Ollie Johnston died on April 14, 2008. He was the last of The Nine Old Men. The animators that started the Disney style. The ones that created the art form and perfected it. The last one is gone.
This really caught me off guard. I never got to meet any of them and feel unfortunate that I never had a chance to learn from them.
Ollie and Frank Thomas wrote the animation bible, The Illusion of Life. I've read that book a million times. I'll still look to it for inspiration. Unfortunately traditional animation is a dying art. I think that's why Ollie's death is affecting me so much. It's not only his death, but it seems to signal the death of traditional animation as well. The love of animation seems to be dying.
I'm not a purest, I do like 3D animation, and Flash. I do believe great animation can be done in both art forms, but this shouldn't be at the exclusion of traditional animation. There's something special about hand drawn animation.. It's odd to think you can animate without having to know how to draw.
Unfortunately traditional animation doesn't have the market 3D does. For some reason people will go see 3D animation but will avoid traditional animation. 3D doesn't have the stigma that traditional cartoons do. Cartoons are for kids, while 3D is for everyone.
Traditional animation can sell, it just needs a good story. It wasn't the animation that made people love Finding Nemo, although it was fantastic, it was the story.
I hope this isn't the end of traditional animation. I hope to see the return of movies like The Secret of Nimh, Lady and the Tramp, The Lion King, The Iron Giant, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Akira, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh... I still love traditional animation and there are a lot of other people who feel the same way. Unfortunately there isn't much work for us now, but hopefully that will change.
Farewell, Ollie. We won't forget.
www.frankandollie.com
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