'Winnie the Pooh' Brings Back Old Fashioned Animation

Animated feature films have been big business ever since Walt Disney proved it was possible with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." For nearly 70 years after that animated films were made in mostly the same fashion, hand drawn characters over painted backgrounds. In the 1990s everything changed. Pixar's "Toy Story" opened the door for 3D computer graphics to take over, and they did just that within a decade. Traditional 2D hand drawn animation faded out of the limelight quickly with only a few notable films using the older style in the last few years. Now the studio that started it all, Disney, is returning to its roots and one of its most beloved characters with the release of the traditionally animated "Winnie the Pooh."

Taking its cues from the classic Disney animated Winnie the Pooh movies, the new film features tried and true animation methods that are rarely in use anymore. Computer graphics have become the new standard of American animation. The new Winnie the Pooh however will retain the nearly abandoned art of painted backgrounds and hand drawn animation. The backgrounds being painted is of particular note. In the few hand drawn animated films still being made, most coming from Japan, the backgrounds are generally being created in computers even though the characters are traditionally animated. Painted backgrounds was part of what gave the earlier Disney classics their distinctive look, creating unique worlds that truly felt like paintings come to life.

That is not to say that everything is being done the old fashioned way. While the characters may be drawn by hand they are now painted digitally. This was a technique that Disney first began using in the 1990s and soon it completely replaced the old practice of painting the characters onto clear cells that were then laid over the painted backgrounds. Older animators clung to those techniques for a time but in the end digital coloring was simply faster and more cost effective, and Disney has stuck with it whenever they do a hand drawn animated feature.

Though the Disney hand drawn animated version of Pooh may be the most instantly recognizable, Disney has present the character in other ways. In film versions the character and the 100 Acre Woods have always been hand drawn animation but there have been three television series produced by Disney where the characters were not hand animated. In the 1980s "Welcome to Pooh Corner" was a live action show featuring full sized characters created with a combination of actors in suits and rudimentary puppetry. In 2001 "Book of Pooh" used more traditional puppetry to present the characters. The most recent TV series, "My Friends Tigger and Pooh," featured the characters in the form of 3D computer graphics. With this in mind it was possible for Disney to have taken another route for the latest film rather than hand drawn animation.

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