Cuphead: Paper vs Puppet

[@edwardyniguez9699]

I find this video A waste of time. The comparison is literally in the title

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thanks for commenting on my video! 🥰

[@SZvenM]

I kind of agree. The video really doesn't go into much depth, neither on animation in general, nor on the production of Cuphead specifically, so if you already know what those two terms in the title mean, it really doesn't add much of anything.

[@maesaliva]

pin of shame?

[@traceyvanvliet2556]

My Animation teacher actually was asked to work on Cuphead but he said no since he has no interest in video games or really any technology for that matter which makes the fact that he teaches 3D animation and is so amazing at it more funny.

[@chunkymonkey7983]

Bro is an animated teacher but doesn't like tv

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Animation can stretch to many places, they could be into short films and artistic interpretation 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@traceyvanvliet2556]

@@chunkymonkey7983 No, he loves TV more then movies. I mean more along the lines that he only got his first flip phone a few years ago.

[@aztro.99]

i guess he’s a purist but man what a fumble that was lol

[@iota-09]

from my experience, that's just being part of the old guard, interesting that he teaches 3d animation even considering that, but to not see the extent at which art moves and pushes its own boundaries by limiting oneself to saying "meh not interested in that"(technology, games, etc) is... a rather shallow view of one's own field, even if understandable to an extent,as one can only have somany interests before they spiral out of control and start learning nothing from it all.

[@dingus_maximus]

I love how the show's style is very reminiscent of the newer Mickey Mouse cartoons that came out a few years ago. Makes it feel like things have come full circle, lol. And if I remember correctly, a lot of the animators on The Cuphead Show also worked on those Mickey cartoons, which explains the similarities.

[@isalang_arts]

The show runner Dave Wasson actually directed a lot of the Mickey Mouse Shorts before. So yeah they had a good director that understood the spirt of those rubber hose animations with modern techniques.

[@GingerAnimator]

The Mickey shorts are made by Mercury Filmworks (Canada), our sister studio, Cuphead was made at Lighthouse Studios (Ireland) - but the team behind the writing and boards over at Netflix was mostly the same as the Mickey Shorts, so a similar philosophy was imbued in the show.

[@icecreamhero2375]

This looks way closer to a rubber hose cartoon with a little bit of Spongebob thrown in with how expressive the faces can be.

[@dingus_maximus]

@@GingerAnimator Didn’t expect a response from an actual animator on the show, lol. Thanks for the clarification!

[@OmniMon94]

yeah the mickey mouse shorts if im not mistaken but tis also a feeling like the epic mickey cutscenes

[@vineheart01]

i remember when the cuphead show came out how immediately everyone bashed it for not being animated like the game was. Nobody realizes how bloody hard that animation is, theres a reason cartoons back then were shorts only and the Disney cartoons took decades to produce at the time.

[@andresnavas777]

thats right

[@kaptainKrill]

But… that’s exactly why Cuphead is so beloved. The animation wasn’t an afterthought: it was the driving force of what people loved. Completely eschewing the animation style is like recreating Gundam without the robots.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I mean, it's all derivative anyway. Everything's a remix.

[@andresnavas777]

@@rikkTV it wuold not be possible, because the hand drawing animation process is not just slow, but expensive and hard to make, tha way they made the show is with the most quality in the less time, just the dlc had more than 4 years to be maked (just 1 season) and the game itself had a longer time (short if you look at examples like the old animation movies)

[@thefilmfrontier6822]

Disney cartoons didn’t take decades. It’s about 2-4 years

[@mitchelkennedy4108]

I worked on the show and you’re pretty much bang-on! Awesome vid. The BGs were digitally painted (in Photoshop) by traditionally-trained artists, lead by our brilliant art director Andrea Fernandez, who developed he process.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thanks for commenting!

[@juanbelmonth1594]

amazing

[@VorpalSnickerSnack]

The background artists did an incredible job, genuinely couldn't tell if it was traditional or digital! Thanks for bringing a great show to life!

[@GingerAnimator]

Actual animator for the show here! Appreciate seeing a video not writing off the rigged process we took on the show like a few other pundits online, Thank you. The crew has done phenomenal work and if your looking for more info on how the show was made look up Toon Boom interviews with Lighthouse Studios crew.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Oh amazing!! Thanks for dropping in! I love the look of the show, and as someone who uses ToonBoom to teach students, I can appreciate just how tricky and technical it must be to animate the show! Thanks for the information! ♥️

[@GingerAnimator]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Its shows in how you discussed it! We would basically animate the shot in a rough pass 'tradigitally' before using the rigs in place of a clean up and inking stage. The rigs themselves where mostly just driven by deformers (no bones) and we'd always strive to treat each key pose as a 'new drawing'. So in my case I'd always fiddle with every deformer a tiny bit to try and emulate line variation. then there would always be new drawings for hands, feet and mouths. We'd then turn around an episode's first pass about 2 to 3 weeks. I could go into greater detail, but I'll stop waffling. Again, fantastic analysis. 👌

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

And thank you again for the insight! I kinda wanna remake this video already 🤣

[@Brycplays]

@@GingerAnimator hi I love ur show ty for working on it I love the game and show anyways have a nice day

[@Brycplays]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy hi

[@MarcHendry]

hey I'm another one of the show's animators, you explained things well! and I'm happy to answer any questions anyone may have, though I can't show actual material. for a little trivia, we had a week or two of warm up time, but the day that we were due to actually start animating episode one was the same day we all got sent to work from home. Also we did originally begin animating with a more busy style of movement, but ended up changing it to be more pose to pose because the directors felt it was funnier and showed the jokes more clearly. Oh, and yeah the backgrounds are digitally painted, but the fact that you had doubts about it says a lot!

[@TippedScale]

what was your favorite segment to animate in the show

[@MarcHendry]

@@TippedScale I like dialogue scenes and long chunks of continuity, so probably the drunk onion ( 9:07 in this video ) or some 'Handle with care' stuff

[@mancat643]

since the episodes in show around 12 minutes how long does it take to lip sync the voices for each episode.

[@MarcHendry]

@@mancat643 it's not broken up quite like that, we'd do the lip sync for each shot as part of the animation stage (usually it's one of the last passes). So it isn't really separate enough to say how much time per episode is spent on it. It's actually one of the easier things animate in my opinion. Once you know how to do it, it's rarely an issue

[@thevioletskull8158]

how do the 3d scenes look good with 2d charaters

[@bananabike279]

"Yeah we're just gonna be dead". That's it, that's the perfect way to sum up most people's playthrough of Cuphead

[@sebc255]

Interestingly, while the game masterfully replicates the look of Golden Age animation, now that you showed a clip from Ducktales 2017 as an example, I actually think The Cuphead Show gives me similar vibes to it and those modern Mickey Mouse shorts, a sort of pseudo-retro style that I can't help but feel like it fits.

[@monster25man]

that's because the same people who worked on those Mickey Mouse Shorts also worked on this!

[@WishMakers]

@@monster25man Dang, really? That's some big encouragement for me personally lol. Those peeps know how to craft appealing animation

[@traceyvanvliet2556]

Cuphead should be looked at like it's a desert; you wouldn't want to eat only desert all the time.

[@ghost085]

I think the TV show could have gone a little further with post effects to make it look older, but seeing how the new Animaniacs was announced as having "clean vector lines", I wonder if the new audiences wouldn't have accepted a more classic aesthetic.

[@hadinasrallah8928]

hearing they're puppets blew my mind. insane for tv standards

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Pretty crazy right

[@hadinasrallah8928]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy yeah especially as a goldenage animation era snob i loved to see the eyecandy live on

[@felixdaniels37]

Eh, they're pretty obviously puppets if you watch a lot of modern cartoons. That being said the Cuphead Show does it a lot better than most shows. That's due in part to the crew that worked on the modern Mickey Mouse shorts working on it, with said shorts being the gold standard for puppet animation.

[@hadinasrallah8928]

@@felixdaniels37 i mean yeah it’s somewhat seeablein a few shots but its not a tween filled mess

[@bluerious5475]

@@felixdaniels37 Honestly there a lot of modern cartoons that do get puppets done very well. A couple were mentioned in the video, but yeah misuse of puppets is definitely detrimental.

[@JoeyDCharts]

of course the game takes a long time to make with traditional animation, the commitment to that is why it's impressive & exciting lol. proves that it can still be done and the art form hasn't been lost. totally worthwhile to wait 4yrs for the DLC to finish, as it's a great work of art that will stand the test of time

[@Almonds24768]

If the show was animated traditionally the budget would have to be much MUCH higer

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

I prefer the hand drawn animation of the game. The movement feels more organic and fluid.

[@JackSassyPants]

Your daughter at the end, the honesty in her voice. So cute.

[@VioletFeatherWind]

As an animator-in-training, I want to go for traditional 2D rather than rigged/puppeted animation. Cuz I (and a few others) feel like traditional 2D animation (no matter if you do it digitally or with pencil, pen, and paper) isn’t being taken seriously.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I think it depends where in the world you are and what the job opportunities are.

[@VioletFeatherWind]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Oh, well, it’s because I want to develop an independent animation studio

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

That's awesome! I hope you achieve that! You'll do great!

[@VioletFeatherWind]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Thank you so much! I actually do have some animations on my channel if you wanna check that out!

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Those animations are really cool!

[@josephmercier7291]

“Now we’re just gonna be dead!” This guy’s kid is the CUTEST thing I have heard since, well, the last time she turned up in a video I watched on this channel. Best Easter egg 10/10

[@tyson7417]

I have no issue with puppet or rigged animation. It has grown a lot over the years and allows for animation that feels way more elaborate on a tight budget or timeline. Limited animation is almost an entire sub art form in and of itself. Look at the tv animation of the 50's and 60's compared to this and it's mind blowing how far we have come. My small gripe with the show over the game is not the animation process used, but the visual language as a whole. The choices of camera angles and the zany energy clashes with the old timey feel. If it wasn't cuphead, I think it would be so fun. But looking more like Spongebob feels like a slight betrayal of what made the game so interesting. That looney Tunes style of humor doesn't really fit with the era Cuphead was recreating, honestly the style of the game is what WB mocked so well. The modern show's style is not bad at all. I get that it's aimed a modern audience and that has to appeal to modern senses of humor. And being a slave to visual story telling from almost 100 years ago may be too much for a modern show to do. For me, the attention to detail in recreating the look and feel of 1930-1940's animation was THE selling point of the game. The game play being absolutely solid was a plus, but I bought it before I knew if the gameplay would be fun. The look and feel is deeper than just the animation tools used. But again, I get that this show wasn't aiming for me, and what it aims for I think it nails. A very cool comparison though! Thank you for sharing!

[@Dargonhuman]

100% agreed. I see the quality and the passion that went into the show and acknowledge that, but I don't necessarily find that style to be appealing. I don't even like boss rush type games like Cuphead but I found the art style to be so charming and appealing that I still boot it up from time to time just to immerse myself in the style, which is not the same experience I get watching the show.

[@Tulip_bip]

is it just me or did the show feel weirdly nostalgic? like cuphead is 5 years old now, and all the callbacks to the game genuinely made me feel nostalgia. i think thats awesome considering how that was the entire point of the game in the first place

[@crunch.dot.73]

Cuphead released 5 years ago?! Jesus I feel old now

[@KingTaltia]

I was never really a big fan of the show's art style, but in watching this, I think I've learned that the real issue I have is that the show needed more Film-grain. It does look really good when you put your eye to it, but it just doesn't "feel right" without the over-excessive grain to me.

[@iota-09]

yeah i was feeling the same, ironically i hate film grain but here it would have made the biggest world of difference.

[@Dargonhuman]

That's a good point, and perfectly encapsulates why I felt put off by the show's style - it's too clean and modern compared to the game. I'm not going to be "that guy" and say it's terrible, because objectively the show is very wonderfully animated and nice to look at, it's just not what I was expecting or wanted from the IP.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

As I said in the video, the show isn't attempting to capture the look and feel of the cartoons that the game is, but rather the _spirit_ of the game, and mimicking a modern style of cartoon.

[@cornparade6874]

There's also just the way they draw the eyes and faces that doesn't match the game and makes everything look a bit weird sometimes.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

While Cuphead the game has beautiful animation that inspired from 1920s rubberhose cartoons, the Cuphead Show makes me think of 1940s Golden Animation with a modern twist.

[@popogeejo]

Ah, the Toon Booms Node view. I managed to rig a fairly basic character but then the programme updated and rigs that could go 360 degree rotations became the hot standard and I was lost....

[@locochavo4560]

Nice comparison video! I wasn't even aware The Cuphead Show was rigged! Hoping more rigged shows have better animation quality like that show as well as the others!

[@DanielleIsBroken]

And are treated better than Netflix treated this team

[@prcervi]

they put in the effort to mask the rigging, though it is still pretty visible in some segments

[@johnnyjoegarcia]

Paper Is Better Because How Smooth And Detailed The Animation Is

[@icecreamhero2375]

Differences I already noticed right off the bat. In the show, their eyes are a bit bigger. They wanted to make it easier for Cuphead and Mugman to emote. Their heads are also a bit bigger. Characters occasionally have cel flairs. Annoying shadows that are sometimes behind the characters like in old Simpsons episodes.

[@genericname2747]

I think the shadows are added to look like old cartoons, since characters were physically put over the backgrounds

[@icecreamhero2375]

@@genericname2747 Yep

[@8justintracy8]

Had to turn up the volume for that exclusive interview at the end. Cuuuuuute.

[@silverdamascus2023]

The Cuphead Show is very well done, I love the animation, but it's still not faithful to actual cartoons from the 1930s/1940s, it's like the game was actually made in the 1930s, while the show is a reboot made decades later that tries to be faithful to the original but can't be completely faithful.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Like I said in the video, the show is trying to replicate the _feeling_ and _tone_ of the game rather than the specific production quality, which I think it captures rather well.

[@cinemint]

What’s funny is that I personally have never had an issue with rigging, puppeting, or distortion - it’s linear interpolation in the timing that I have an issue with. I don’t know anything in the real world that moves using a clean, linearly interpolated line, and it has the added effect of making the movement look more “predictable”. A LOT of modern shows suffer from this problem. However, there are a couple (notably South Park) that seem to manage to pull off Puppeting assets without the movements looking *too* unnatural.

[@yvendous]

Your daughter sounds delightful and well adjusted. Must be a good father behind her.

[@Iwidelyoutliveeverything]

I very much hate puppet rigs. They NEVER feel right. They always have this limited and stiff movement, no matter how many "wacky" expressions they try to add to them. They always feel like paper dolls with brass joint fasteners to me at the end of the day

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Have you ever seen Hilda or Final Space?

[@tophatgeo]

Fantastic analysis here! I really like how you compare and contrast these two linked but vastly different stories

[@Kekoapono]

I appreciate the work that was put into the TV show. That said, based purely on my owns tastes I think I would've preferred the show to be a single full-length feature that used the same animation techniques used for the game. Nevertheless, thank you for explaining very well the reasons why the animation from the show looks different from the game.

[@ShabbyNestHead]

Although Cuphead Show is a puppet animation, it is still fluid and I think many parts were hand-drawn because Cuphead Show has wacky expressions and crazy transformations like the game.

[@iLife64]

Dragon’s Layer and Space Ace are also really good examples of hand drawn art in software although it’s all interactive FMV on a laserdisc. Although modern “flash” animation can look really good nothing can beat the look of cel animation

[@ShiloBuff]

The ending is cute.

[@TheArtCorner74]

Amazing video explaining how the show was made, I personally immediately noticed the difference in animation style between the game and the show and as you said in your video reminded me a lot of spongebob in terms of how the characters would react to things such as the baby bottle biting cuphead's finger. While I do believe they could've done more to replicate the ood cartoon feel as it still looks a bit too clean I definitely appreciate what they did and the animation style does a well enough job to make the show enjoyable, in the recent season 2 I've noticed the animation and the way they draw characters became slightly more interesting/better (for lack of a better term) that seemed closer to what I'd imagine a show from the era the game was trying to replicate would look like. Overall I think both computer animation and traditional animation have their ups and downs and both when used well can create amazing results, I'll always personally prefer the look of traditional animation overall but I do love both techniques and the results they make.

[@somebaker2613]

This is wonderfully insightful, thank you

[@shizzy7478]

Wait, Cup Head wasn’t some cartoon show from the old ages re-adapted into a game but a totally new game itself? Woa. I have been absolutely convinced that it was some old cartoon turned video game turned modern cartoon for a long while now. That was convincing af.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yeah it's pretty authentic!

[@shizzy7478]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy well what’s authentic is you replying to new comments so fast! Nice video mate. Have a good one!

[@totoisayal5045]

Friday night funkin was a real game back in the 90's.

[@javencummins1426]

The ending of the video is so cute!

[@TheInevitableHulk]

I would never have expected them to draw the show on paper but I do wish they would have animated by hand more. Some of these newer shows' lerps are a little too obvious to the point that I think their transition to idle poses are entirely automated, because they always seem to take the same amount of time and always have the same little wobble at the end.

[@icecreamhero2375]

I would have. Spongebob is still hand drawn. Same with Big City Greens. I'm still happy with what we got.

[@vincentpauvarel]

therr are some shots here and there where I feel like it was animated by hand

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Just because it's rigged didn't mean there aren't frame by frame elements. Basically there _has_ to be grand by frame elements otherwise it will end up looking like Morphle.

[@BallotBoxer]

Looking at the nodes is like looking at an exposed nervous system.

[@rozmarinideas5340]

I like the show, and I respect the animators and their amazing work. Personally I prefer 'traditional' animation, and that's what I want to study, but I understand the modern needs of the industry for speed.

[@dragongamerz5304]

Always wanted to animate ever since I picked up a pencil. This was nice to learn.

[@slvrcross]

I love you. Thank you for the vids! You put a lot of hard work into them and it shows. Wealth of information.

[@CaliKrazyTV]

Puppet is more stiff vs traditional you get a fluid motion

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I think it depends, you can get some brilliantly fluid stuff with puppet motion, and likewise you can get some stiff looking traditional animation.

[@iampinball3669]

That ending could’ve been the entire video and I would’ve been just as content

[@kevinsuarezmacena1003]

The show for me has an uncanny valley kinda feel, like it seems traditional animation but passed through an AI software to smoothered out the frames. Now that you point out how it's done it makes so much sense.

[@megoose.tattoos]

It really was not "passed through an AI software", it's still done by hand. Every single frame is manipulated manually, the only difference is that they are rigged, meaning they can be manipulated without having to redraw them (like other vector-based graphics software), but the key poses are still based of actual drawings and every single inbetween frame has been thoroughly analyzed and perfected by different departments. Source: I worked on the show.

[@bryandunphy9700]

Fantastic video as always man. Glad to see another upload from you!

[@jeromemccalla9520]

The intro of the cup head show when cup head and mug man walking is actually hand animated.

[@Zenlore6499]

Man, I wish I could keep this stuff straight! Looks like I was totally wrong about the rigging/rig/puppet terminology relationship!

[@ledetbrothers9210]

This is a great video, but may I offer my two cents? Another interesting point of discussion about both incarnations of Cuphead are the stylistic differences in terms of influences. *Don’t Deal With The Devil:* The Cuphead video game has a mission in its essence. People often misinterpret this mission as being a homage to Fleischer Studios overall, but that isn’t really true when you think about it. The Fleischer cartoons, while having a meaner and more urban outlook than their competitors, had a lot of range for an animation studio of their day. They had inspiring superhero stories, ground-breaking rotoscoping (which was a method the Fleischers invented), surreal rubber-hose animation that was different from its contemporaries, and an unique urban perspective, so trying to place Cuphead as “the ultimate Fleischer homage” is a little disingenuous. The *Cuphead* mission statement is to be a direct homage to a particular flavor of the Fleischers. The game is an homage to the rubber-hose Fleischer cartoons with a sense of uneasiness, satire, sin, and dread. A great example of this type of Fleischer cartoon is “Swing You Sinners”, which Cuphead can be considered a thematic adaptation and spiritual successor to. This makes Cuphead a very unique game in its presentation, which is why it has critical acclaim. *Fun And A Dash Of Heebie-Jeebies:* The Cuphead Show, unlike the game, has *many* influences in its style and sensibilities. Let us go through the list: • The lovely painted backgrounds, iconic Fred Moore-like character designs, and general family-friendly nature homages the late-1930s Disney cartoons. • The mean tone, occasional surreal imagery, and urban outlook reminds me of the good majority of Fleischers cartoons. • The writing style, general situational comedy format, wacky facial expressions, and personable verbal and slapstick humor take from relatively recent works like SpongeBob SquarePants and vintage works like the Bob Clampett Looney Tunes cartoons. These influences mainly come from the production crew behind The Cuphead Show, who worked on many recent animated series, most notably the recent Mickey Mouse shorts, which give the greatest cue of what this iteration of Cuphead represents. This show is not truly to be an homage to a very specific part of cartooning or anything like that. It is not trying to *be* the Golden Age. It is trying to *love* the Golden Age. It wants to expand on the world and characters of Cuphead, while celebrating old and new cartoon sensibilities. It simply wants to enjoy being a cartoon in its purest form, and that is beautiful in its own way. There’s my two cents.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Fascinating thoughts, thanks! My animation history isn't perfect, so I think it's a tad unfair to call me disingenuous in this case. I've had a couple of animators of the show leave comments, which has provided additional insight into modern show sensibilities.

[@ledetbrothers9210]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy OH! I apologize for that mis-wording on my part. I wasn’t trying to call *you* disingenuous for your statements in the video, but rather make a *general statement* on how the Cuphead game is seen by the general public, and how it should be known for its true inspiration. I also saw those comments from those animator, and it is very insightful.

[@ElTaitronAnim]

Great look at both styles :) "Puppet" animation can be just as difficult as "traditional" animation, especially when you're aiming for the super high quality level of the show. I think all the artists and animators did a fantastic job!

[@death_sh3ll]

I knew there was something "off" while watching the show and playing the game side by side.

[@microdavid7098]

great work. I learned quite a bit

[@FabbrizioPlays]

I'm not upset that the show used rigging, that's fine, but I don't see that as a reason why the style itself had to change. You can do rigged animation that's stylistically true to the rubberhose origins of Cuphead. Nobody forced them to turn it into this spastic Ren and Stimpy looking thing. Not that anything is inherently wrong with emulating SpumCo's style either, but it feels like a fundamental misunderstanding of the appeal of the original. To imply "well it has to look like a 90s cartoon instead of a 30s cartoon because it wasn't animated on paper" feels like a misguided stance to take.

[@Josuh]

This feels like the wrong take to take from this

[@RiaWantsCookies]

so rare to see some love and especially understanding for puppet animation online, brings a tear to my eye. and also yeah the quality of the show animation is still very high!

[@Crystal_959]

I can’t believe some people were not only expecting, but mad that the show was not animated like the game. Even ignoring that, the show still just.. looks really good. Like, come on, just look at it. It has some of the best animation in cartoon today. And it still manages to be faithful while still working as a modern a cartoon. It’s not really going for a direct vintage 1930 cartoon feel, more like a 90s/2000s cartoon taking inspiration from 30s animation but still showing the technological advancement of 2022

[@SPMask]

Nice to see left handed animators!

[@boiled_walrus6960]

10:08 she has great taste in cups

[@404_nowheresnotfound3]

I personally don’t like how the Cuphead show looks but I really dislike people dismissing puppet/rigged animation.

[@kornelpittmann3980]

Great video! I personnaly still think the show couuld have been animated with more frame-by-frame in mind, because the end result does feel less special for me at least, compared the games. And you don't have to rough on paper and ink on real cells, you can do that digitally creating a lot more similar feel to 30's cartoons than you can ever do with rigs. But the show is fine and it looks miles better than a lot of rigged animations. My real problem is that it's main inspiration is not really thirties shorts but the cuphead game itself. There's so much to appreciate in those old shorts that are nowhere to be found the series - like it puts so much emphasis on plot and storytelling and not on the endless funny and grotesque visual jokes of the 30's. Like seriously, looking at any early popeye or mickey mouse or oswald the rabbit - most of them (except the racist ones) are still holding up so well because they're so fresh and constaly showing the viewer new and interesting visual gags you can do with animation. You can see where the animators had a lot of fun with a certain transformation or loops or funny walk cycles - nothing you can really do in a very meticulously planned tv show with animation rigs. The amount of personality that is in say "swing you sinners" is crazy, and that short is in many ways really amateur compared to later cartoons - but for me it's still a lot more fun to look at than anything from the cuphead show. Even old cartoons started to lose a lot of steam where they went in super hard for the narrative, becoming a lot less interesting to look at where characters just constantly talk with each other with the occasional visual gag (relieing more on slapstick than on grotesque humor) . And for me cuphead the game brought back all of that! In the TV show there are some cool montages and interesting visuals that catch you off gard, but they are much rarer and fewer in between. But this was made with a lot of other factors in mind - like time, money, marketability, age groups and the like so I understand why they chose this route, I just wish they actually incorporated more fun ideas from the actual time period they're supposedly mimicking. Who knows when will we ever get another TV show greenlit that is in this style? (as animation's current status looks now, probably never!)

[@thealpacaofsupport258]

I think that fact that the show managed to achieve such good level of animation while using rigged puppets is as impresive as how determined the game's artists were to replicate old cartoon's animation I definitely thought this show was animated normally, but this blew my mind in a great way Great video! Loved seeing someone praising the work put into the series for once instead of just saying that it is bad, lmao

[@gasjebasje99]

The Cuphead show still looks more authentic than the animaniacs reboot, so honestly they nailed it

[@anarchimation1448]

I believe that the Animaniacs reboot is still mostly animated traditionally, save for a few episodes, and I like it’s updated style

[@paulbunyangonewild7596]

You know, I think they both did great things, I couldn't imagine the show looking any different. But the game is a work of art, truly, an experiment, a passion project. They did it that way to prove it could be done and to do it, and they served, they ate.

[@ocarinaplaya]

Is it considered artistic to lose a fight to electric clippers? The hair style these days...

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I don't understand..

[@Miksy51]

Nice of you to show Morphle, my favorite show as an example! Nobody ever gives a shoe about this series. No reviews about it. edit: ToonBoom seems to be expensive, so blender is a free option.

[@diskdem0n]

i had no idea it used rigging…the show looks so clean..!

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

It still uses frame by frame animation too. But yes, it is very well done!

[@diegoresendezsanchez6979]

Great video! :)

[@chuchu9649]

I didn’t realise modern animation used rigging to such an extent. It has come such a long way since My Little Pony. You blew my mind! And I thought I knew everything about the animation process!

[@CitrusArchitect]

Rigged shows can and do have actual drawings though, right? It’s not just vectors, they’ll hand-draw (digitally) the storyboards and put some of those original drawings directly into the show, or at least adapt them as closely as possible. I just feel like there’s some facial expressions that you’ll only see once in the show and never again.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Oh yeah so I probably wasn't clear in the video, which is my bad, but rigged doesn't _just_ mean it's puppeted, most of the time it has frame by frame animation with it also.

[@vincentpauvarel]

The Cuphead Show is honestly an example of puppet rig, tweening animation done right. Because it's so expressive, fluid and there's attention to detail. Compare it to Looney Tunes Cartoons for example, specifically the episodes that are completely animated through puppet rig style(animated by Yowza Studio). The characters' movements are so robotic and liveless, the characters are even badly drawn at times. The Cuphead Show's animation quality is basically what Lighthouse Studio achieved but Yowza couldn't, puppet rig animation that almost matches traditional quality

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Oh of course. The examples I used in the video of what good rigged animation looks like are great shows.

[@vincentpauvarel]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Not saying Looney Tunes Cartoons is bad. It's good for the most part, and most of the episodes where frame to frame animation is present look great. But whenever there's an episode animated by Yowza studio, that specifically does puppet rig animation. It looks kind of not good. Take a look at Grilled Rabbit or School Buzzard and you'll see right away

[@Mivaman]

9:54 - A brief glimpse of KZbin's recs for Dan? Can I feel like a super cool guy that they look just like mine?

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yeah it's all the same stuff 👍🏻

[@Mind_Crimes]

Cartoons were mostly grounded in visual gags & physical sequences in terms of narrative direction where you don't see much of a shift until about the early 80s. Its probably why much early action cartoons from the 50s/60s feel stilted, relying on more limited animation to compensate for scope on more serial-type storytelling. Outside of maybe theatrical features, it wasn't until the early 90s where the character sitcom format came into the fore exemplifed by Nicktoons & its contemporaries (probably propelled by the 'creative limitations' of TV production.) Its as if the goals of engagement between the Cuphead game & show compliment these two types of animation narratives respectively. An action platformer necessitates more present-tense, purposeful animations (movement controls, boss tells, attack sequences on command) that are suited to the spectacle pieces that typify Golden Era. Whereas the show needs its characters to carry its heftier runtime, so scene writing leads to more situational & open-ended opportunities compared to the confines of game code.

[@squidjam]

I would have loved if you had dwelved deeper into the differences in how both manage camera angles, which is what "broke" the cartoon to me. There's way too much "modern" into a vintage aesthetic of movement and "from where we watch". I still feel there's something "missing" in the show that's done more pleasantly in the gane. But, I lack the skillset and knowledge to put all that into the right wording... But you do get "the gist" of what I mean by watching your own thumbnail and finding the (to me, jarring) differences.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yeah that might have been an interesting thing to explore, too!

[@Dargonhuman]

While I respect and acknowledge the passion, energy and effort put into the show, it's just too different from the aesthetic of the game for me to get into it. It's not a bad show by any means, I just recognize that I'm not the target audience for it.

[@Masterho310]

Cuphead = Masterpiece of a video game / mediocre cartoon

[@jasonx5292]

_You stay cool dude_ 😎

[@luisgamercool6980]

A wise man once said “am I a man or am I a muppet?”

[@NemoNobodySMT]

Love both animations of the show and the game, I don't see why people should hate the show for some "muh accuracy to ViDeO gAmE".

[@lukerogers1440]

Thanks for this Dan, it’s another great video. If I’m honest, I’ve been guilty of dismissing puppet-driven animation as inferior to frame-by-frame, largely because there’s such an abundance of low quality puppet animation out there. But it’s nice to be proven wrong. I guess the tools don’t really matter that much - if you pour enough love and care into what you’re creating, it will always show in the end result.

[@UT-Chara]

forget the video, i adore that scene at the very end with you playing with i assume your daughter or smth

[@coffeejinx1502]

I'm happy you showed the pros and cons of both techniques, not one is superior to the other. Unfortunately, the comments say otherwise.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I think those sorts of comments simply looked at the title without watching the video.

[@baconlabs]

So, Cuphead vs. Djimmi's Fake Cuphead? I joké, and I'm seriously looking forward to this, "puppet" animation has been on my mind a LOT lately

[@PhilipJFryII]

Awesome video 📹 👏

[@TeerThePuppet]

Animating the rig frame by frame is difficult, yet that is what I have chosen.

[@6lbsofshrimp]

Looking forward to the battle network video! Love this channel and hope you're doing ok.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Hey thanks ever so much! I'm alright thanks, bit of a busy boy these days but still find time to produce these once in a while, prioritising mental health 'n all that! 👍

[@6lbsofshrimp]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy ahhh that's great to hear! Honestly for the best, always prioritize your mental health. Happy you see you still active from time to time, until next time best of luck with everything!

[@retro3188]

Epic!

[@izuto727]

While i prefer hand drawn animation(it doesn't have to be on paper), i think i rather have a smooth rigged animation than a very limited hand drawn animation due to tight deadline

[@icecreamhero2375]

I can tell the Cuphead show is rigged but it looks super good and close to being hand drawn.

[@hypershadix1]

I hope that one day we will return to traditional animated shows Dan. I can’t remember the last time I saw a tv show that was animated with the traditional style which was used such a long time ago

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Personally, I doubt we'll make shows the way the Cuphead show is made, on paper. But I'm sure there's shows which are animated frame by frame digitally.

[@novicenoobtube450]

Ed edd n eddy was the last traditionally drawn show before needing to switch to digital in the season five revival that being said season 4 and 5 and the movie had amazing animations for how detailed the characters where

[@hypershadix1]

Well at least we have workarounds and I’m fine with that

[@izuto727]

Regular Show, Amphibia and The Owl House is animated on paper, but colored digitally like modern anime and Cuphead game

[@novicenoobtube450]

@@izuto727 no there not? all three are animated digitally the backgrounds my be handrawn on paper though pull up an episode of ed edd n eddy season 4 then go to a season five episode you can tell what's digital and what clearly is handrawn

[@anarchohelenism]

Nothing beats traditional. Absolutely nothing.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Not stop motion?

[@anarchohelenism]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy did i stutter

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Well it's just some might call stop motion tradition as well 🤷🏻‍♂️ What do _you_ mean by traditional?

[@anarchohelenism]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Sorry, I meant 2D animation. I like all forms of animation but I'm trying to make a 2D animation myself rn.

[@JaredNighteye872]

Cuphead and Mugman the game versions and the show versions are cute right

[@loodgack]

all I noticed from the clips so far, is that they often copypaste Cuphead and Mugman's parts / poses when they move in similar way. I know modern animation and deadlines etc and I know old cel animations did that too, but still, noticed

[@SoenyCentral]

I’ve just never liked “tweening” and “puppeteering” in animation. It’s a shame that this newer generation of cartoons heavily relies on puppeteering in there animations. Cartoons that are hand drawn will always be the superior way in animating cartoons in general, I’m apart of this newer generation of animators. And I will proudly say that I will never use puppeteering methods in my animations, EVER… Ive never liked or used it in the past and I definitely won’t ever use it now.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I think "superior" is subjective. Have you seen Hilda?

[@SoenyCentral]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy I have seen Hilda, I can see how the animation can be praised for how smooth the tweening and puppeteer animation is. So why couldn't have been animated by hand the whole show? It's because using these newer technicas are easier and cheaper to do, And it really shows, along "Looney Tunes Cartoons" "Cuphead Show" and especially the "Animaniacs Reboot" Cartoons were able to be animated during the early 2000's and late 90's and they all looked way better than anything that will ever come out today.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

If you can't appreciate how good Hilda looks or something like Bluey, then I don't know what to say 🤷🏻‍♂️ I just enjoy all sorts of animation, not one process is superior over another, I don't think.

[@skrub_king]

Why did that fake end actually get me

[@AlastairGames]

How do you combine both techniques? Perhaps using the puppet for the transitions between the drawn poses?

[@spectrobit5554]

Damn, why didn't KZbin notify me sooner. Better late than never.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Nah things to age on the internet like normal things. Comment / watch anytime!

[@CharlieBoy1089]

Great video

[@elumbreonespacial4361]

Off topic, but please, make a video about Pizza Tower animation.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Maybe one day. Been following that game for years.

[@thatguystar817]

Wow okay I didnt really see the old cartoon style for the game, but the show Yeah no, i can see it now Oh yeah btw i havent seen the cartoons of the '30 except for videos like these

[@ObaREX]

While the animation of the show is different, it's clear they go all out with what they got.