Pinned thread Art Style analysis in Spongebob and various other shows

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Compare how good the coloring was in The Smoking Peanut...



versus how bad it was in Sailor Mouth:



These episodes both have the same art style, both of them are Sailorbob episodes, my guess is that they have separate teams of colorist, either that or the version of Toonz Premium they were using didn't have an option that allowed you to save the color pallet.

 

[Graperpetual Pretzel]

Charlie Brown’s face is very small in the mid-late 50s.

Snoopy is also very noodley during that time

Compared to how stout he is during the 90s.
The recent animated productions have the 70s/80s designs

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

View attachment 20294
Charlie Brown’s face is very small in the mid-late 50s.
View attachment 20295
Snoopy is also very noodley during that time
View attachment 20296
Compared to how stout he is during the 90s.
The recent animated productions have the 70s/80s designs

Reminds me a bit of Big Nate's evolution:

 

[ChrisSkeeter]

It's fact that almost the entire episode was shot on 35mm film. The cel animated scenes wouldn't have artifacts such as cue dots if that weren't the case

You could be right, not sure how they were able to insert the digital scenes into cel animated episodes

In the digital versions of ‘Opposite Day’, there is a single frame where a rainbow hue is seen around Patrick’s arms:

This confirms the involvement of videotape in season 1’s production, and rainbow-glitched frames usually only happen on analogue video formats, such as Betacam SP, which I believe was used to record the episode onto.

With the confirmation of flatbed editors, digital editing (probably) and videotape in season 1 of SpongeBob’s production, can you probably explain about how season 1 was most likely edited, if there were a few episodes with cel and digital scenes? It would probably sound unrealistic to broadcast digitally animated episodes from SpongeBob from flatbedss, they most likely used videotape. I have also heard of you saying that seasons 2-3 of SpongeBob used flatbeds.

 

[Graperpetual Pretzel]

Reminds me a bit of Big Nate's evolution: View attachment 20297

The strip looks very digital now.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

In the digital versions of ‘Opposite Day’, there is a single frame where a rainbow hue is seen around Patrick’s arms:
View attachment 20298
This confirms the involvement of videotape in season 1’s production, and rainbow-glitched frames usually only happen on analogue video formats, such as Betacam SP, which I believe was used to record the episode onto.

With the confirmation of flatbed editors, digital editing (probably) and videotape in season 1 of SpongeBob’s production, can you probably explain about how season 1 was most likely edited, if there were a few episodes with cel and digital scenes? It would probably sound unrealistic to broadcast digitally animated episodes from SpongeBob from flatbedss, they most likely used videotape. I have also heard of you saying that seasons 2-3 of SpongeBob used flatbeds.

The process is so complicated, I'm not sure what they did. However, I do know that the pre-movie episodes with dot crawl were transferred using composite, since dot crawl is only an issue that occurs with that video format, due to it not having separate inputs for each primary color (red, blue, green) like component does. That causes the color signals to get scrambled, especially when there's a scene with high contrast.

 

[ChrisSkeeter]

The process is so complicated, I'm not sure what they did. However, I do know that the pre-movie episodes with dot crawl were transferred using composite, since dot crawl is only an issue that occurs with that video format, due to it not having separate inputs for each primary color (red, blue, green) like component does. That causes the color signals to get scrambled, especially when there's a scene with high contrast.

Can you give a theory on how you think seasons 1, 2 and 3 were edited and broadcast from which formats, and the involvement of flatbeds, digital editing and videotape in the production? Some composite video formats include:

• 2-inch quadruplex videotape (introduced in 1956, in common use until mid-1980s, analogue)
• 1-inch type C (introduced in 1976, in common use until mid-1990s, analogue)
• D-2 (introduced in 1988, in common use until early 2000s, digital)
• D-3 (introduced in 1991, in common use until early 2000s, digital)

And here are some component-based video formats, which have support for composite as well:

• U-matic (introduced in 1971, in common use until mid-1990s, analogue)
• Betacam SP (introduced in 1986, in common use until late 1990s, analogue)
• Digital Betacam (introduced in 1993, in common use until mid-2010s for SD content, but digital file-based formats have become popular in the US since the early 2000s)
• DV (introduced in 1995, the format, along with its variants DVCAM (1996) and DVCPRO (1997) were in common use until early 2010s for SD content)

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Can you give a theory on how you think seasons 1, 2 and 3 were edited and broadcast from which formats, and the involvement of flatbeds, digital editing and videotape in the production? Some composite video formats include:

• 2-inch quadruplex videotape (introduced in 1956, in common use until mid-1980s, analogue)
• 1-inch type C (introduced in 1976, in common use until mid-1990s, analogue)
• D-2 (introduced in 1988, in common use until early 2000s, digital)
• D-3 (introduced in 1991, in common use until early 2000s, digital)

And here are some component-based video formats, which have support for composite as well:

• U-matic (introduced in 1971, in common use until mid-1990s, analogue)
• Betacam SP (introduced in 1986, in common use until late 1990s, analogue)
• Digital Betacam (introduced in 1993, in common use until mid-2010s for SD content, but digital file-based formats have become popular in the US since the early 2000s)
• DV (introduced in 1995, the format, along with its variants DVCAM (1996) and DVCPRO (1997) were in common use until early 2010s for SD content)

Season 1 probably used type C, maybe D-2 for digital scenes, Season 2 probably used D-3, and then Just One Bite to Hello Bikini Bottom used digital betacam

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Season 1 of Dexter's Lab looks very old, does not look like it's from 1996, it looks like it's from 1992 or '93:



I could tell it was not edited digitally at all, there's no doubt that it was shot on 35mm film. Even the audio sounds like it was recorded on tape, then put on the flatbed to be mixed with the film reel.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Can you give a theory on how you think seasons 1, 2 and 3 were edited and broadcast from which formats, and the involvement of flatbeds, digital editing and videotape in the production? Some composite video formats include:

• 2-inch quadruplex videotape (introduced in 1956, in common use until mid-1980s, analogue)
• 1-inch type C (introduced in 1976, in common use until mid-1990s, analogue)
• D-2 (introduced in 1988, in common use until early 2000s, digital)
• D-3 (introduced in 1991, in common use until early 2000s, digital)

And here are some component-based video formats, which have support for composite as well:

• U-matic (introduced in 1971, in common use until mid-1990s, analogue)
• Betacam SP (introduced in 1986, in common use until late 1990s, analogue)
• Digital Betacam (introduced in 1993, in common use until mid-2010s for SD content, but digital file-based formats have become popular in the US since the early 2000s)
• DV (introduced in 1995, the format, along with its variants DVCAM (1996) and DVCPRO (1997) were in common use until early 2010s for SD content)

Why do you think season 3 of Dexter's Lab used telecline even though it used digital ink and paint?

 

[ChrisSkeeter]

Why do you think season 3 of Dexter's Lab used telecline even though it used digital ink and paint?

I don't really think it used a telecine. It was most likely digitally edited.

 

[ChrisSkeeter]

Season 1 of Dexter's Lab looks very old, does not look like it's from 1996, it looks like it's from 1992 or '93:



I could tell it was not edited digitally at all, there's no doubt that it was shot on 35mm film. Even the audio sounds like it was recorded on tape, then put on the flatbed to be mixed with the film reel.

The cel seasons of Dexter's Laboratory were shot on 16mm film.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

I don't really think it used a telecine. It was most likely digitally edited.

Season 3 has telecine operater listed in the credits in each episode.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

The cel seasons of Dexter's Laboratory were shot on 16mm film.

What do you think makes the cel seasons look older than they actually were

 

[ChrisSkeeter]

What do you think makes the cel seasons look older than they actually were

I’ve noticed that some late season 2 episodes (especially those with the red tint) look blurry and dark.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

I’ve noticed that some late season 2 episodes (especially those with the red tint) look blurry and dark.

Season 1 looks older than it actually is because it has more film artifacts than other shows at the time.

 

[ChrisSkeeter]

Here’s how I think every season of Dexter’s Lab looks like:

TBS pilots: 1991/2
Season 1: 1992/3
Season 2 (early part with green tint): 1994/5
Season 2 (middle part with bad red tint): 1993/4
Season 2 (late part that looks similar to Ego Trip): 1995/6
Ego Trip: 1996/7
Season 3 (first five episodes with dot crawl): 2000/1
Season 3 (typical episode without dot crawl): 2003/4
Season 3 (brightly-coloured episodes): 2005/6
Season 4 (rougher episodes): 2006/7
Season 4 (brightly-coloured episodes): 2007/8

 

[Graperpetual Pretzel]

A Boy Named Charlie Brown has very different animation throughout the film, it’s clear the animators differed from scene to scene.


Sometimes it’s super straight-laced and on-model

Sometimes it’s super off-model and wonky

Most of the time, it’s somewhere in between.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Here’s how I think every season of Dexter’s Lab looks like:
Season 2 (middle part with bad red tint): 1993/4

I think the season 2 episodes that look similar to season 1 (green tint) look like they're from 1994. Morning Stretch and Nuclear Confusion have a very bad green tint. The episodes with the red tint (Star Check Unconventional, Dexter is Dirty, Road Rash, Techno Turtle, Backfire) look '95 to me. Late season 2 (Dee Dee Be Deep to Last But Not Beast) look 96/97 to me.

A lot of people say that Savino was a sudden change in the show's style but I think the transition was very gradual as the designs became more simplistic/streamlined as the original first two seasons progressed. Ego Trip is pretty much what season 3 would've looked like if it were cel animated.

Season 3 (first five episodes with dot crawl): 2000/1

A Boy Named Sue/Lab on the Run was the last episode of to have crawl.

When I saw If Memory Serves on the Cartoon Network website in 2010, it didn’t have dot crawl. All other prints of the episode do have dot crawl. It's sister episode, A Mandark Cartoon, always had dot crawl.

A Mom Cartoon was a repeat segment. The former version that aired as the fourth episode of the season had dot crawl, the one that aired as part of the final episode of the season did not.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Season 3 (brightly-coloured episodes): 2005/6

Season 3's coloring got better and better as the season went on, but the backgrounds always sucked. The entire season without dot crawl IMO looks 2003/04, even the last few episodes.