Scratch It Out.

We have some sad news to report today, folks. That type of drawing and animation seen in the picture above that Walt himself perfected and took pride in no longer exists at The Walt Disney Company.

Earlier last week, Disney marked the end of the hand-drawn animation department by laying off many of the veteran animators in Walt Disney Animation Studios which perfected the art for years through the multiple ground-breaking and award-winning films this generation has seen and beyond Walt himself.

Although the reason for the cuts haven’t been revealed, many speculate that the Disney is just prepping itself for the future with the transition of all their animated films now coming from computers, which would cut costs.

Although costs must be cut as the business grows, we still believe that the art form of hand drawn animation can still live on, don’t you think? We aren’t Disney “purists,” but we do think that hand drawn animation still brings a lot of emotion to films with the stroke of every animator’s pencil. Take “Paperman”!

Although the end of an era has come and the cuts have been made, we still hope that animators and their pencils will eventually make their way back to the desk creating the films that we’ve loved.

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What do you all think about the loss of the hand drawn animation department at Disney? Do you remember the hand drawn animated films? Do you think hand drawn animation differs from computer animation? Let us know in the comments!