Shading in Animation

John K. of 'Ren & Stimpy' fame has a blog which I read occasionally to hear his takes on the current world of animation versus the golden age, when Hanna Barbara and Walt Disney were at the helm. In his recent blog, he brings up something that has bothered me for so long...

2D shading versus 3D shading in cartoons.

Check it out...

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, the idea of character shading frequently troubles me as I'm stocking cereal at Walgreens. When did it suddenly become a attractive to start shading Tony the Tiger as if he was made of plastic? As if he was 3D? The same goes for Toucan Sam, Snap Crackle & Pop, and shockingly...Fred Flintstone. The Flintstones "look" is based on simplification of color and abstractions in cartooning, yet Post likes to Photoshop little cute airbrush touches to modernize the characters.

Seriously, what is this?




I'm not really a fan of modern animation or design trends, at least the most common, manufactured ones. Luckily, I stumbled across something that gave me a hope...


Notice how the character actually looks 2-Dimensional. They've incorporated a 2D shadow, which doesn't have a feathered edge. I was shocked, and happy to see it.

Look at how amazing cereal boxes looked before the advent of airbrush of Photoshop...





Anyways, check out John K's blog if you get a chance. It's nice to see that someone else, especially his readers, have a passion for the world of art, especially cartoons, which are on a downward slope. Unless something is done, the 'Family Guy' and 'Shrek's' of the world will dominate, and God knows we don't want that to happen.