Member
Posted:
Feb 16, 2010, 11:47 PM
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How Much Do Cartoonists Draw?
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I am in college and am having a difficult time deciding on which career I want to pursue. I really want to be a cartoonist, but I have a repetitive motion injury and I am unsure if I will be able to handle the job. About how much do cartoonists draw? I know computers now handle some of the work, but how much? Please help me! 
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Directing Animator
Posted:
Feb 18, 2010, 5:53 AM
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Welcome to the Forum, Neo-Nebula. 
Are you talking about becoming an animator? An animator (lead animator, assistant animator, in-betweener) creates animation drawings (hundreds to thousands of 'em) at a rate of (if I'm not mistaken) 12 frames for every second of film. Given that rate, a single 6-minute animated cartoon would use up to 4,320 individual drawings; with the work divided up between anywhere from 4 to 12 or more animators, assistant animators and in-betweeners. It would depend upon whether full or limited animation were used. Mind you, I'm not a professional... but if you are talking about creating animated drawings, I believe the correct term is "animator".
A cartoonist, on the other hand, will draw either single cartoon panels or a strip consisting of 2-8 individual, connected panels on a daily or weekly (usually Sunday) basis. I've heard that some well-known comic strips, like Lynn Johnston's "For Better or Worse" are nowadays written and illustrated by a team of cartoonists, under the supervision of the strip's creator.
I could be wrong, but I believe that even if you were to go into Computer-Generated Image (CGI), you would probably spend countless hours at a PC; using both a mouse and a keyboard. If your injury is chronic, you should probably consult a physician to see if you would be able to handle the physical demands of the medium.
There are others here in the Forum who know far more about this topic than me, and can therefore give you the benefit of their expertise. I'm just a devoted fan of animation.
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"I'd like to cover you with furs and automobiles!"
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Research Guru
Posted:
Feb 18, 2010, 9:01 AM
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A cartoonist, on the other hand, will draw either single cartoon panels or a strip consisting of 2-8 individual, connected panels on a daily or weekly (usually Sunday) basis. I've heard that some well-known comic strips, like Lynn Johnston's "For Better or Worse" are nowadays written and illustrated by a team of cartoonists, under the supervision of the strip's creator.
Speaking of Lynn Johnston, she isn't doing much of the illustration of the strip these days. She has (hereditary) torsion dystonia, a neurological disorder, whose symptoms include involuntary muscular spasms. She also isn't getting any younger!
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"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
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Member
Posted:
Feb 19, 2010, 1:41 AM
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Thank you for the info!
I was talking about animation. I should have made that clearer, I'm sorry for the confusion.
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Zinc Saucier
Posted:
Feb 19, 2010, 4:18 PM
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12 frames /second (fps) will only get you rather low quality web animation. Most theatrical animation is 30 fps, with lower quality theatrical or high quality TV animation is usually around 24 fps.
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Directing Animator
Posted:
Feb 20, 2010, 4:15 AM
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12 frames /second (fps) will only get you rather low quality web animation. Most theatrical animation is 30 fps, with lower quality theatrical or high quality TV animation is usually around 24 fps.
But isn't each individual drawing usually held for at least 2 frames of film? That's what I was actually referring to. I thought that the standard for motion picture film was 24 fps? I know that there were variations on this in the early days of film, which is why some video presentations (VHS) of silent films may look strange if the film in question was not projected at the right speed. So were theatrical cartoons from the golden age projected at 30 fps? What about feature films?
As I said before, I'm not an expert... there's a lot I can learn from the rest of you guys
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"I'd like to cover you with furs and automobiles!"
(This post was edited by zavkram on Feb 20, 2010, 4:17 AM)
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Zinc Saucier
Posted:
Feb 22, 2010, 3:36 PM
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Yup, it's routine to animate "on the twos" as it's called. There are always exceptions, but most productions will follow that convention. Now, that doesn't say that each of those two frames is not drawn individually. Most of the time, one frame is just photographed twice, but in certain cases (usually it's the call of the leading/key animator or directors) they can both be drawn.
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Apprentice
Posted:
Oct 13, 2010, 12:46 AM
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Zinc Saucier
Posted:
Oct 14, 2010, 5:41 PM
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Just realizing that you meant "draw" as in "earn" or "get paid"... not the actual "drawing". Most animators these days, unless they are with smaller studios or do primarily TV work or ad work, are usually on a per project contract. It used to be a little different, most recently in the early to mid 90s, peaking right around the years of The Lion King, but then the industry had a pretty big collapse so the employment model changed.
(This post was edited by krisAHQ on Oct 14, 2010, 5:42 PM)
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