The funny thing is that Doug did work as a graphic designer at one point. So you'd think he'd know animation but I guess not considering his prowess as a filmmaker.
I am not sure he was a "graphic designer" but more of an illustrator/cartoonist?
Illustration and animation are not really the same thing.
I have worked in both and I can tell you they require different kinds/levels of knowledge.
In some kind of nutshell, illustration is about doing pretty individual drawings to accommodate a text or concept... and follow the vision of a single person.
While animation is about making a drawing move in a believable but appealing way (you cannot just draw a character in a pose and draw the inbetweens as you please), and unless you have the patience and energy to slave yourself for ages, this is a team work. Character design, backgrounds, screen composition, editing... you need to compromise a lot.
You tend to have free range as an illustrator, (but ya know, acquired taste and all) but as an animator, learning anatomy and "solid" drawings in order to make them believable in motion is important.
Some animators have managed to work well as illustrators (such as Greg Martin who did the
Sonic the Hedgehog game covers), but I have rarely heard of the opposite.
Have you seen Doug's attempts at "animation" in his reviews? (Casper, Elephant in the Living Room, Spazzies, etc) It is extremely basic and stiff.
Maybe he could do better, but as far as I know, he has not shown a true knowledge of animation besides "open mouth, close mouth, drag character with Adobe Premiere".
Chad Rocco and Andrew Dickman are artists who know how to do actual animation, and you may have seen their work on Channel Awesome. They have been kinda out of the limelight these days, however...
