I've been somewhat concerned with the rise of whiteboard animation lately. The trend of what I see as replacement animation. A person draws an extensive illustration onscreen. The viewers watch as a hand, armed with a felt marker, I apologize, "Sharpie", draws out the illustration, thus creating the illusion of animation. What is at the core of my fear, money of course! There is an encroaching of my livelihood! I should have said animators instead of my, but let's get real.
This form of animation has been picking up steam over the past few years, and is really getting attention. Like most animators, my roots are in illustration, so I guess I should applaud the new industry(don't hate, congratulate). I don't. I guess it is frustrating enough trying to compete with the talent presently out there. Now there is a new category.
Like any artist or individual with a trade, there is a weird sense of ownership. No one likes someone from another discipline, wandering onto their turf and doing well. Even if they are basically in the same industry. However, to my dismay, most of what I see is pretty good work. They may not be animating, but the work is well done. So why don't I do it myself you ask, because I'm an animator, not an illustrator. Actually I am also illustrator, I'm just in the traditional frame of mind where the two are separated.
This style seems to get most attributed to an organization called RSA Animate. This is a department/division of UK organization RSA, and don't actually offer whiteboard animation as a service. RSA apparently uses this for their own presentation purposes. I'm not sure of what exactly RSA does. They seem to be some kind of think tank for… something. The trend has since caught on with businesses regularly requesting whiteboard specifically. There is now software developed for this, although I'm not sure why. A video camera and video software should be enough. Then again I don't do whiteboard, so… Some companies even charge rates equal to what some independent animators charge.
There is of course, the inevitable down side. With more artists, or more specifically, people trying to make an easy buck, jump on the bandwagon, the quality has become increasingly cheaper. There are more and more slapped together versions of whiteboard. There are videos where someone has just taken a few stills of a hand with a "Sharpie", and move it around quickly across screen, while revealing the drawing underneath. However, there is also the inevitable up side. Some artists are combining this with actual animation and creating some pretty cool work. OMG! I came close to promoting whiteboard.
In the end I don't fear whiteboard. I probably don't even care. As much as I hate to say it, it's cool to see this opening up for artists. My first thought was that it would pass. Then again that's what I thought about reality TV. If I was offered a job doing whiteboard I'd take it. I'd want to finish the project quickly, but I'd take it. After watching whiteboard videos I notice that I never finish watching. It's cool at first, but after a while, you're just watching someone else draw.
