Pixar has invented much of computer animation as it's known today, and I've been very lucky to be the first traditional animator to work with computer animation.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
In Hollywood, they think drawn animation doesn't work anymore, computers are the way. They forget that the reason computers are the way is that Pixar makes good movies. So everybody tries to copy Pixar. They're relying too much on the technology and not enough on the artists.
I was an animator for a while early on, but a 2D animator.
Hand-drawn animation is something that I feel really strongly about. A Pixar movie may be really great, but it looks like it was drawn by a machine.
There's always room out there for the hand-drawn image. I personally like the imperfection of hand drawing as opposed to the slick look of computer animation. But you can do good stuff either way. The Pixar movies are amazing in what they do, but there's plenty of independent animators who are doing really amazing things as well.
Computers don't create computer animation any more than a pencil creates pencil animation. What creates computer animation is the artist.
Literally overnight, I became an animator... and one that was well-known.
In terms of animation, animators are actors as well. They are fantastic actors. They have to draw from how they feel emotionally about the beat of a scene that they're working on. They work collaboratively.
If you take a regular animated film, that's being done by animators on computers, so the filmmaking is a fairly technical process.
The animators are absolutely extraordinary. It's mind-boggling.
Pixar is not about computers, it's about people.