Thin-line animation is a stylistic trend that has emerged in The New '10s based more around thinner lines, rounder shapes and noodle-like appendages. All while still being distinctively western. This style may have emerged for a number of different reasons. The emergence of anime and their influences on western cartoonists have made them focused less on detail. Different coloring techniques with digital art may have removed the need for thicker lines, and thus it only remains when it's a stylistic choice. The need for quicker, cheaper animation after the economic downturn may also drive the desire for more cheap, yet still pleasing animation styles. It also may be due to the widespread adoption of high-definition (HD) televisions - before HD, small features such as thin lines in an image tended to flicker and/or disappear depending on their angle and motion; HD allowed the freedom for this new, previously unattainable style. It's also known as the "CalArts Style," due to allegedly being spread by alumni from the California Institute of the Arts. The term was originally coined by The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi on his blog, where the original meaning became completely warped over time.
Some bemoan the style as a lazy derivative of Adventure Time, as many current animators with the style have worked on the show. Others say that the style is just another periodic style that has dominated in a time period, like John Kricfalusi's influence in the early 90s, Thick-Line Animation of the late 90s, or the animesque shows of the mid 2000s. Despite this, the style has endured and is used during more quiet atmospheric moments.
In a way, this trope (or at least its base principles) is actually Older Than Television, since many cartoon shorts during The Silent Age of Animation (particularly those made by Disney and Max and Dave Fleischer) featured rounded ball-and-noodle art-styles and thin outlines. However, it was often done out of necessity since the simplistic designs made things easier on the animators at the time.
Compare Puni Plush and Animesque, contrast with Thick-Line Animation.
Examples
- Many of the earliest animes from The '60s, such as Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, featured this type of style. Justified, in that a lot of these works were influenced by cartoons made during the Silent and Golden age of animation.
- Kirby: Right Back at Ya! zigzagged this trope, with its combination of rounded designs note and angular designs note .
- One Piece is one of the few modern animes to use this trope. Its art-style, while far from simplistic, is noticeably more rounded and cartoony compared to other anime at the time of its initial premiere. It lessened over time, however, with the art-style becoming more angular and complex.
- The Sun & Moon era of the Pokémon anime. Everyone looks much more rounded compared to previous eras, like a quasi Steven Universe with a Pokémon coat of paint. In fact, not only has the palette gone for a much more pastel inspired look, but also did the eponymous Pokémon themselves.
- Adventure Time: Probably the one that singlehandedly popularized the modern trend in animation.
- Apple and Onion
- The Amazing World of Gumball: Certain characters, such as the Watterson and Fitzgerald families, are drawn in a rounded style. The change in art style between the first two seasons made several character designs more round and less rectangular (particularly with the Wattersons), though it also made the outlines thicker.
- Amphibia
- Atomic Puppet: Although the outlines are thicker than most examples, the shapes and designs are thin-line.
- Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!:
Pan Pizza: They look like characters from Family Guy — no, no wait, they look like characters from Brickleberry — no, no wait, they look like assholes from Brickleberry!
- Ben 10 (2016)
- Big City Greens
- Billy Dilley's Super Duper Subterranean Summer
- Bob's Burgers
- Bravest Warriors: The show was created by Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward, and shares the same art-style.
- Breadwinners: While it does have a rounded art-style, the outlines are more thickish.
- Brickleberry
- Camp Camp
- Chowder is considered a pioneer of the style, despite the characters having slightly rougher lines than the others on the list.
- Clarence: The episode "Goldfish Follies" highlights this style's inherent similarity to the Inkblot Cartoon Style.
- The works of Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show) use a less noodle-y but still simplistic and rounded art-style.
- Craig of the Creek
- Cupcake & Dino: General Services
- Future-Worm!
- Gravity Falls: The art-style is rounded, but compared to Breadwinners above, the outlines are more in between thin and thick.
- Harvey Beaks
- Hilda
- Hotel Transylvania: The Series
- Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh
- The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack: The show's staff, in fact, included Alex Hirsch, Pendleton Ward, and others as storyboarders, who would all later do their own shows.
- OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
- Over the Garden Wall
- The Owl House
- Pickle and Peanut
- Pinky Malinky
- The Powerpuff Girls (2016) uses this style in sharp contrast to the original's more angular thick-line art-style. Notably, the Powerpuff Girls in the original series had a Non-Standard Character Design that could be considered a prototypical version of this style.
- Regular Show: This is more straight in later seasons when the outlines became thinner.
- Rick and Morty
- The 7D
- The Simpsons is considered the Ur-Example of this style.
- Futurama and Disenchantment, both also from Matt Groening, follow a similar artstyle.
- Spliced
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil: The outlines started off thick but became relatively thinner following the change in animation studios in the middle of the first season.
- Steven Universe: Compared to some of the other shows listed here, the outlines for this particular show remain consistently thick, and the characters have fairly realistic proportions.
- Sanjay and Craig: Features character designer Jay Howell, who also worked for Bob's Burgers.
- ThunderCats Roar: Part of the backlash surrounding it comes from its use of this style.
- Uncle Grandpa: Again, rounded art-style but with relatively thick outlines.
- Victor and Valentino
- We Bare Bears: It's mostly with the Funny Animal characters. Humans have less noodle-y proportions.
- Welcome to the Wayne
- Wishfart
