>>111742341The fact that our 2D animator workforce has been increasingly outsourced since cartoons started airing on TV 60+ years ago is a pretty big indicator that we're in a dark age as artists are not allowed to properly collaborate with the product they're making.
The reason the 90's was a resurgence was because despite still outsourcing, a lot more key moments were done in-house, bringing back layout artists allowed for increase in quality control per shot, and talented 2D animators were able to go overseas to teach some of the Korean animation teams the timing and movement that these cartoons should have.
The death of the layout artist was a big sign that it became more about dollar signs than quality control, forcing storyboard artists (Often newbie graduates who you can pay less than a veteran with contractual union benefits) to work more while being underskilled and the communication between Korean animators and American teams dropped back to what it was before 90's era.
The less collaboration you allow your artists to have for big team projects, the more of a dark period you enter because the nature is inherently strictly business rather than art that happens to make money. This is no different than modern actors who sometimes don't even get to act on-screen with each other and instead are just in front of a greenscreen and other actors will be added in post.
