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2026-07-18(Sat)08:02:22
No.
194
<section>https://www.tumblr.com/maxwellatoms/775836557087227904
Answered by Maxwell Atoms himself, best known for "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy".
<strong>Question (anon):</strong>
Do you think were any kind of specific aspects of the culture, industry, economy, etc that made making cartoons in 90s / 2000s better or worse than trying to make them today?
<strong>Answer:</strong>
They're literally different worlds.
<span><details class="post-block-spoiler"><summary>Section 01</summary><span class="post-block-spoiler-body">As a 22 year old neurodivergent, I was able to pitch show ideas directly to executives. Part of that was because TV Animation wasn't a glamorous profession (quite yet), so the higher-ups were genuinely passionate about the medium. I earned good money for the time and was generally trusted to run my show and tend to the crew. I would periodically be handed portfolios, which I would personally review and pass on to other show runners. For the networks it was always corporate, cutthroat, and ultimately about the money, but as an artist you could still have a voice and make art while being paid a living wage.
The pay for a freelance storyboard in 2005 is almost exactly what it is today, but now you're likely to have less time and be required to do an animatic on top of it. Portfolios are online, and (beyond metrics) you'll probably never know if anyone looks at it or not.</span></details></span>
<span><details class="post-block-spoiler"><summary>Section 02</summary><span class="post-block-spoiler-body">Animation got big. Too big. The executives got "glamorous", then the talent got "glamorous". By then you probably wouldn't get a pitch meeting unless you were a celebrity or knew one willing to be connected to your project. Animation eventually got so big that it popped. And that's where we are now.
Most of the people I know from Kid's TV Animation are currently unemployed. I have been off Jellystone for over a year, and I'm starting to get genuinely worried. Like, "move away to save money" worried. Most of the employed artists I do know are on long-running legacy series, and they're concerned about their futures when/if those series end. Right now is not a fantastic time for "animation as a money-making profession". The "glamorous" part popped years ago.</span></details></span>
<span><details class="post-block-spoiler"><summary>Section 03</summary><span class="post-block-spoiler-body">That being said, there are still opportunities out there. If you're just starting out, apparently there's a planned surge in adult and pre-school animation. It's also a great time (as long as YouTube remains sane) to be crafting your own content. But I think that the time of Big Studio Patronage is over for most of the industry. It's up to the individual artist now more than ever, not only to make but to promote their own content.
Back at the height of Billy & Mandy, we mostly pulled fours and fives in the Neilsen ratings, but we occasionally got a seven. For reference, E.R. consistently got eights. It's difficult to say <em>exactly</em> how many people that actually was due to how those ratings work, but it was a big deal for the time. Millions. Enough people that if I had a dollar for each person that <em>just watched that one episode</em>, I would have been set for life. Now, nobody gets a seven. A four is huge. Back then there were maybe fifteen or twenty channels of programmed content as opposed to the streaming smorgasbord we were all just enjoying (and which now also seems to have popped). Point being, even though I wasn't paid-per-view, I was able to use those views as justification for an eventual raise. In modern times, streaming numbers are seemingly deliberately kept secret. You'll never really know how well your show was doing until it's over. Or maybe never.</span></details></span>
<span><details class="post-block-spoiler"><summary>Section 04</summary><span class="post-block-spoiler-body">In modern times, a million views on YouTube is enough to get you noticed online. It's a lower bar for entry in a way, but you've got to get there all by yourself. Once you're there (hello Hazbin) a network may indeed come and scoop you up. Even if they don't, you can probably make a decent living with numbers like that if you're savvy and willing to take the time.
I feel like I could go on all day, shaking my fist at the sky, gray-ass beard blowing in the wind. Was it better or easier making cartoons in the past? It seemed that way to me, but that was a world I knew. There was no AI to sell you out to, and the media was more of a "Wild West" than it is today. I do think that AI is going to continue to displace artists (and soon others), making it even more difficult to get anyone's eyes on anything at all.</span></details></span>
<span><details class="post-block-spoiler"><summary>Section 05</summary><span class="post-block-spoiler-body">Culturally, we lack the common touchpoints that bonded our society in the 20th Century. I suspect that the media landscape will continue to become more "bubbly" and disjointed unless some powerful force swoops in to mandate a common viewpoint. Those are two very divergent, uniquely tiring futures, each presenting a different challenge for an artist's survival.
Outside of <em>whatever</em> our modern world is, animation was made for a century by photographing drawings. If Émile Cohl could do it in 1908, you can do it now. It's a lot of labor, but maybe that's part of what makes it special.</span></details></span></section>
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2026-07-18(Sat)09:03:15
No.
195
<section>This following comment is not mine, but it had some valuable information, and I wanted to preserve it.
<strong>RESPONSE:</strong>
I'd say another issue is the change in platform and priorities.
Animation always had three priorities:
-Sell merch directly
-Get eyes on commercials
-Exist for syndication for rereuns
Over the years, priorities have shifted.
<span><details class="post-block-spoiler"><summary>Section 01</summary><span class="post-block-spoiler-body">In the 70s-90s, the big draw was selling merch directly; Transformers, My Little Pony, etc. Beyond the 90s, the direct merch sales cooled, yet did not go away (which led to cancellations of things like Young Justice) and selling commercials was the big thing, especially since 'dedicated kids channels' like Nick, Cartoon Network and The Disney Channel started to take off.
Syndication was often a goal as well. Get enough episodes, end the show, then put them on reruns. This is why serialized cartoons were an uphill battle, because the moment you have consistent storylines, you cannot have episodes airing at random.</span></details></span>
<span><details class="post-block-spoiler"><summary>Section 02</summary><span class="post-block-spoiler-body">In the mid 00s, 'prestige' cartoons started to happen. The Avatars, JLUs, etc. These were mega-hits because they were massive draws for commercial sales, even if their direct merch sales never did great (AtLA never had good toy sales) but earned studios accolades.
Over time, studios started shifting to this 'prestige animation' that earned eyes and rewarded them with good toy/commercial sales. This is where the 'animation boom' happened; Adventure Time, Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, etc. And it's also where the 'Animation Family Tree' that I've posted before REALLY bloomed.</span></details></span>
<span><details class="post-block-spoiler"><summary>Section 03</summary><span class="post-block-spoiler-body">Every studio wanted their cartoon to be a prestige cartoon like Adventure Time, so more pressure was put on creatives (which this person details). Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network eventually realized Spongebob and Teen Titans Go were their prestiges, leading to them dominating their entire block.
This almost effortlessly segued into the streaming ecosystem; You no longer sell toys/commercials, you sell the subscription. And so every animation project now has to be a prestige cartoon, which meant an extreme level of choosiness by executives.</span></details></span>
<span><details class="post-block-spoiler"><summary>Section 04</summary><span class="post-block-spoiler-body">20 years ago, you could put out a non-serialized cartoon, hit the 65 episode 'requirement' for syndication and have a successful show.
Now, you have to create a cartoon that has to justify its existence in subscription sales, so there's no real room for experimentation. There's no room for an up-and-comer to get a spot, which is what causes that whole 'family tree of creative incest' we see in the industry, where shows come around from people working on exiting prestige animation.
The landscape changed because nobody is selling toys, nobody is selling commercials. Everything now is like HBO from the 00s, where every show has to justify its existence through subscription, so there's no room for anything but rigorously min/maxed content. Every show that gets approved is a gamble, since there's no cushion of commercial/toy revenue, and so every one is hedging their bets and not taking risks.</span></details></span>
<span><details class="post-block-spoiler"><summary>Section 05</summary><span class="post-block-spoiler-body">20 years ago, you could put out a non-serialized cartoon, hit the 65 episode 'requirement' for syndication and have a successful show.
Now, you have to create a cartoon that has to justify its existence in subscription sales, so there's no real room for experimentation. There's no room for an up-and-comer to get a spot, which is what causes that whole 'family tree of creative incest' we see in the industry, where shows come around from people working on exiting prestige animation.
The landscape changed because nobody is selling toys, nobody is selling commercials. Everything now is like HBO from the 00s, where every show has to justify its existence through subscription, so there's no room for anything but rigorously min/maxed content. Every show that gets approved is a gamble, since there's no cushion of commercial/toy revenue, and so every one is hedging their bets and not taking risks.</span></details></span>
<span><details class="post-block-spoiler"><summary>Section 06</summary><span class="post-block-spoiler-body">It's also why I don't shit on things like Glitch or other indie animation projects very much, even if they're not for me. Because that's an ecosystem that isn't minmaxed to hell. If an indie project pops off, someone like Glitch takes on the financial responsibility and the income generated by the show is... youtube ad revenue (commercials) and (the lion's share) MERCH SALES.
Every indie show putting out fuckloads of Yootooz Plushies, shirts, etc, is doing exactly what cartoons of yore did; merch sales.
The issue there is always getting noticed first. But it allows someone with a relatively minuscule footprint come to the fore with a good idea.</span></details></span></section>
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2026-07-19(Sun)03:22:11
No.
196
<section><span class="post-quote"><a class="post-backlink" href="#195">>>195</a></span>
Maxwell Atoms is very generous with the things he shares online, it's always interesting to visit his blog.
The sad thing about Grim Adventures is how much he's still fond of it, but unable to reclaim ownership or make more things in the same universe due to not owning any of the rights (as they belong to Cartoon Network).
A very widespread problem in the days of syndicated TV and for some reason still today, with online streaming, as shows are removed from streaming services each year with no legitimate way to buy or watch them.
In that way it's surprising that he isn't a fan of indie animations - maybe he just meant that the existing & upcoming indie shows aren't his cup of tea, or he has valid concerns about the future of YouTube hosted shows.
Dana Terrace moved from a prominent position at Disney TV Animation to an indie production at Glitch studios after her experience there. I watched only the first episode at time of writing, but I can see why many people are saying the Knights of Guinevere is a plain-as-day allegory for Dana's feelings towards the Disney TVA studios.
Perhaps it was simply much nicer to be a syndicated TV show in the 90s compared to an indie show today, but still better to be an indie show compared to a modern syndicated cartoon...</section>