First Look Images at Disney’s 2D/CGI Animated Short ‘Paperman’

There has been a lot of buzz about Disney’s upcoming 2D/CGI animated short Paperman, but Disney finally gave us our official first look images of the short along with an interview with director John Kahrs.

The images come from EW and are truly breathtaking. The three images from the romantic animated short show the two main characters: “a young man in NYC” and “the girl of his dreams.” We can’t stop gushing over them because they have so much depth and charm.  The two main characters and their dilemma feel almost like Anita and Roger from Disney’s animated classic 101 Dalmations.

In the interview, Kahrs described the character design of the leading lady and man:

I didn’t want her to be too beautiful, because then she’d feel like she’s out of his league. And I wanted him to seem like kind of a normal dude, but still cute enough that she might date him. When you see them together in the first shot, you should understand that it’s the first time they’re meeting, but you feel like maybe they’re already a couple.

A new in-house technology, called Meander, was used to create the unique hybrid look of Paperman and was created by Disney software engineer Brian Whited. Meader allowed animators to create everything first digitally, then layer hand-drawn animation on top of those images. In describing the technique Kahrs said, “What you’re seeing is a very stylized CG layer [underneath the 2D drawing], but the feel of the image is very flat and lives in between the two.”

Many say that the traditionally hand-drawn animated film is dead. Personally, we absolutely adore 2D animation and wish there were much more films released nowadays. But, according to Kahrs, Paperman may be the key to convincing studios and audiences to bring it back:

“Drawing can have a really powerful, visceral effect on the viewer. You can create anger and surprise or anguish with just a few lines of a pencil. But it can’t just be the same thing it was. I think for 2-D to be revitalized, you have to figure out a way to make it new again.”

Paperman hits theatres with Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph on November 2, 2012. What are your thoughts about the images? We can’t wait!