But the perception of CalArts controlling the course of animation is pretty overblown, and easily disproved.” They grow and change over time … So ‘CalArts style’ means whatever the current general direction of animation happens to be, based on maybe a few influencers in the industry who happen to be from CalArts. “There are trends in animation, just like there are trends in any artistic medium. “The reality is that there is not, and has never been, a unified “’CalArts style,’” the source continues.
But, as with any academic institution, those things are not a guarantee of employment.” It has a lot of famous alumni, and a good name, and some continued connections to the industry based on its prestige and geographic location. “One reason CalArts is an easy target for people like this is the (largely perceived) idea that CalArts is a direct funnel into the large animation studios like Disney, and that alumni from the school (who can be found in every major studio) tend to hire each other over other qualified people (the colloquial term for this is ‘the CalArts mafia’),” our source wrote. That reputation, according to an animator and CalArts MFA graduate who asked to remain nameless, is mostly unfair: Walt Disney himself essentially co-founded the school in 1961, and since then, it’s developed a reputation as a feeder school for the animation industry. They unconsciously absorb it and regurgitate it in their films until the next generation comes along.”ĬalArts and the Walt Disney Company have quite a history. Unfortunately the people who grow up inspired by copies of copies of ‘60s Disney animation learn to accept these few superficial stylistic things and don’t realize they are doing it. “They kept doing the same things over and over again - and that’s what all the animators copy today - the decadent stuff, rather than the skills. “ Nine Old Men had a lot of skill going for them but the animation and design by the time they were truly old was decadent and formulaic,” wrote Kricfalusi. The post embedded a number of character designs from Disney movies and alleged that those designs had been essentially regurgitated by CalArts grads ever since. Although Kricfalusi had been reportedly using the phrase since the early 1990s, a 2010 blog post where he wrote about the style helped the criticism take off. It has been used against so many shows with such a wide range of design that it really means nothing more than “I don’t like it” - Rob Renzetti May 19, 2018Ĭonsensus pins the proliferation of “CalArts style” as a pejorative on John Kricfalusi, better known as John K, the disgraced creator of Ren & Stimpy who was accused of underage sexual abuse in 2018.
“CalArts style” as a term of derision goes all the way back to the early 90’s and was leveled against many of the shows I was involved in. One school in particular, the California Institute of the Arts, was in the hot seat, as fans complained about how this lighter take on ThunderCats was drawn not in the muscle-rippling “realistic” style of the original show, but rather in something they derisively called “CalArts Style.”ġ000% agree. And the initial trailer sent a number of fans to Twitter to gripe about its artistic style by targeting a handful of alma maters. Where the original show took its alien battles and good-vs.-evil conflict seriously, Thundercats Roar is a hyper, kid-focused take on the same characters, setting, and world.
#Thundercats reboot series#
ThunderCats Roar is Cartoon Network’s reboot of the classic 1980s sword-and-sorcery animated series featuring feline humanoid aliens. But the announcement of Cartoon Network’s animated parody series Thundercats Roar saw the animation fandom butting heads over a rare topic: college. There’s always a debate raging in the world of animation, whether it’s the presence of women in the writers room or a cartoon geek’s constitutional right to Szechuan sauce (thanks to the rowdy Rick and Morty fandom).
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