Will web animation ever 'die out'?

[1GuyNOdosh]

In all honestly this has been concerning me ever so slightly, as well as surprising me in a bittersweet way.

These days we see more and more individuals thriving in Newgrounds & Youtube with very high quality animations for very good, effective and unique topics/subjects (as well as some overdone ones of course), yet they garner less recognition and appreciation than say older entries like 'tarboy', 'ultimate showdown', 'Metal Gear Awesome', which most people would recognise.
Is this a decline in significance, or an increase in awareness?

Personally I have been hindered a bit from over-preparation and anticipation. Been at most studying the medium a few years, unable to submit in that time due a more perfectionist attitude which was initially absent (my very first entry got blammed back when I was new here); that alongside the need to use my friend's laptop for practicing on Adobe Flash. I cannot afford Flash yet, nor do I have the open use of Photoshop, After Effects, etc. It is a life-long ambition of mine to become a professional 2D animator, artist and, to some extent, general media designer. The quality and relevance of the products I hope to work on mean to me much more than the quantity and speed of publication, which understandably can be discouraging for beginners already in the artistic fields. It is of course something I'd like to carry on to future generations some day, helping ensure the art lives on. That is pretty much why I find it tricky.
Enough about me however.

My point is, would it be at all credible to work on such an area long term when not only is the appeal shifting further towards accuracy and realism (3D, CGI, live action, etc) which admittedly I like to see, but is seemingly becoming easier and more accessible to people and perhaps taken for granted by mainstream audiences.
Is it worth the time planning and training for the future with these prospects?

It isn't difficult to see revelations which are less encouraging in both theatres and TV, such as Disney's refusal to create any more 2D films (the magic which made them, no less), and the growing stereotype of 2D considered merely for 'kid's' as is evident in programs for ages below 16 (with minor exceptions like adultswim). I do feel (& hope) that a certain era of open mindedness and welcoming variety beckons a solid return of the framework we are most accustomed to, something similar to the musical fandoms over the past 50 years or so, where some genres which would be deemed silly and a waste of time slowly blossom creating their own branch of sub-genres and fans sharing those unique tastes in the thousands. I mean of course similar to the retro art styles which have been returning, a good example are the many variations of punk we now have.

Seems discouraging when slowly less work is considered original now that everything has been tried/tested to some extent, people can accuse others of using their ideas, plus it's even worse now that the musical industries have increasingly clamped down on those who use their songs even if it is for non profit/commercial use, regardless of the length used.

So, do you feel this will gradually become less significant? Will the other fields simply take centre stage? Will everything stay unquestionably stable forever? Please forgive me for perhaps being very vague, I wouldn't necessarily call it a vague topic. I'd just like your honest opinion on what to expect and how to deal with it.

[Celshaded]

Web animation is a lovely beast that will never die! Not at this point anyway. Right now is the best time to be producing stuff online. The fact that people are able to make a living just doing web animation answers that question. I don't think the newer artist on NG are getting less appreciation, I just think the bar has been raised, really really high. Back in the day you could post some motion tweened crap that you spent an hour on and it would be front paged because people were still discovering how to tap into the true power of Flash and also had to deal with a lot of limitations of that era like bandwidth and file size. A lot of those guys you mentioned only really gained their acclaim based on longevity and the fact that they are able to produce a large body of work over a number of years.

But nowadays, individuals are doing television, hell even movie quality animation on here and a new standard has been set. If you want recognition on this site now, you gotta bring your A game, simple as that.

To answer the other part of your question: The thing that makes web animation work is that there is no mainstream audience. There's no preset parameters or bias. There's nobody stopping you from doing what you want but you.

You're like the 4th person I've seen this week bring up that originality thing as an excuse not to produce content. That makes absolutely no sense to me because if 30 people make 30 different westerns, each one will be original because each one of those people is an individual.

I don't know, I just think you are really over thinking the whole thing. It's not as complicated as that. If you want to make cartoons, you should make cartoons and not worry about all that extra stuff. I guarantee every high level artist out there will agree that they could give 2 shits about whether or not they are relevant or will be appreciated for years to come. They animate because it's something they love to do.

I'm not sure if I stayed on topic entirely (because like you said, the question was kind of vague), but that's my opinion on the subject.