As I was scanning through the comics this morning, the word Ratatouille caught my eye. It looks like the comic Curtis will be featuring Disney/Pixar for the week. Sounds interesting 
My only irk is that they threw in Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, and Toy Story in the same category as Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons. Theyâre different studios, people!!
The comic is updated daily here: seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/curti ⊠e=20080714
Oh, really really cool. They say 3 Pixar movies in this comic strip. I like it. Nice find.
Yeah, Pixar recognition is always goo-
Uh oh⊠todayâs stip:
This doesnât look good for Pixar fanatics 
Poor guy. I understand why heâs angry though.
Nice comic! Very funny!
haha that was funny
Uh oh! More!
Actually, it does make a point. The traditional department really did get killed off when Pixar came. Although, it wasnât Pixarâs fault. John Lasseter was the one who brought back the 2D department
lol that last lines really funny lol
Last one!
Shoot. You beat me to posting it. (I made a topic on Pixar in other media, the strip wasnât the main focus, but still). I wish people would lay off Pixar. The strips arenât even funny. why do people have to act like just because itâs CGI, and maybe not as novelty as traditional, that Pixar is twisting their long black moustaces smirking as the traditionals go? thats not their fault. HMPH!
I understand that it must have been hard for the traditional artists. But why do they have to take it out on Pixar? It seems like they hold a grudge against that so much that they hate their movies without even seeing them.
Yes, I do miss hand-drawn animated films, but I still enjoy some of the movies we have today. Wish some people could have been that open-minded to new ideas as well.
Exactly! Just because their CGI doesnât mean their BAD! And we would know!
Much as I love Pixar, and disagree that every movie thatâs computer animated should be discounted because of that, there is something in traditional animation (the animation itself, that is) that CGI just doesnât have. It just has a sort of organic purity that computers canât give you. (Also, I can understand why they put Meet the Robinsons, Chicken Little et al. in the same category⊠theyâre all Disney, and Pixar in particular wasnât specified in the comic.)
I really wish Pixar would venture into 2D⊠theyâre pretty much the big names in computer animation, so it sucks that they do it for every movie when theyâve proved with âYour Friend the Ratâ that they could deviate from that and do it with epic awesomeness, and get people to pay attention to the medium again. Theyâve got the great stories. Theyâve got the budget. Come on. Please? Not even a measly female lead character?
I think Iâm turning into that dad. BAWWWWW DISNEYYYY PENS AND INK AND CELS AND WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE WE ONLY NEEDED COMPUTERS FOR WILDEBEEST STAMPEDES
Ha! Thatâs funny⊠kind of. And the sad fact about that is that itâs trueâŠ
Both of my parents often have a difficult time securing a job because, yes, theyâre traditional artists, and while every other newbie in the animation industry is into computers/CGI⊠the veterans remain shadowed in the background, overlooked and often under-payed.
I await the day when traditional animation becomes a thing of the present again, namely because so many artists â those who are versed in 2D animation â have such a difficult time securing a position these days. Disney Studios would seem the logical place to apply for a job, but theyâre extremely biased, treat their employees (or, their artists, at least) like dirt, and donât pay a dime due to greed and the âneedâ to save a buck. Itâs quite pitiful.
In addition, I have to admit that kageri made a good point: Why doesnât Pixar Animation Studios contribute to the cause and shell out a traditionally animated feature (or a short film even) now and again? As was mentioned, theyâve proven that they can do quality 2D animation that is both entertaining and exceptional. Why not give non-computer-versed artists a chance?
That aside, I canât complain too much, as it seems that Mr. Lasseter is, at least, trying to do something to bring traditional animation back into full force. I just hope that Disneyâs The Princess and the Frog does both the medium and good storytelling justiceâŠ
â Mitch
kageri- Wasnât YFtR enough proof of what Pixar CAN do. Most of the artists at Pixar are traditionally trained so they have the sensibilities of a 2D animator, only they choose another medium. Pixar is the pioneer of computer animation and itâs their knack, now Disney is coming back with 2D, thatâs their knack. I think Pixar should stick with CGI because thatâs Pixarâs identity, and itâs extremely generous of John Lasseter to bring the magic back to Disney, isnât that enough?
Mitch- I sympathize with what happened to the 2D animators, it was a dumb decission on Disneyâs part, but in a few years time, youâll see, 2D will flourish again⊠and I canât wait!
P.S. There have been numerous main characters in Pixar films that were female, and for a lead, look forward to The Bear and the Bow.
Anyways, I think the comic is extremely misinformed, and not âcomicâ at all.
I honestly doubt it. Itâs almost gotten to the point where 3D films have become more efficient to produce. Every single part down to the hairs on a rat can be modified with computers today with just a few keystrokes. The 3D animation process relies on mainly trial and error. The sceneâs lighting doesnât look just right? A characterâs arm isnât in the right place? Tweak, re-render, and repeat.
It is much more difficult to perfect traditional 2D animation like that. The only way to change the position of a characterâs arm in a scene is by completely redrawing the character, which takes precious time. The solution is limited animation, but it doesnât look nearly as good.
Because computers will only get faster and faster (and the quality of animation has to have a peak at some point), soon it will take minutes rather than hours to render a full scene. Once that point is reached, 2D animation will be obsolete. Cartoons will all be in 3D, and the only shows/movies that revert back to 2D do it for nostalgia.
Thatâs my prediction, at least. Grim as it is⊠
I certainly hope soâŠ
Pixelated - Despite the increasing popularity of computer animation and its innumerable, time-saving, and note-worthy aspects, I canât help but feel that traditionally animated films harness a unique quality that 3-D productions will never acquire. Take Sleeping Beauty, for example: Yes, a computer could emulate such beautiful backgrounds; yes, an artist could copy the exquisite animation and character design in Flash or Photoshop; and, yes, such a masterpiece of a story could be concocted with the help of a few MacIntoshes to speed along the art process. But, in my opinion, no computer could ever fully re-create the beauty of a steady hand and a simple pencil.
There are many imperfections in traditional animation, that is true, but itâs those very imperfections that make a hand-drawn film what it is: priceless. In my eyes, there can never be a âGlen Keaneâ or a âMilt Kahlâ of computers â they (computers) simply process information so that it is effective, looks pleasant, and/or can be used to an individualâs benefit. Sure, they can assist in creating beautiful images, but itâs not the same as applying pencil to canvas. Even a Wacom tablet, in all its glory, doesnât have that âbiteâ to it that a piece of sketchbook paper has. Itâs just⊠not the sameâŠ
Those two cents worth of mine are exactly that: My two centâs worth. Iâve always been more attracted to traditional animation than computer animation, probably because I was raised on the former as a kid. No matter how advanced technology will become (as far as 3-D animation goes), I will always love 2-D more.
â Mitch
Iâve been following this comic some since it got off on this little rant and must say I am most displeased with it. Iâd like to know what beef the artist has with Pixar specifically seeing as how Pixar was one company that was started for computer animation and had no traditional roots while other companies like WDFA, DreamWorks, and others scrapped their traditional animation to go strictly CGI, thatâs where the blows were dealt. Just because Pixarâs success started the fad, it doesnât make them responsible for what others in the business did.
Furthermore, the comic fails to recognize the cross over between the two mediums. Most of the well known names in computer animation today didnât get their start there. Does âThe Iron Giantâ ring a bell to anyone? That was Brad Bird and almost the entire team from âThe Incrediblesâ first feature film; they all started as traditional animators. And if you want to talk about great and classic artists then lets look at John Lasseter and the other Pixar team members who were trained by Walt Disneyâs Nine Old Men. Thatâs right, they were trained by the legends who brought us Cinderella, Fantasia, and Snow White which in my book is still more impressive than the renaissance of the Katzenburg era that gave us âAladinâ and âThe Lion King,â the films mentioned in the strip.
The success of Pixar had nothing to do with the computer animation and everything to do with the fact that by the late 90s, Pixar was hold more to the Disney standard and values than Disney itself was. The strip fails to recognize this and places undue criticism by calling Pixar out directly. And as many of you have already rightly mentioned it makes no notice of what Lasseter and the team have done for reviving traditional animation at Disney.
If theyâre going to make cheap shots like that then they need to have their facts straight and tell the whole story. I wonât deny that thereâs a legitimate argument their in the need for more traditional animation and less compute animation in the world, but to directly call out Pixar as the cause of it is both bias and wrong when the roots are so much deeper and so few are taking the steps that the people at Pixar have taken to correct this travesty.
Well put, Dash.
⊠which just goes to show that it probably wouldnât be a logical idea to explain the entire story via a comic, of all things. It could be done, but it may take some doing, and then whoâs to say that all of the information contributed to the strip would be accurate, depending on who the writer was?
â Mitch
Pixelated- I honestly believe traditional animation will come back due to the fact that all these cheap animation studios are coming out with CG pics and basically âkillingâ the medium, the only survivors of this should be Pixar and the other big guys at Blue Sky, Sony Animation and maybe, if they clean up their act, DreamWorks Animation. Now Disney is already bringing it back and DreamWorks, the usual copy cat, may follow suit if itâs succesful. Then there will be the little studios trying it out, and the cycle will start again. One day someone will find the perfect balance of 3D and 2D animation for both of the mediums to be succesful and recognized.
