Drawn Together: A Traditional Approach To Animation

Comedy Central's popular cartoon Drawn Together, in which a various assortment of odd characters live in a house together (a nod to reality shows) may be remembered for its raunchy, over the top humor, but oddly enough it is the animation style, which features a traditional black ink and paint animation that sets this show apart from other Comedy Central cartoons, most notably South Park. No computers are used during the initial animation processes of Drawn Together - a big departure for animated shows nowadays.

The animation must go through several stages before being finalized. The first stage is the storyboard, a basic plot outline of the story with bits of script and images like a comic drawn out. Once this is done, the artists must match the lip movement of the characters to that of the voice actors. Given the difficulty of this, the animation always comes after the voice acting segments have been recorded to allow the artists the ability to match the lips with the dialogue.

Next an animatic is used which combines the completed storyboard, layered with the soundtrack to ensure they match up, any inconsistencies in music or voices are fixed. Once the animatic is approved then it's off to the design department where character models (drawings of characters with different stances and emotions) and setting models ensure the artists can capture characters and settings consistently. Also, the color schemes are laid and any final timing issues between lip movements, music, and other sound effects are also adjusted.

Once this is done the frame drawings are transferred to a computer, a process that all cartoons use today.
Shows like South Park use computer animation from the beginning of the process creating characters and settings that appear to be inspired by paper cut-outs.

The animators intentionally make the character's movements choppy and unnatural, normally restricting them on a two-dimensional plane to give the show a comedic, unnatural feel. This is contrasted with Drawn Together's classical drawing techniques which give the characters a wider, more natural range of movement. By adhering to a simpler hand-drawn style, this also enables the animators to bring together different styles more easily than with a computer.

One such example of this is the princess character Clara who is drawn with soft edges, reminiscent of Disney art styles. It's a bit ironic that a show like Drawn Together which routinely makes fun of classic shows employs an art style that was used before the advent of computers.

Perhaps Drawn Together's retro style of artwork will bring back the more classic look to television shows, specifically on Comedy Central. At the very least the animators of Drawn Together have proven it is possible to respect older styles of drawing, while still cracking obscene jokes.