Flash animation that uses puppets to move the characters around vs hand drawn animation that requires every individual frame to be drawn 🤔🤔🤔

This is giving me a headache how can you know so little about animation and brag about it

Animated shows and films will almost always have an artistic and animated style that reflects the story it tells, (good ones, at least, always will) and this sort of thing extends to character design as well. Steven universe is a more down to earth show with often heavier overtones. It’s not as whimsical as TTG so the characters aren’t as extremely exaggerated and the animation is drawn by hand to reflect the down to earth feel. From what I’ve noticed, this method has better character acting as well since the characters are drawn and animated as a whole instead of being created piece by piece and put together in After Effects. 

Originally posted by estufar

The freedom and control allows it to be just enough to be lighthearted at times without straying too far from the point and overall plot. 

A much better example of this sort of style dynamic would be comparing the old teen titans animation with teen titans go. The older show was far more serious and the characters were portrayed much more realistically. The animation was hand drawn so the movements were more careful and intentional. There’s more emotional control over the characters and their individual movements (its important to have dynamic movement in an active animation!). 

Originally posted by jet-grind

Whereas puppet animation seems to be much more exaggerated and stylistic–the smooth motion comes from computer tweening. There is less control and variation for movement in this method (I’m sure most puppet animation shows use hand drawn as well from time to time because of the motion limitations of puppet animation). Teen Titans Go, from what few episodes I’ve seen, seems to be more of a “generic cartoon” with really no overarching plot but just an episode by episode sort of thing. Very much comedy based and not meant to be taken seriously. 

Originally posted by outofcontextteentitansgo

So basically the characters are more shapely and cartoonish, and the use of puppet animation creates a certain stylized motion that works well with the characters new designs as well as the intent for the show as a whole–something intended to be lighthearted and funny with very little seriousness.

a REALLY good example of almost entirely puppet animation is the Mystery Skulls Ghost animation–the only hand drawn stuff I’ve noticed are the fiery effects. Puppet animation works great with that film because it plays off the exaggerated style with stylized movements. 

Originally posted by bestgirloftheday

Originally posted by hntrgurl13

I know my little pony uses puppet animation and unfortunately I don’t know enough about that show to dissect it but I know it has an overarching plot as well. It still seems to be very pleasant and happy which caters to its young audience.

Originally posted by mlpmemes-and-mlpthings-123

Star verses the Forces of Evil seems to be more of an equal combination of both–correct me if im wrong?? as stated before the examples above do as well from time to time but I’ve especially noticed it in this show. This works well for it because it too has a serious A plot but individual episodes and scenes aren’t always meant to be serious and are quite often meant to be lighthearted, funny, and exciting kinda like Star herself.

Originally posted by dazthedazzler

Originally posted by starlovesmarco

Hand drawn animation allows for unique motions that puppet animation cant always do which is important to an action packed story. It allows for the most control over the figure which is why I said it’s important for preserving a lot of the emotion in Steven Universe since there’s tons more control over body language with this method.

but what I’m trying to say is if the show was–in some sort of alternate universe–written and developed to be a puppet animation, it would not be the show we know today. It’s possible that nearly every visual aspect, maybe even how some of the characters are written, could be entirely different. It’s not like it would be a simple fix for the show even if for whatever reason the animation style switched mid series. That would be bad for many reasons, and luckily we don’t have to worry about something like that –I’ve never heard of something like that happening before.

anyway I’m not trying to say the character inconsistency thing in Steven Universe isn’t a problem, but saying puppet animation would have been better is seriously undervaluing the real reason a show is animated a certain way. Puppet/hand drawn animation isn’t just a preference a creator picks randomly and without thought. It has a lot to do with the art style and story itself.