You don’t have to be a cartoonist to have animation be a big part of your life. Animation is everywhere—in our homes, schools, work, and everywhere there’s a screen. And if you grew up in the United States, chances are you’ve witnessed seminal accomplishments in animation history without even knowing it. Does Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ring a bell? What about Toy Story…or The Flintstones? These works marked important milestones in animation, an art form that continuously challenges its creators to push technology so artists can to bring to life what the mind can imagine. Let’s celebrate it.
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don’t have to be a cartoonist to have animation be a big part of your life. Animation
is everywhere—in our homes, schools, work,
and everywhere there’s a screen. And
if you grew up in
the United States, chances are you’ve witnessed seminal
accomplishments in animation history without even
knowing it. Does Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ring
a
bell? What about Toy Story…or The Flintstones? These
works marked
important milestones in animation, an
art form that continuously challenges its
creators to
push technology so that anything that can be imagined
can also be brought to life.
Archeological artifacts prove that we’ve been attempting to depict things in motion as long as we’ve been able to draw. Some notable examples from ancient times, as well as an example from the
European Renaissance, include:
A bronze-age pottery bowl depicts goats leaping
(Shahr-e Sukhteh, Iran).
A bronze-age pottery bowl depicts goats leaping
(Shahr-e Sukhteh, Iran).
Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man drawing shows
multiple angles, implying movement.
With the spread of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th centuries came experimentation with machines that would make images appear to move.
The Magic Lantern is an image projector using pictures on sheets of glass. Since some sheets contain moving parts, it is considered the first example of projected animation.
The thaumatrope housed a rotating mechanism with a different
picture on each side.
When rotated, you saw a combined picture (known as persistence
of vision).
The phenakitoscope featured spinning disks reflected in
mirrors that
made it seem like the pictures were moving.
The zoetrope was a hollow drum that housed images on long interchangeable
strips that spin and made the images appear to move.
The flip-book, also known as the kineograph, reached a wide
audience and is credited
with inspiring early animators more than the machines
developed in this era.
The praxinoscope expanded on the zoetrope, using multiple
wheels to rotate images.
It is considered to have shown the first prototypes of
the animated cartoon.
The early 20th century marks the beginning of theatrical showings of cartoons, especially in the United States and France. Many animators form studios, with Bray Studios in New York proving the most successful of this era. Bray helped launch the careers of the cartoonists that created Mighty Mouse, Betty Boop, and Woody Woodpecker.
marks the first entirely animated film, using stop-motion
photography to create action.
is the first animated film using hand-drawn animation, and is considered
by film historians to be the first animated cartoon.
A bronze-age pottery bowl depicts goats leaping
(Shahr-e Sukhteh, Iran).
Musical Mews and Feline Follies introduced Felix the Cat—often
considered the first animated movie star.
is considered the first cartoon to feature
an appealing
character.
Musical Mews and Feline Follies introduced Felix the Cat—often considered the first animated movie star.
featuring Mickey Mouse—becomes the first cartoon with the sound printed on the film,
and is the first notable success for Walt Disney Studios, founded in Los Angeles in 1923.
Rare original layout drawing featuring Mickey
and Black Pete from Steamboat Willie.
This original page from the script of Steamboat Willie,
was found in Walt Disney’s files years after he died.
isney was born on December 5, 1901, in Hermosa
Illinois. He and his brother Roy co-founded Walt Disney Productions, which became one of the best-known motion-picture production companies in the world.
Disney was an innovative animator and created the cartoon character Mickey Mouse. He won 22 Academy Awards
during his lifetime, and was the founder of theme parks Disneyland and Walt Disney World. As an animator and
entrepreneur, Disney was particularly noted as a filmmaker and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created numerous
fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. Disney himself was the original voice for Mickey. In addition to his Academy Awards, Disney won seven Emmy Awards. Today, there are Disney theme parks around the world, including Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong.
During what many consider to be the “Golden Age” of animation, theatrical cartoons became an integral part of popular culture. These years are defined by the rise of Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Silly Symphonies), Warner Brothers, MGM, and Fleischer (Betty Boop, Popeye).
Walt Disney releases Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first animated
feature to use hand-drawn animation.
The voice of the Wicked Queen, was able to achieve
the raspy Old Hag’s voice by removing her dentures.
It took almost two years to come up with
the final renderings of the Seven Dwarfs.
The animation industry began to adapt to the fact that television continued its rise as the
entertainment medium of choice for American families. Studios created many cartoons for TV, using a “limited animation” style. By the mid ‘80s, with help from cable channels such as The Disney Channel and Nickolodeon, cartoons were ubiquitous on TV.
Hanna-Barbera releases The Flintstones, the first animated
series on prime-time television.
The Yogi Bear Show, a spin-off of Huckleberry Hound
(another Hanna-Barbera production), debuts on national TV.
DePatie-Freleng Enterprises wins the Academy Award for Best Short Film
for The PinkPhink (of the Pink Panther series) and continues to
create shorts for theatrical release.
Fritz the Cat is released—the first animated
adult (X-rated) feature film.
Fritz the Cat is released—the first animated
adult (X-rated) feature film.
The CGI (computer generated imagery) revolutionized animation. A principal difference of CGI animation compared to traditional animation is that drawing is replaced by 3D modeling, almost like a virtual version of stop-motion. A form of animation that combines the two and uses 2D computer drawing can be considered computer aided animation.
The Adventures of Andre and Wally B., the first
fully CGI-animated film short
The Simpsons is an American adult animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running American scripted primetime television series.
Toy Story, the first fully computer-animated
feature film, was released.
Big Hero 6 is the first Disney animated film
to feature Marvel Comics characters
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