Well, the last of the 'nine old men' has passed on, and so we say farewell to one of the greatest animators ever known

I may not be the biggest fan of Disney animation (I'm more of a Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, early HB guy), but I have great respect for their ability and the vision that these guys had. When you think that they were pioneers in this industry, having little, if not none of the technology that we have today, it really is astounding.

Whenever I read The Illusion Of Life, I am amazed at the skill these people had. I've been animating professionally for 14 years, but these guys were the masters of animation. I wonder what Mr Johnson thought of with the onslaught of technology that has seemed to overtake the necessity for talent. That's harsh, you might think, but the reality of our industry is that there is a genuine lack of talent. How do I qualify that statement? You only need to see how many cartoons are done in Flash, by people who are literally copying and pasting the frames and symbols, rather than drawing each frame by hand. Yes, there's objects moving, but that doesn't mean they're alive, does it? Don't get me wrong, I'm as guilty as the next guy for taking shortcuts to get the job done on time. But even so, the artist within me craves more than what I see on TV.

Everytime I get people applying for jobs at my company, I want to see the raw talent, before After Effects or whatever, polishes up the piece. I want to see the thought processes that have gone into working out the movements, how the action was staged, etc.

When I see the sketches in books like The Illusion Of Life, that's what inspires me to become better. I know I am nowhere near as good as these guys, and although I probably never will be, the fun is in the trying. The beauty is, we have the technology to do instant pencil tests. These guys had to rely on film, which meant waiting until the film was processed before they could see if their drawings were working or not. They had cel painters, good old rostrum cameras that needed detailed instructions between the artist and operators to get the camera moves right. These guys invented the multi-plane camera, which was unheard of before then.

So what has changed? Well, again, I think we've become lazy. As soon as TV appeared, budgets were cut dramatically, and the animation process had to change. However, that was fifty years ago, and we're still acting like we're under the constraints put on us by TV networks. Yes, we are to some extent, but surely the technology that we have pretty much readily available should be enabling us to create better animation than ever, utilising things like instant playback, multi-planing, etc, etc.

So come on, people, let's push aside the mundane, limited animation, roll up our sleeves and start afresh. There are classics waiting to be made, and now that the 'nine old men' have left us their legacy, we need to make them proud, and leave a legacy that our great-grandchildren will be proud of.