This question goes out to people who know their fair share of the industry: Are there any trends in the Animation Industry, particularly in the US? It doesn't have to be purely on the economic side of things, just mainly what traits can be seen at present.
Have you found anything yet?
Nothing official, so far I have my own view on this matter, but with me being a bit of an outsider to the animation industry, I don't think it's that reliable or valid.
Content-wise though, I think that more and more new shows are teen or adult-oriented, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any more shows for kids. This one is based on the TV cartoons we see here in Asia, but since they come form the US, I figured they'd count, in some way. I'm not really sure about this one, can anyone clarify this for me?
You might wanna check this out.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Latest-Trends-in-Animation-Industry&id=5169928
I suppose 3D is the current trend. I mean, we have the technology to render it in do-able speeds.
Pixar releases most of its movies in 3D now :)
asphyxius: Hm, interesting link. Thanks a lot!
myan-chan: Yeah, there are a lot of 3D movies/animations now. Then again there are still a lot of good 2D animations, like Phineas and Ferb. It even made it to No.1 Friday Telecast recently: http://www.awn.com/news/films/phineas-and-ferb-across-2nd-dimension-tvs-most-watched-friday-telecast-summer-2011
I would think the biggest trend would be the huge influence from Japanese animation worldwide. We see American shows like Martin Mystery, or french shows like Totally Spies and, of course, the American/Korean Avatar: The Last Airbender trying their best to look like Japanese works.
Even Disney features took on that influence for a while, with movies like Treasure Planet and Atlantis: The Lost Empire dropping the musical elements common to Disney works and adding the complex lighting, shading and adventure aspects of Asian animation.
Warner Bros. and Marvel Superhero cartoons are taking a hefty portion of visual elements from Japanese animation as well, though they are, at least, shying from the more common facial designs associated with the style.
Big trends are Harmony and Flash. Alot of of "2D" animation is going digital, in the sense of being done on Cintiqs. Storyboards more and more are being done digitally, either in Flash, Toonboom Storyboard Pro, or Sketchbook Pro. 'Boards are more often being done in single panel format for use in animatics.
Animatics themselves have seen greatly increased use in Western productions over the past decade, almost every show I board on now uses them by default.
Anime influences in Western product have settled down, the trend is largely over here. There used to be a big upswing in anime clichés in a number of shows, but they are used less now, and seemed to have evolved and mutated into a different "flavour" here.
Adult material and specifically brash and crass humour is a BIG thing now with prime-time animation projects.
3D shows are NOT as prevalent as one might expect, 2D STILL rules the roost. I see it used more in commercials than in actual shows.
When 3D shows are done, they tend to look cheap.
Pre-school shows are still top of the heap, older kid material follows, then teen, then adult at the bottom.
"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)
I think he meant stereoscopic 3D. Not sure though.
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Yes, there are 6 latest trends of animation in 2016. You may directly check this post of Video At Click.
~~~~~2016 Animation Trends~~~~~
~~want to be an expert in animation and explainer videos~~