 After 1921 , when Hearst learned McCay devoted more of his time to animation than to his newspaper illustrations , Hearst required McCay to give up animation . He had plans for several animation projects that never came to fruition , including a collaboration with Jungle Imps author George Randolph Chester , a musical film called The Barnyard Band , and a film about the Americans ' role in World War I. Later in life , McCay at times publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the animation industry as it had become — he had envisioned animation as an art , and lamented how it had become a trade . According to Canemaker , it was not until Disney 's feature films in the 1930s that the animation industry caught up with McCay 's level of technique . 
