This article has more to do with American animation than Japanese Anime, but
the technology being discussed doubtless has an effect on the other side of the
Pacific as well.
Between Cintiq and streaming, animation is thriving—ask
Titmouse’s Chris Prynoski:
""The fundamentals of animation haven't changed a lot. When I started, you were
drawing on pieces of paper; people were using computers to scan but colored in ink
and paint," Prynoski says. "Before my time, it was the big ol' Oxberry cameras. But it
pretty quickly got taken over by computers. Now, hardly anybody uses pieces of
paper... Anything we do starts on [Wacom] Cintiqs, which are basically big computer
screens you can draw on. But the main thing is still that artistic skill you have to
develop—whether it's on a piece of paper or computer screen—which has stayed
pretty similar."
Even if the core skill of his industry hasn't changed, Prynoski readily acknowledges
tech has made today a great time to be in animation. For starters, unlike the
expensive equipment required to turn pen strokes into full productions in the past, the
barriers to entry for young, DIY animators have lowered.
"There [are] no shortcuts for becoming a better writer or better artist, but the tools
are a lot cheaper," he says. "It used to cost tens of thousands to get the gear you
need to make a cartoon. But now you can probably use your cell phone or a tablet for
everything and spend $500, maybe a little more if you want to be fancy."
See:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/...hris-prynoski/