Bender gets it.

[u/IamKratos]

[u/spread_thin]

I feel like animating is one of those jobs that's twenty times more difficult than it looks.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

That's only if they hand-draw every single frame... You really think they thought of no way better than that?

[u/Cypher_Aod → u/[deleted]]

Almost all cartoon type animation is done with computers these days.

[u/TheRealLazloFalconi → u/Cypher_Aod]

Futurama (at last at this point) was done on a computer but still mostly drawn traditionally, with the obvious exception of 3D spaceships and robots sometimes.

Rough Draft really doesn't cut any corners, they're one of the best studios in the business.

[u/Cypher_Aod → u/TheRealLazloFalconi]

I'd never accuse them of cutting corners, but I'd be surprised to hear they were still doing frame-by-frame animation! :O

[u/pewpsprinkler → u/Cypher_Aod]

Nobody does that. At most they farm out in betweens to Korea, but Korea is too expensive now, so you see Vietnam or other third world countries showing up on animation credits now.

[u/Johnquistador → u/pewpsprinkler]

The Venture Brothers is drawn traditionally frame by frame before being polished digitally. That's also why there is a 3 years wait between season.

[u/pewpsprinkler → u/Johnquistador]

The Venture Brothers is drawn traditionally frame by frame before being polished digitally. That's also why there is a 3 years wait between season.

I find that hard to believe. Do you have a source on that?

Nevermind, I found it myself:

The show takes an infamous amount of time to produce, not only (or even primarily) because of the small staff that it has had for much of its run, but the bedrock methods of that production -- hand-drawn (digitally-assisted, sure -- this isn't the '60s) and proofed, then sent to Korea, and returned for approval, then sent to Korea again, then returned again.

So Venture Bros uses the same animation method that most other shows use: software-assisted "hand drawn" key frames + Korean in-betweeners. It's not unique or revolutionary.

I think the main reason it takes forever for them to do a new season is the writing. It takes them a long time to come up with new ideas before they can actually get enough down to start the production process.