World Screen News, “a 20-year-old publication covering the international television business,” is featuring an article titled ‘Tools of the Trade.’ It covers quite a bit of ground, discussing the various animation production methods used on shows from around the world. About half-way through the article, the discussion turns to Flash animation, and several studios, including Prism Entertainment, Cuppa Coffee, Cosgrove Hall and Cartoon Pizza, are mentioned throughout. The article also revealed a few Flash productions that hadn’t yet been mentioned here on Cold, Hard Flash, for example – ‘Roobarb and Custard’ and ‘Bin Weevils.’

Below are a few quotes from Katy Elliott’s article that I found particularly interesting, but click here to see the entire piece.

“If The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle was in production today, more than likely it would utilize Flash animation,” adds PorchLight’s Schaefer. “The simple yet striking designs, the lack of action, and humorous wordplay don’t require full-movement 2-D animation.”

So Flash is about much more than saving money. Many say it is unfairly maligned as the cheap and cheerful option, and that the effect achievable with Flash is truly unique, especially now that so many expert traditional animators are trained to use it.

…Cosgrove Hall’s Doyle agrees. “I’d like to dispel people’s views about Flash,” he says. “We’ve bolted it on to our traditional 2-D production process. When people hear of Flash they think of very simplistic Internet animation, but it’s a good tool for doing 2-D animation…you can emulate soft pencil-type drawing, for example.”

“Pinky Dinky Doo, an animation series we are producing with Cartoon Pizza, takes Flash to the next level by incorporating photo-realistic backgrounds to this animated world. This mixed-media style gives this Flash piece a new and fresh look for kids’ TV.”

However, others claim that CGI costs are now only about 10 percent to 15 percent higher than traditional animation, with 2-D costs standing at $300,000 to $350,000 per 30 minutes, 3-D at $330,000 to $370,000, and Flash at about $200,000.