are they comic strips? or are they cartoons?

April 27th, 2009

Have you been to gocomics.com? Then you have seen the future... comic strip animated shorts.

I am conflicted people. As a cartoonist, I love my flat cartoon medium... I use a brush pen and bristol board, still. And although I use newer technology... like photoshop and a wacom pad, I still consider my methods a bit old-school. Call me bananas, but I love pilfering through the printed matter of Calvin and Hobbes, Zits, and others.... and I rather enjoy reading the daily paper with it's funnies.... I know, call me old-fashioned and behind the times. Is it that our attendion spans are too weak to actually READ a cartoon strip? Will 2-D flat cartoons go by the wayside (like newsapers...) in favor of an animated listen-to-the-words-rather-than-read-them format? Will we soon be buying cd's with animated toon strips?

Okay, then there's the other side... our technology has reached the point where we are able to push the limits of our medium. Transforming a somewhat static image into one that breathes and has more depth is an exciting thing, right? Web comic viewing should be more fun... more engaging.

Rebuttal... but what of the viewers input? What have we left to the viewer? When I first heard Garfield speak (when first animated) I was disappointed. It wasn't at all what I heard in my own head. I was disappointed. Now, there are voices in Pooch Cafe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbKC0iHUlp8 (see for yourself) and Cul-de-sac. What do you think?

Do you suppose, that there is room for everybody? Do you think that the newspaper industry can live side by side with the internet... or underneath it? Do you think that Non-moving cartoon strips are able to live and thrive along with the animated comics? or will they falter?

Have I just had too much coffee this morning?
(What would Watterson do?)