hill in terms of animation photography.

Now let's flashback to the late 80s.

Disney at least finally gave into digital technology back when they bought a shitload of P-II image computers from Pixar which gave birth to the CAPS system used by Disney during the 90s.

But was it worth the switch?

THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER released November 16 1990 was the first film from Disney to use the CAPS process completely and despite a few things that have not aged well such as the non-cel shaded CGI, the digital cels have better visuals than most of the early 90s films made by Disney.

I don't know what filters Disney was using for this film but it made the cels look real nice and authentic, even on Blu-Ray.

I can't say 4K Streaming because Disney+ didn't give the film the 4K ULTRAHD status.

Beauty and the Beast's digital cels to me are a mixed back. 

Some characters like Belle, the Beast, Gaston, and most major characters look authentic when the right lighting and shading are used but man, most of the digital cels haven't aged well, especially when all VHS, Laserdiscs, DVD's Blu-Rays, 4K Blu-Rays, and 4K streaming prints use the CAPS Digital masters instead of the actual 35MM filmstock regardless if it's the original theatrical or 2002 IMAX Special Edition.

It's not helped by the fact that the film was rushed in development during the early 90s due to multiple rewrites as well as Jeffery Katzenberg's disgruntlement with the direction the film was going before the revamp. That and of course, Howard Ashman's deteriorating health at the time.

And according to sources, the film wasn't supposed to use the CAPS process. The only reason Beauty and the Beast ultimately used CAPS was because of a last-minute decision to use the process after the animators were impressed with their results of the famous Ballroom CGI sequence.

Sometime later after BEAST, the rest of the industry caught on.... well sort of.

I read that Ferngully: The Last Rainforest did use computers but the animators limited it to CGI Vehicles

Flight Reference,

And Dynamic Camera Shots.

as the animators at Kroyer Films were not happy with their results of the digital cels.

Ren and Stimpy at least made the commitment to make the switch.... sort of.

The very first Ren and Stimpy episode to make the switch to Digital Ink and Paint was MAN'S BEST FRIEND but that was a George Liquor-centric episode and Nickelodeon fiercely hated Liquor's guts so they refused to air it.

Instead, the cartoon to get the reigns of being the first Digital Ink and Paint episode was Out West.

The Japanese side of animation however refused to use computers for digital coloring as far as I'm aware. Until the later part of the 90s, they refused to make the switch.

"I see what you're thinking Isurugi but the answer is no. We ain't making the switch to Digital Ink and Paint until the year 1999."

I may be wrong but I think the first anime to use computers was Cowboy Bebop in 1998 but even then, it was only used for a few select scenes in some episodes while everything else was done using traditional Cels.

Examples of shots that use Digital Ink and Paint in COWBOY BEBOP are several scenes where Radical Edward is playing a game of chess against a geriatric old man named HEX.

Actually, the first anime to use Digital Ink and Paint completely was Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump remake in 1997.

The bottom image of Dr. Slump may not look like it though and but the series does use Digital Ink and Paint.

My guess is the image below is a lithograph.

"Look Gatchan. We're colored with computers... HO YO YO!!!"

Eventually at the turn of the millennium, probably due to the rise of computer use as well as rising labor costs eventually forced the industry to make the switch to Digital Ink and Paint... 

no ifs, ands, or buts.

So shows you've seen that started around that time that include Danny Phantom, Teen Titans, Ben 10, Phineas and Ferb, Family Guy, Futurama, etc, they all use computers for their productions.

Ahh... the 2000s. Truly it was a golden age for digital animation in the 2D space, so what happened?

Goddamn corporate executive decisions happened.

Somehow, executives care only about money which is my belief but here's another thing that I also found out that I think is the reason why I antagonize executives:

MARKET RESEARCH

Ugh.... that one word that artists (Including George Lucas) dread.... sort of.

Artists do care about Market Research but the kind that the executives use does not resonate with us artists.

In the 2000s, animation executives care more about trying to unseat Disney as the animation champ... unless you're Disney's execs where the goal is to defend your position as the champ with varying degrees of success.

After the failure of Home on the Range in 2004 as well as the 2008 Great Recession as well as the rise of viewers preferring anime over our USA/Canadian made programmes, Animation studios desperately needed a way to win back the crowd.

Then in 2010, Pendleton Ward created Adventure Time

This show is rather interesting. I've been hearing and reading about this show for quite a while due to it's excellent subversions of content and story.

It's written off as a kiddie show with fantasy elements when in reality, it's set in a post-apocalyptic world filled with surreal stuff as well as much needed character development for many characters that have appeared in the show.

But just like John Kricfalusi likes to blame Scooby-Doo for influencing animation tropes during the 1970s, I sort of feel like Adventure Time is used by executives as a figurehead for thinking that the only reason animation in America continues on despite the 2008 recession is due to design simplifications and puppet rigs.

However, unlike John K. who still hates Scooby Doo to this day, I actually do like Adventure Time since it doesn't use puppet rigs and I actually like things such as the post-apocalyptic setting as well as the rather excellent tragic backstory of ICE KING.

"You killjoys. I'm real tragic. Stop mocking me or I'll sic GUNTER at you!"

I really want to watch Adventure Time but I can't  because currently I have no way to stream it here in Canada.... The show is on MAX but we can't get MAX here in Canada due to a licensing snarl with goddamn BELLMEDIA... and I'm a bit too inclined to sign up for CRAVE.... maybe in the future.

Did I mention that I have issues with BELLMEDIA'S monopoly in the Canadian content rights holdings? Ed the Sock... or rather his creator and performer Steven Joel Kerzner has real problems with BELLMEDIA.

"BELLMEDIA ain't no AT&T at least in my fabric eyes. I've been antagonizing BELLMEDIA since they bought and f***ed up MUCHMUSIC."

Adventure Time has left a mark on 2010s animation. It has led to the creation of shows such as 

REGULAR SHOW, GRAVITY FALLS, RICK AND MORTY, STEVEN UNIVERSE, just to name a few.

While I'm fine with newer shows that use the new mandatory puppet-rigged style, what I don't approve of is when executives and showrunners mandate that existing I.P that get rebooted need to switch to the new art style and I have seen many a negative comment and meme on Facebook where people lambast TEEN TITANS GO, BE COOL SCOOBY DOO, 2016's Ben 10, etc. 

I wish I had the meme to show you but I didn't save it in either my phone or my external HDDs.

The rise of all this in 2010s animation has led to John K. creating the derisive term CALARTS style.

I'll get more into the Calarts style in a future blogpost since I don't want this post to be derail into unnecessary ramblings and I want to stay in topic so lets back into topic.

Back to the 2000s.... before all that executive meddling. 

When some shows made the switch to Digital Ink and Paint, some of these shows actually used filters to hide the digital nature of the artwork and make them still look like their old self. But not all shows had the balls to do that. I think only THE SIMPSONS did that.

I know the THE SIMPSONS did something like that when they made the permanent switch to digital ink and paint during the 14th Season where they used tools to make the cels look as authentic as their previous episodes were.

Funny how SIMPSONS was the only show to do that but not FUTURAMA.

I'm guessing FUTURAMA was too new at the time to use such tools considering FUTURAMA's 1999 debut.

THE SIMPSONS dropped the filters during both the Movie and Season 19 when they made the complete switch from Paper Scanning to Paperless Wacom Cintiq animation.
 

Nowadays, we are torn by what software we use for digital animation.

Choices are boiled down to Flash, Toon Boom Harmony, Adobe Animate, RECTAS, Krita, Clip Studio Paint, etc. 

I used to do animations on Adobe Animate since it was included in my Creative Cloud Plan but as soon as I started paying for my annual license, I switched to Toon Boom Harmony Premium and I've never looked back. There's alot of things in Harmony that I can't get in Animate.

One is that you can adjust the color palettes without using the paint bucket tool over and over again. Another is the use of nodes which let me achieve the looks of traditional cels without actually making physical cels. 

But so far, I've only got as far getting shadows, drybrush blurs and relying on the default renderer dulling my colors.

I still want to add 35MM film style grain to my work like I did with my Photoshop art so stay tuned for that. And yes I promise to document my process of finally achieving proper film grain in Toon Boom.

Holy Shit, was this a long blogpost. Not only that, I've recently switched Keyboards for my main PC.

Since December 27 2022, I've been using a Razer Blackwidow V3 Halo Edition which uses Razer's Green switches which are clicky and loud.

It's been a good keyboard but in August, I've changed desks and I've been lacking in deskspace for my keyboard tray. That and the keyboard has endured some wear on the switches so I went to the nearest BEST BUY to buy a TENKEYLESS Razer Blackwidow V3 which uses YELLOW Switches.

The Yellow Switches are linear instead of clicky so they go all the way down as well as sound much quieter than the previous keyboard.

Funny thing is, I've started this Digital Ink and Paint Blogpost with my previous keyboard and now I've finished it with my new Keyboard.

I wonder what's next? Who knows.

Update as of March 25 2024:

Some things have changed since the last time I made this post. For one, When I started typing on my Linear Switch Keyboard, I briefly had a hard time getting used to my keyboard's lighter actuation but now I'm used to it. I do tend to type some typos every now and then but I'm somewhat of a fast typer so I'm used to it now. My Linear Switch board however didn't come with a wrist rest which I need due to having difficulties reaching the number keys due to the length of my fingers as well as fears of Carpal tunnel so I'm reusing the Wrist Rest that came with my previous Razer Board.

Also, due to the Dr. Slump 1997 image I used, I had to add Akira Toriyama's name in the Label section of this post out of respect for the late Mangaka artist due to the news of Toriyama's death early in March 2024...... May the greatest mangaka artist live a good afterlife.......

Another Update as of December 25 2024:

When I typed this, I was using my Razer TKL Linear Switch Keyboard.

I no longer us that board. Instead, I now use my EPOMAKER DYNATAB 75 board.