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5,300 | In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.” | paragraph | Sign up
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# ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES
·
10 min read
·
May 21, 2024
--
Listen
Share
An almost Exhaustive Look at the Various Animation Techniques used throughout History.
Article by: Nhlakanipho Kubheka
Animation, an intricate art form, has evolved significantly throughout history, showcasing a diverse range of techniques employed by artists to bring still images to life. At its core, animation involves the creation of moving images through a series of carefully crafted iterations, each subtly different from the last to convey fluid motion. From the early days of hand-drawn animation, where artists painstakingly crafted each frame, to the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and advanced digital techniques, animation has continuously evolved, pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation.As we delve into the intricate world of animation, we’ll explore the innovation, creativity, and ingenuity that have propelled these techniques to the forefront of visual storytelling.
CEL ANIMATION
Disney captivated audiences for generations with its cel animation in the 20th century. This traditional hand-drawn technique transformed the visual landscape of cinema. But what exactly is cel animation, and how does it function? Explore the comprehensive breakdown in our expert guide. Artists at Walt Disney Studios popularized the technique during the 1930s. Cel animation became standard practice from the 1950s through the 1980s, highlighted by films like The Little Mermaid.
However, by the early 1990s, the digital era emerged. Initially, computers were employed for coloring film, but soon the entire process transitioned to digital handling, as explained by Disney animator Floyd Norman to Collider. Despite this shift, critics, artists, and cinema enthusiasts fondly remember the era of cel animation as a golden age.
Cel animation vs. digital animation: key differences. Cel animation dominated Hollywood for much of the 20th century, thanks to its popularization by Walt Disney Studios. It wasn’t until 1995 that the first computer-generated film arrived with Toy Story, from the then-new studio, Pixar. But what sets digital animation apart from traditional animation?
Hand-drawn vs. computer-designed
The primary distinction between these two animation types lies in their creation process. Cel animation involves artists drawing by hand onto celluloid sheets, known as animated cels, while digital animation is primarily created using software and computers.
Algorithm vs. artistry.
Disney animators working on films like Snow White were primarily artists, using pens, pencils, and paints as their tools. On the other hand, CGI creators work with algorithms and 3D graphics. While CGI artists demonstrate vast creative skills, their approach differs from the hand-drawn finesse of traditional animation, which resembles fine art.
Large teams vs. smaller teams.
Producing films using traditional animation and animated cels required significant resources. With each frame hand-drawn, productions needed numerous animators. In contrast, CGI films could be created with fewer people in less time.
Examples of cel animation. Cel animation gained public attention in the late 1930s when Disney used the technique in its animated films, bringing color, movement, and realism to animated films.
Some notable examples include:
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• The Lion King (1994)
• The Princess and the Frog (2009)
How to Make Traditional Animation:
While traditional cel animations have been largely replaced by CGI and other digital animation techniques, you can still create a cel animation today. Here’s how:
• Gather the right tools: Traditional animation relies on pens, pencils, and paper.
• Source your plastic: You’ll need a thin sheet of colorless, transparent, and flexible plastic for your animated cel.
• Draw your outline: Hand-draw the outline on the front of the plastic sheet.
• Add color: On the flip side of your sheet, add color and detail within the outline.
• Repeat for each frame: Draw and fill an outline for each frame in your scene.
• Create a background: Design the background of the scene separately.
- Place the animation: Place the animation cels over your background and photograph each frame.
Traditional Animation Techniques
Traditional animation comprises several techniques and processes, including cel animation. To understand how those iconic animations were created, let’s explore some of these techniques:
Cel drawing: Hand drawing individual frames of animation on thin, transparent plastic sheets.
These animations, called animated cels, popularized by Disney in the late 1930s, were placed over pre-created backgrounds and photographed.
Cel overlay: Part of the cel animation process that transformed animated filmmaking in the mid-20th century. Characters were hand-drawn on plastic sheets and placed over existing backgrounds, enabling characters to move and change positions and expressions.
Limited animation: Created as a compromise to the time-consuming process of frame-by-frame cel drawing, limited animation techniques re-used existing frames wherever possible, only creating new animated cels when necessary.
Animation loops: Short, simple sequences of animation set to continually replay. Animation loops date back to the early 1900s, with digital technology transforming their potential in recent years.
Multiplane processes: Disney revolutionized cel animation with the multiplane camera in the late 1930s. This camera introduced different levels or planes with characters and objects placed at different levels, creating a sense of depth in animations.
Xerography: Disney utilized Xerox’s technique to streamline the cel animation process in the production of 101 Dalmatians in 1959/60. Scanning drawings directly onto cels saved animators time and money.
Rotoscoping: A technique used by animators to bring realistic movement to characters by tracing over footage of characters as they move frame by frame. Rotoscoping was developed in the early1900s and brought to the big screen by Disney in Snow White in 1937.
DISCUSSING ROTOSCOPING IN DETAIL
Rotoscoping is an animation technique where animators trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to create realistic action. Initially, live-action movie images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper using a device called a rotoscope, invented by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer. Although computers have since replaced this equipment, the process remains known as rotoscoping.
In the visual effects industry, rotoscoping involves manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate, allowing it to be composited over a different background. While chroma keying is more commonly used for background replacement due to its speed and reduced post-production work, rotoscoping offers higher accuracy and can be used alongside chroma keying. Additionally, rotoscoping is useful when the subject is not filmed against a green or blue screen or for practical or economic reasons.
Technique:
Rotoscoping has long been a critical tool for visual effects in live-action films. By meticulously tracing an object, filmmakers generate a silhouette, or matte, which allows them to seamlessly extract the object from one scene and integrate it into another background. While blue- and greenscreen techniques have simplified the process of layering elements within scenes, rotoscoping remains essential in the creation of visual effects imagery. In the digital age, rotoscoping is significantly enhanced by advanced motion-tracking and onion-skinning software.
It is frequently employed to prepare garbage mattes for other matte extraction processes and to create special visual effects, such as glows, guided by the matte or rotoscoped outline. A quintessential example of traditional rotoscoping is found in the original Star Wars trilogy, where it was utilized to produce the iconic glowing lightsaber effect. This was achieved by tracing each frame with the prop, then enlarging the line and adding the luminous glow.
The method was extensively employed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to enhance the realism of human characters’ movements, though the film’s budget surpassed expectations due to the intricacy of the animation.
Rotoscoping was occasionally utilized by Leon Schlesinger Productions, the studio responsible for producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. For instance, the opening sequence of the 1939 MGM cartoon “Petunia Natural Park” from The Captain and the Kids featured a rotoscoped rendition of MGM’s mascot, Jackie the Lion.
In the challenging circumstances of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, rotoscoping was extensively employed in Princess Iron Fan (1941), China’s inaugural animated feature film.
During the early days of animated filmmaking in the Soviet Union, rotoscoping found favor, particularly in adaptations of folk tales or poems, such as The Night Before Christmas or The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish. It wasn’t until the early 1960s, following the “Khrushchev Thaw,” that animators began exploring divergent aesthetics.
The creators of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine incorporated rotoscoping into the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” sequence. Similarly, director Martin Scorsese utilized rotoscoping to edit out a conspicuous chunk of cocaine from Neil Young’s nose in his rock documentary The Last Waltz.
Ralph Bakshi heavily relied on rotoscoping for several of his animated features, including Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), Fire and Ice (1983), and Cool World (1992). Bakshi initially turned to rotoscoping when 20th Century Fox denied his request for a budget increase to complete Wizards; he employed the technique to finish the battle sequences.
Rotoscoping found further application in a variety of productions, such as Tom Waits For No One (1979), Heavy Metal (1981), What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?(1983), It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984), the Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” music video (1985), and three of A-ha’s music videos, “Take On Me” (1985), “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” (1985), and “Train of Thought” (1986). It was also utilized in Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail(1986), Harry and the Hendersons (closing credits), The BFG (1989), and Titan A.E. (2000), as well as Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues(2008).
In 1994, Smoking Car Productions devised a digital rotoscoping technique for the development of its acclaimed adventure video game The Last Express, ultimately securing U.S. patent 6,061,462 for the Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. The game was conceptualized by Jordan Mechner, who had previously employed rotoscoping extensively in his games Karateka and Prince of Persia.
In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.”
In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions.
Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping.
Kowabon[jp], a short-form horror anime series, also utilized rotoscoping and aired on Japanese TV in 2015.
The cutscenes in Faith: The Unholy Trinity (2017) were animated using rotoscope.
Undone(2019–), an Amazon Prime original series, employed rotoscoping in its creation.
The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films.
STOP MOTION ANIMATION
Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation.
Types of stop motion animation:
Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman
Animations and Rankin/Bass seasonal specials. Examples: Morph, Wallace & Gromit
Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908)
Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker)
Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings
Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales.
Examples: T he Adventures of Prince Achmed(1926), Papageno(1935)
# Acknowledgements
1. “Rotoscoping.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
2. Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. *Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life*. Hyperion, 1981.
3. Crafton, Donald. *Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898–1928*. University of Chicago Press, 1982.
4. Beck, Jerry. *The Animated Movie Guide*. Chicago Review Press, 2005.
5. Solomon, Charles. *Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation*. Random House, 1989.
6. Pilling, Jayne. *Animation: 2D and Beyond*. Laurence King Publishing, 2017.
7. Priebe, Ken A. *The Art of Ralph Bakshi*. Universe, 2003.
8. Mechner, Jordan. *The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985–1993*. eBookIt.com, 2012.
9. Crogan, Patrick. “Interactivity, Autonomy, Aesthetics: The Achievement of ‘The Last Express’.”
*Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader*, edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen
and Jill Walker Rettberg, MIT Press, 2008.
10.King, Morgan Galen. “Animating ‘The Spine of Night’.” *Animation World Network*, 21
11. “Stop Motion Animation.” Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
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Follow | article | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,301 | In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” | sentence | In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.” | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,302 | Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). | sentence | In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.” | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,303 | Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. | sentence | In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.” | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,304 | Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.” | sentence | In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.” | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,305 | In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions. | paragraph | Sign up
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# ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES
·
10 min read
·
May 21, 2024
--
Listen
Share
An almost Exhaustive Look at the Various Animation Techniques used throughout History.
Article by: Nhlakanipho Kubheka
Animation, an intricate art form, has evolved significantly throughout history, showcasing a diverse range of techniques employed by artists to bring still images to life. At its core, animation involves the creation of moving images through a series of carefully crafted iterations, each subtly different from the last to convey fluid motion. From the early days of hand-drawn animation, where artists painstakingly crafted each frame, to the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and advanced digital techniques, animation has continuously evolved, pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation.As we delve into the intricate world of animation, we’ll explore the innovation, creativity, and ingenuity that have propelled these techniques to the forefront of visual storytelling.
CEL ANIMATION
Disney captivated audiences for generations with its cel animation in the 20th century. This traditional hand-drawn technique transformed the visual landscape of cinema. But what exactly is cel animation, and how does it function? Explore the comprehensive breakdown in our expert guide. Artists at Walt Disney Studios popularized the technique during the 1930s. Cel animation became standard practice from the 1950s through the 1980s, highlighted by films like The Little Mermaid.
However, by the early 1990s, the digital era emerged. Initially, computers were employed for coloring film, but soon the entire process transitioned to digital handling, as explained by Disney animator Floyd Norman to Collider. Despite this shift, critics, artists, and cinema enthusiasts fondly remember the era of cel animation as a golden age.
Cel animation vs. digital animation: key differences. Cel animation dominated Hollywood for much of the 20th century, thanks to its popularization by Walt Disney Studios. It wasn’t until 1995 that the first computer-generated film arrived with Toy Story, from the then-new studio, Pixar. But what sets digital animation apart from traditional animation?
Hand-drawn vs. computer-designed
The primary distinction between these two animation types lies in their creation process. Cel animation involves artists drawing by hand onto celluloid sheets, known as animated cels, while digital animation is primarily created using software and computers.
Algorithm vs. artistry.
Disney animators working on films like Snow White were primarily artists, using pens, pencils, and paints as their tools. On the other hand, CGI creators work with algorithms and 3D graphics. While CGI artists demonstrate vast creative skills, their approach differs from the hand-drawn finesse of traditional animation, which resembles fine art.
Large teams vs. smaller teams.
Producing films using traditional animation and animated cels required significant resources. With each frame hand-drawn, productions needed numerous animators. In contrast, CGI films could be created with fewer people in less time.
Examples of cel animation. Cel animation gained public attention in the late 1930s when Disney used the technique in its animated films, bringing color, movement, and realism to animated films.
Some notable examples include:
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• The Lion King (1994)
• The Princess and the Frog (2009)
How to Make Traditional Animation:
While traditional cel animations have been largely replaced by CGI and other digital animation techniques, you can still create a cel animation today. Here’s how:
• Gather the right tools: Traditional animation relies on pens, pencils, and paper.
• Source your plastic: You’ll need a thin sheet of colorless, transparent, and flexible plastic for your animated cel.
• Draw your outline: Hand-draw the outline on the front of the plastic sheet.
• Add color: On the flip side of your sheet, add color and detail within the outline.
• Repeat for each frame: Draw and fill an outline for each frame in your scene.
• Create a background: Design the background of the scene separately.
- Place the animation: Place the animation cels over your background and photograph each frame.
Traditional Animation Techniques
Traditional animation comprises several techniques and processes, including cel animation. To understand how those iconic animations were created, let’s explore some of these techniques:
Cel drawing: Hand drawing individual frames of animation on thin, transparent plastic sheets.
These animations, called animated cels, popularized by Disney in the late 1930s, were placed over pre-created backgrounds and photographed.
Cel overlay: Part of the cel animation process that transformed animated filmmaking in the mid-20th century. Characters were hand-drawn on plastic sheets and placed over existing backgrounds, enabling characters to move and change positions and expressions.
Limited animation: Created as a compromise to the time-consuming process of frame-by-frame cel drawing, limited animation techniques re-used existing frames wherever possible, only creating new animated cels when necessary.
Animation loops: Short, simple sequences of animation set to continually replay. Animation loops date back to the early 1900s, with digital technology transforming their potential in recent years.
Multiplane processes: Disney revolutionized cel animation with the multiplane camera in the late 1930s. This camera introduced different levels or planes with characters and objects placed at different levels, creating a sense of depth in animations.
Xerography: Disney utilized Xerox’s technique to streamline the cel animation process in the production of 101 Dalmatians in 1959/60. Scanning drawings directly onto cels saved animators time and money.
Rotoscoping: A technique used by animators to bring realistic movement to characters by tracing over footage of characters as they move frame by frame. Rotoscoping was developed in the early1900s and brought to the big screen by Disney in Snow White in 1937.
DISCUSSING ROTOSCOPING IN DETAIL
Rotoscoping is an animation technique where animators trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to create realistic action. Initially, live-action movie images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper using a device called a rotoscope, invented by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer. Although computers have since replaced this equipment, the process remains known as rotoscoping.
In the visual effects industry, rotoscoping involves manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate, allowing it to be composited over a different background. While chroma keying is more commonly used for background replacement due to its speed and reduced post-production work, rotoscoping offers higher accuracy and can be used alongside chroma keying. Additionally, rotoscoping is useful when the subject is not filmed against a green or blue screen or for practical or economic reasons.
Technique:
Rotoscoping has long been a critical tool for visual effects in live-action films. By meticulously tracing an object, filmmakers generate a silhouette, or matte, which allows them to seamlessly extract the object from one scene and integrate it into another background. While blue- and greenscreen techniques have simplified the process of layering elements within scenes, rotoscoping remains essential in the creation of visual effects imagery. In the digital age, rotoscoping is significantly enhanced by advanced motion-tracking and onion-skinning software.
It is frequently employed to prepare garbage mattes for other matte extraction processes and to create special visual effects, such as glows, guided by the matte or rotoscoped outline. A quintessential example of traditional rotoscoping is found in the original Star Wars trilogy, where it was utilized to produce the iconic glowing lightsaber effect. This was achieved by tracing each frame with the prop, then enlarging the line and adding the luminous glow.
The method was extensively employed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to enhance the realism of human characters’ movements, though the film’s budget surpassed expectations due to the intricacy of the animation.
Rotoscoping was occasionally utilized by Leon Schlesinger Productions, the studio responsible for producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. For instance, the opening sequence of the 1939 MGM cartoon “Petunia Natural Park” from The Captain and the Kids featured a rotoscoped rendition of MGM’s mascot, Jackie the Lion.
In the challenging circumstances of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, rotoscoping was extensively employed in Princess Iron Fan (1941), China’s inaugural animated feature film.
During the early days of animated filmmaking in the Soviet Union, rotoscoping found favor, particularly in adaptations of folk tales or poems, such as The Night Before Christmas or The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish. It wasn’t until the early 1960s, following the “Khrushchev Thaw,” that animators began exploring divergent aesthetics.
The creators of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine incorporated rotoscoping into the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” sequence. Similarly, director Martin Scorsese utilized rotoscoping to edit out a conspicuous chunk of cocaine from Neil Young’s nose in his rock documentary The Last Waltz.
Ralph Bakshi heavily relied on rotoscoping for several of his animated features, including Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), Fire and Ice (1983), and Cool World (1992). Bakshi initially turned to rotoscoping when 20th Century Fox denied his request for a budget increase to complete Wizards; he employed the technique to finish the battle sequences.
Rotoscoping found further application in a variety of productions, such as Tom Waits For No One (1979), Heavy Metal (1981), What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?(1983), It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984), the Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” music video (1985), and three of A-ha’s music videos, “Take On Me” (1985), “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” (1985), and “Train of Thought” (1986). It was also utilized in Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail(1986), Harry and the Hendersons (closing credits), The BFG (1989), and Titan A.E. (2000), as well as Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues(2008).
In 1994, Smoking Car Productions devised a digital rotoscoping technique for the development of its acclaimed adventure video game The Last Express, ultimately securing U.S. patent 6,061,462 for the Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. The game was conceptualized by Jordan Mechner, who had previously employed rotoscoping extensively in his games Karateka and Prince of Persia.
In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.”
In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions.
Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping.
Kowabon[jp], a short-form horror anime series, also utilized rotoscoping and aired on Japanese TV in 2015.
The cutscenes in Faith: The Unholy Trinity (2017) were animated using rotoscope.
Undone(2019–), an Amazon Prime original series, employed rotoscoping in its creation.
The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films.
STOP MOTION ANIMATION
Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation.
Types of stop motion animation:
Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman
Animations and Rankin/Bass seasonal specials. Examples: Morph, Wallace & Gromit
Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908)
Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker)
Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings
Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales.
Examples: T he Adventures of Prince Achmed(1926), Papageno(1935)
# Acknowledgements
1. “Rotoscoping.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
2. Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. *Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life*. Hyperion, 1981.
3. Crafton, Donald. *Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898–1928*. University of Chicago Press, 1982.
4. Beck, Jerry. *The Animated Movie Guide*. Chicago Review Press, 2005.
5. Solomon, Charles. *Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation*. Random House, 1989.
6. Pilling, Jayne. *Animation: 2D and Beyond*. Laurence King Publishing, 2017.
7. Priebe, Ken A. *The Art of Ralph Bakshi*. Universe, 2003.
8. Mechner, Jordan. *The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985–1993*. eBookIt.com, 2012.
9. Crogan, Patrick. “Interactivity, Autonomy, Aesthetics: The Achievement of ‘The Last Express’.”
*Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader*, edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen
and Jill Walker Rettberg, MIT Press, 2008.
10.King, Morgan Galen. “Animating ‘The Spine of Night’.” *Animation World Network*, 21
11. “Stop Motion Animation.” Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
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Follow | article | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,306 | In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. | sentence | In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,307 | While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions. | sentence | In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,308 | Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping. | paragraph | Sign up
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# ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES
·
10 min read
·
May 21, 2024
--
Listen
Share
An almost Exhaustive Look at the Various Animation Techniques used throughout History.
Article by: Nhlakanipho Kubheka
Animation, an intricate art form, has evolved significantly throughout history, showcasing a diverse range of techniques employed by artists to bring still images to life. At its core, animation involves the creation of moving images through a series of carefully crafted iterations, each subtly different from the last to convey fluid motion. From the early days of hand-drawn animation, where artists painstakingly crafted each frame, to the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and advanced digital techniques, animation has continuously evolved, pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation.As we delve into the intricate world of animation, we’ll explore the innovation, creativity, and ingenuity that have propelled these techniques to the forefront of visual storytelling.
CEL ANIMATION
Disney captivated audiences for generations with its cel animation in the 20th century. This traditional hand-drawn technique transformed the visual landscape of cinema. But what exactly is cel animation, and how does it function? Explore the comprehensive breakdown in our expert guide. Artists at Walt Disney Studios popularized the technique during the 1930s. Cel animation became standard practice from the 1950s through the 1980s, highlighted by films like The Little Mermaid.
However, by the early 1990s, the digital era emerged. Initially, computers were employed for coloring film, but soon the entire process transitioned to digital handling, as explained by Disney animator Floyd Norman to Collider. Despite this shift, critics, artists, and cinema enthusiasts fondly remember the era of cel animation as a golden age.
Cel animation vs. digital animation: key differences. Cel animation dominated Hollywood for much of the 20th century, thanks to its popularization by Walt Disney Studios. It wasn’t until 1995 that the first computer-generated film arrived with Toy Story, from the then-new studio, Pixar. But what sets digital animation apart from traditional animation?
Hand-drawn vs. computer-designed
The primary distinction between these two animation types lies in their creation process. Cel animation involves artists drawing by hand onto celluloid sheets, known as animated cels, while digital animation is primarily created using software and computers.
Algorithm vs. artistry.
Disney animators working on films like Snow White were primarily artists, using pens, pencils, and paints as their tools. On the other hand, CGI creators work with algorithms and 3D graphics. While CGI artists demonstrate vast creative skills, their approach differs from the hand-drawn finesse of traditional animation, which resembles fine art.
Large teams vs. smaller teams.
Producing films using traditional animation and animated cels required significant resources. With each frame hand-drawn, productions needed numerous animators. In contrast, CGI films could be created with fewer people in less time.
Examples of cel animation. Cel animation gained public attention in the late 1930s when Disney used the technique in its animated films, bringing color, movement, and realism to animated films.
Some notable examples include:
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• The Lion King (1994)
• The Princess and the Frog (2009)
How to Make Traditional Animation:
While traditional cel animations have been largely replaced by CGI and other digital animation techniques, you can still create a cel animation today. Here’s how:
• Gather the right tools: Traditional animation relies on pens, pencils, and paper.
• Source your plastic: You’ll need a thin sheet of colorless, transparent, and flexible plastic for your animated cel.
• Draw your outline: Hand-draw the outline on the front of the plastic sheet.
• Add color: On the flip side of your sheet, add color and detail within the outline.
• Repeat for each frame: Draw and fill an outline for each frame in your scene.
• Create a background: Design the background of the scene separately.
- Place the animation: Place the animation cels over your background and photograph each frame.
Traditional Animation Techniques
Traditional animation comprises several techniques and processes, including cel animation. To understand how those iconic animations were created, let’s explore some of these techniques:
Cel drawing: Hand drawing individual frames of animation on thin, transparent plastic sheets.
These animations, called animated cels, popularized by Disney in the late 1930s, were placed over pre-created backgrounds and photographed.
Cel overlay: Part of the cel animation process that transformed animated filmmaking in the mid-20th century. Characters were hand-drawn on plastic sheets and placed over existing backgrounds, enabling characters to move and change positions and expressions.
Limited animation: Created as a compromise to the time-consuming process of frame-by-frame cel drawing, limited animation techniques re-used existing frames wherever possible, only creating new animated cels when necessary.
Animation loops: Short, simple sequences of animation set to continually replay. Animation loops date back to the early 1900s, with digital technology transforming their potential in recent years.
Multiplane processes: Disney revolutionized cel animation with the multiplane camera in the late 1930s. This camera introduced different levels or planes with characters and objects placed at different levels, creating a sense of depth in animations.
Xerography: Disney utilized Xerox’s technique to streamline the cel animation process in the production of 101 Dalmatians in 1959/60. Scanning drawings directly onto cels saved animators time and money.
Rotoscoping: A technique used by animators to bring realistic movement to characters by tracing over footage of characters as they move frame by frame. Rotoscoping was developed in the early1900s and brought to the big screen by Disney in Snow White in 1937.
DISCUSSING ROTOSCOPING IN DETAIL
Rotoscoping is an animation technique where animators trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to create realistic action. Initially, live-action movie images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper using a device called a rotoscope, invented by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer. Although computers have since replaced this equipment, the process remains known as rotoscoping.
In the visual effects industry, rotoscoping involves manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate, allowing it to be composited over a different background. While chroma keying is more commonly used for background replacement due to its speed and reduced post-production work, rotoscoping offers higher accuracy and can be used alongside chroma keying. Additionally, rotoscoping is useful when the subject is not filmed against a green or blue screen or for practical or economic reasons.
Technique:
Rotoscoping has long been a critical tool for visual effects in live-action films. By meticulously tracing an object, filmmakers generate a silhouette, or matte, which allows them to seamlessly extract the object from one scene and integrate it into another background. While blue- and greenscreen techniques have simplified the process of layering elements within scenes, rotoscoping remains essential in the creation of visual effects imagery. In the digital age, rotoscoping is significantly enhanced by advanced motion-tracking and onion-skinning software.
It is frequently employed to prepare garbage mattes for other matte extraction processes and to create special visual effects, such as glows, guided by the matte or rotoscoped outline. A quintessential example of traditional rotoscoping is found in the original Star Wars trilogy, where it was utilized to produce the iconic glowing lightsaber effect. This was achieved by tracing each frame with the prop, then enlarging the line and adding the luminous glow.
The method was extensively employed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to enhance the realism of human characters’ movements, though the film’s budget surpassed expectations due to the intricacy of the animation.
Rotoscoping was occasionally utilized by Leon Schlesinger Productions, the studio responsible for producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. For instance, the opening sequence of the 1939 MGM cartoon “Petunia Natural Park” from The Captain and the Kids featured a rotoscoped rendition of MGM’s mascot, Jackie the Lion.
In the challenging circumstances of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, rotoscoping was extensively employed in Princess Iron Fan (1941), China’s inaugural animated feature film.
During the early days of animated filmmaking in the Soviet Union, rotoscoping found favor, particularly in adaptations of folk tales or poems, such as The Night Before Christmas or The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish. It wasn’t until the early 1960s, following the “Khrushchev Thaw,” that animators began exploring divergent aesthetics.
The creators of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine incorporated rotoscoping into the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” sequence. Similarly, director Martin Scorsese utilized rotoscoping to edit out a conspicuous chunk of cocaine from Neil Young’s nose in his rock documentary The Last Waltz.
Ralph Bakshi heavily relied on rotoscoping for several of his animated features, including Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), Fire and Ice (1983), and Cool World (1992). Bakshi initially turned to rotoscoping when 20th Century Fox denied his request for a budget increase to complete Wizards; he employed the technique to finish the battle sequences.
Rotoscoping found further application in a variety of productions, such as Tom Waits For No One (1979), Heavy Metal (1981), What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?(1983), It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984), the Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” music video (1985), and three of A-ha’s music videos, “Take On Me” (1985), “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” (1985), and “Train of Thought” (1986). It was also utilized in Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail(1986), Harry and the Hendersons (closing credits), The BFG (1989), and Titan A.E. (2000), as well as Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues(2008).
In 1994, Smoking Car Productions devised a digital rotoscoping technique for the development of its acclaimed adventure video game The Last Express, ultimately securing U.S. patent 6,061,462 for the Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. The game was conceptualized by Jordan Mechner, who had previously employed rotoscoping extensively in his games Karateka and Prince of Persia.
In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.”
In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions.
Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping.
Kowabon[jp], a short-form horror anime series, also utilized rotoscoping and aired on Japanese TV in 2015.
The cutscenes in Faith: The Unholy Trinity (2017) were animated using rotoscope.
Undone(2019–), an Amazon Prime original series, employed rotoscoping in its creation.
The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films.
STOP MOTION ANIMATION
Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation.
Types of stop motion animation:
Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman
Animations and Rankin/Bass seasonal specials. Examples: Morph, Wallace & Gromit
Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908)
Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker)
Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings
Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales.
Examples: T he Adventures of Prince Achmed(1926), Papageno(1935)
# Acknowledgements
1. “Rotoscoping.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
2. Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. *Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life*. Hyperion, 1981.
3. Crafton, Donald. *Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898–1928*. University of Chicago Press, 1982.
4. Beck, Jerry. *The Animated Movie Guide*. Chicago Review Press, 2005.
5. Solomon, Charles. *Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation*. Random House, 1989.
6. Pilling, Jayne. *Animation: 2D and Beyond*. Laurence King Publishing, 2017.
7. Priebe, Ken A. *The Art of Ralph Bakshi*. Universe, 2003.
8. Mechner, Jordan. *The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985–1993*. eBookIt.com, 2012.
9. Crogan, Patrick. “Interactivity, Autonomy, Aesthetics: The Achievement of ‘The Last Express’.”
*Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader*, edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen
and Jill Walker Rettberg, MIT Press, 2008.
10.King, Morgan Galen. “Animating ‘The Spine of Night’.” *Animation World Network*, 21
11. “Stop Motion Animation.” Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
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Follow
The Medium Digest Section of the popular ghostwriting and seo company Jurnol.co.za
Follow | article | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,309 | Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. | sentence | Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,310 | Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping. | sentence | Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,311 | The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films. | paragraph | Sign up
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# ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES
·
10 min read
·
May 21, 2024
--
Listen
Share
An almost Exhaustive Look at the Various Animation Techniques used throughout History.
Article by: Nhlakanipho Kubheka
Animation, an intricate art form, has evolved significantly throughout history, showcasing a diverse range of techniques employed by artists to bring still images to life. At its core, animation involves the creation of moving images through a series of carefully crafted iterations, each subtly different from the last to convey fluid motion. From the early days of hand-drawn animation, where artists painstakingly crafted each frame, to the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and advanced digital techniques, animation has continuously evolved, pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation.As we delve into the intricate world of animation, we’ll explore the innovation, creativity, and ingenuity that have propelled these techniques to the forefront of visual storytelling.
CEL ANIMATION
Disney captivated audiences for generations with its cel animation in the 20th century. This traditional hand-drawn technique transformed the visual landscape of cinema. But what exactly is cel animation, and how does it function? Explore the comprehensive breakdown in our expert guide. Artists at Walt Disney Studios popularized the technique during the 1930s. Cel animation became standard practice from the 1950s through the 1980s, highlighted by films like The Little Mermaid.
However, by the early 1990s, the digital era emerged. Initially, computers were employed for coloring film, but soon the entire process transitioned to digital handling, as explained by Disney animator Floyd Norman to Collider. Despite this shift, critics, artists, and cinema enthusiasts fondly remember the era of cel animation as a golden age.
Cel animation vs. digital animation: key differences. Cel animation dominated Hollywood for much of the 20th century, thanks to its popularization by Walt Disney Studios. It wasn’t until 1995 that the first computer-generated film arrived with Toy Story, from the then-new studio, Pixar. But what sets digital animation apart from traditional animation?
Hand-drawn vs. computer-designed
The primary distinction between these two animation types lies in their creation process. Cel animation involves artists drawing by hand onto celluloid sheets, known as animated cels, while digital animation is primarily created using software and computers.
Algorithm vs. artistry.
Disney animators working on films like Snow White were primarily artists, using pens, pencils, and paints as their tools. On the other hand, CGI creators work with algorithms and 3D graphics. While CGI artists demonstrate vast creative skills, their approach differs from the hand-drawn finesse of traditional animation, which resembles fine art.
Large teams vs. smaller teams.
Producing films using traditional animation and animated cels required significant resources. With each frame hand-drawn, productions needed numerous animators. In contrast, CGI films could be created with fewer people in less time.
Examples of cel animation. Cel animation gained public attention in the late 1930s when Disney used the technique in its animated films, bringing color, movement, and realism to animated films.
Some notable examples include:
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• The Lion King (1994)
• The Princess and the Frog (2009)
How to Make Traditional Animation:
While traditional cel animations have been largely replaced by CGI and other digital animation techniques, you can still create a cel animation today. Here’s how:
• Gather the right tools: Traditional animation relies on pens, pencils, and paper.
• Source your plastic: You’ll need a thin sheet of colorless, transparent, and flexible plastic for your animated cel.
• Draw your outline: Hand-draw the outline on the front of the plastic sheet.
• Add color: On the flip side of your sheet, add color and detail within the outline.
• Repeat for each frame: Draw and fill an outline for each frame in your scene.
• Create a background: Design the background of the scene separately.
- Place the animation: Place the animation cels over your background and photograph each frame.
Traditional Animation Techniques
Traditional animation comprises several techniques and processes, including cel animation. To understand how those iconic animations were created, let’s explore some of these techniques:
Cel drawing: Hand drawing individual frames of animation on thin, transparent plastic sheets.
These animations, called animated cels, popularized by Disney in the late 1930s, were placed over pre-created backgrounds and photographed.
Cel overlay: Part of the cel animation process that transformed animated filmmaking in the mid-20th century. Characters were hand-drawn on plastic sheets and placed over existing backgrounds, enabling characters to move and change positions and expressions.
Limited animation: Created as a compromise to the time-consuming process of frame-by-frame cel drawing, limited animation techniques re-used existing frames wherever possible, only creating new animated cels when necessary.
Animation loops: Short, simple sequences of animation set to continually replay. Animation loops date back to the early 1900s, with digital technology transforming their potential in recent years.
Multiplane processes: Disney revolutionized cel animation with the multiplane camera in the late 1930s. This camera introduced different levels or planes with characters and objects placed at different levels, creating a sense of depth in animations.
Xerography: Disney utilized Xerox’s technique to streamline the cel animation process in the production of 101 Dalmatians in 1959/60. Scanning drawings directly onto cels saved animators time and money.
Rotoscoping: A technique used by animators to bring realistic movement to characters by tracing over footage of characters as they move frame by frame. Rotoscoping was developed in the early1900s and brought to the big screen by Disney in Snow White in 1937.
DISCUSSING ROTOSCOPING IN DETAIL
Rotoscoping is an animation technique where animators trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to create realistic action. Initially, live-action movie images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper using a device called a rotoscope, invented by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer. Although computers have since replaced this equipment, the process remains known as rotoscoping.
In the visual effects industry, rotoscoping involves manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate, allowing it to be composited over a different background. While chroma keying is more commonly used for background replacement due to its speed and reduced post-production work, rotoscoping offers higher accuracy and can be used alongside chroma keying. Additionally, rotoscoping is useful when the subject is not filmed against a green or blue screen or for practical or economic reasons.
Technique:
Rotoscoping has long been a critical tool for visual effects in live-action films. By meticulously tracing an object, filmmakers generate a silhouette, or matte, which allows them to seamlessly extract the object from one scene and integrate it into another background. While blue- and greenscreen techniques have simplified the process of layering elements within scenes, rotoscoping remains essential in the creation of visual effects imagery. In the digital age, rotoscoping is significantly enhanced by advanced motion-tracking and onion-skinning software.
It is frequently employed to prepare garbage mattes for other matte extraction processes and to create special visual effects, such as glows, guided by the matte or rotoscoped outline. A quintessential example of traditional rotoscoping is found in the original Star Wars trilogy, where it was utilized to produce the iconic glowing lightsaber effect. This was achieved by tracing each frame with the prop, then enlarging the line and adding the luminous glow.
The method was extensively employed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to enhance the realism of human characters’ movements, though the film’s budget surpassed expectations due to the intricacy of the animation.
Rotoscoping was occasionally utilized by Leon Schlesinger Productions, the studio responsible for producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. For instance, the opening sequence of the 1939 MGM cartoon “Petunia Natural Park” from The Captain and the Kids featured a rotoscoped rendition of MGM’s mascot, Jackie the Lion.
In the challenging circumstances of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, rotoscoping was extensively employed in Princess Iron Fan (1941), China’s inaugural animated feature film.
During the early days of animated filmmaking in the Soviet Union, rotoscoping found favor, particularly in adaptations of folk tales or poems, such as The Night Before Christmas or The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish. It wasn’t until the early 1960s, following the “Khrushchev Thaw,” that animators began exploring divergent aesthetics.
The creators of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine incorporated rotoscoping into the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” sequence. Similarly, director Martin Scorsese utilized rotoscoping to edit out a conspicuous chunk of cocaine from Neil Young’s nose in his rock documentary The Last Waltz.
Ralph Bakshi heavily relied on rotoscoping for several of his animated features, including Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), Fire and Ice (1983), and Cool World (1992). Bakshi initially turned to rotoscoping when 20th Century Fox denied his request for a budget increase to complete Wizards; he employed the technique to finish the battle sequences.
Rotoscoping found further application in a variety of productions, such as Tom Waits For No One (1979), Heavy Metal (1981), What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?(1983), It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984), the Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” music video (1985), and three of A-ha’s music videos, “Take On Me” (1985), “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” (1985), and “Train of Thought” (1986). It was also utilized in Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail(1986), Harry and the Hendersons (closing credits), The BFG (1989), and Titan A.E. (2000), as well as Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues(2008).
In 1994, Smoking Car Productions devised a digital rotoscoping technique for the development of its acclaimed adventure video game The Last Express, ultimately securing U.S. patent 6,061,462 for the Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. The game was conceptualized by Jordan Mechner, who had previously employed rotoscoping extensively in his games Karateka and Prince of Persia.
In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.”
In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions.
Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping.
Kowabon[jp], a short-form horror anime series, also utilized rotoscoping and aired on Japanese TV in 2015.
The cutscenes in Faith: The Unholy Trinity (2017) were animated using rotoscope.
Undone(2019–), an Amazon Prime original series, employed rotoscoping in its creation.
The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films.
STOP MOTION ANIMATION
Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation.
Types of stop motion animation:
Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman
Animations and Rankin/Bass seasonal specials. Examples: Morph, Wallace & Gromit
Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908)
Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker)
Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings
Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales.
Examples: T he Adventures of Prince Achmed(1926), Papageno(1935)
# Acknowledgements
1. “Rotoscoping.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
2. Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. *Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life*. Hyperion, 1981.
3. Crafton, Donald. *Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898–1928*. University of Chicago Press, 1982.
4. Beck, Jerry. *The Animated Movie Guide*. Chicago Review Press, 2005.
5. Solomon, Charles. *Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation*. Random House, 1989.
6. Pilling, Jayne. *Animation: 2D and Beyond*. Laurence King Publishing, 2017.
7. Priebe, Ken A. *The Art of Ralph Bakshi*. Universe, 2003.
8. Mechner, Jordan. *The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985–1993*. eBookIt.com, 2012.
9. Crogan, Patrick. “Interactivity, Autonomy, Aesthetics: The Achievement of ‘The Last Express’.”
*Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader*, edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen
and Jill Walker Rettberg, MIT Press, 2008.
10.King, Morgan Galen. “Animating ‘The Spine of Night’.” *Animation World Network*, 21
11. “Stop Motion Animation.” Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
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The Medium Digest Section of the popular ghostwriting and seo company Jurnol.co.za
Follow | article | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,312 | The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. | sentence | The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,313 | Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films. | sentence | The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,314 | Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation. | paragraph | Sign up
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# ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES
·
10 min read
·
May 21, 2024
--
Listen
Share
An almost Exhaustive Look at the Various Animation Techniques used throughout History.
Article by: Nhlakanipho Kubheka
Animation, an intricate art form, has evolved significantly throughout history, showcasing a diverse range of techniques employed by artists to bring still images to life. At its core, animation involves the creation of moving images through a series of carefully crafted iterations, each subtly different from the last to convey fluid motion. From the early days of hand-drawn animation, where artists painstakingly crafted each frame, to the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and advanced digital techniques, animation has continuously evolved, pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation.As we delve into the intricate world of animation, we’ll explore the innovation, creativity, and ingenuity that have propelled these techniques to the forefront of visual storytelling.
CEL ANIMATION
Disney captivated audiences for generations with its cel animation in the 20th century. This traditional hand-drawn technique transformed the visual landscape of cinema. But what exactly is cel animation, and how does it function? Explore the comprehensive breakdown in our expert guide. Artists at Walt Disney Studios popularized the technique during the 1930s. Cel animation became standard practice from the 1950s through the 1980s, highlighted by films like The Little Mermaid.
However, by the early 1990s, the digital era emerged. Initially, computers were employed for coloring film, but soon the entire process transitioned to digital handling, as explained by Disney animator Floyd Norman to Collider. Despite this shift, critics, artists, and cinema enthusiasts fondly remember the era of cel animation as a golden age.
Cel animation vs. digital animation: key differences. Cel animation dominated Hollywood for much of the 20th century, thanks to its popularization by Walt Disney Studios. It wasn’t until 1995 that the first computer-generated film arrived with Toy Story, from the then-new studio, Pixar. But what sets digital animation apart from traditional animation?
Hand-drawn vs. computer-designed
The primary distinction between these two animation types lies in their creation process. Cel animation involves artists drawing by hand onto celluloid sheets, known as animated cels, while digital animation is primarily created using software and computers.
Algorithm vs. artistry.
Disney animators working on films like Snow White were primarily artists, using pens, pencils, and paints as their tools. On the other hand, CGI creators work with algorithms and 3D graphics. While CGI artists demonstrate vast creative skills, their approach differs from the hand-drawn finesse of traditional animation, which resembles fine art.
Large teams vs. smaller teams.
Producing films using traditional animation and animated cels required significant resources. With each frame hand-drawn, productions needed numerous animators. In contrast, CGI films could be created with fewer people in less time.
Examples of cel animation. Cel animation gained public attention in the late 1930s when Disney used the technique in its animated films, bringing color, movement, and realism to animated films.
Some notable examples include:
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• The Lion King (1994)
• The Princess and the Frog (2009)
How to Make Traditional Animation:
While traditional cel animations have been largely replaced by CGI and other digital animation techniques, you can still create a cel animation today. Here’s how:
• Gather the right tools: Traditional animation relies on pens, pencils, and paper.
• Source your plastic: You’ll need a thin sheet of colorless, transparent, and flexible plastic for your animated cel.
• Draw your outline: Hand-draw the outline on the front of the plastic sheet.
• Add color: On the flip side of your sheet, add color and detail within the outline.
• Repeat for each frame: Draw and fill an outline for each frame in your scene.
• Create a background: Design the background of the scene separately.
- Place the animation: Place the animation cels over your background and photograph each frame.
Traditional Animation Techniques
Traditional animation comprises several techniques and processes, including cel animation. To understand how those iconic animations were created, let’s explore some of these techniques:
Cel drawing: Hand drawing individual frames of animation on thin, transparent plastic sheets.
These animations, called animated cels, popularized by Disney in the late 1930s, were placed over pre-created backgrounds and photographed.
Cel overlay: Part of the cel animation process that transformed animated filmmaking in the mid-20th century. Characters were hand-drawn on plastic sheets and placed over existing backgrounds, enabling characters to move and change positions and expressions.
Limited animation: Created as a compromise to the time-consuming process of frame-by-frame cel drawing, limited animation techniques re-used existing frames wherever possible, only creating new animated cels when necessary.
Animation loops: Short, simple sequences of animation set to continually replay. Animation loops date back to the early 1900s, with digital technology transforming their potential in recent years.
Multiplane processes: Disney revolutionized cel animation with the multiplane camera in the late 1930s. This camera introduced different levels or planes with characters and objects placed at different levels, creating a sense of depth in animations.
Xerography: Disney utilized Xerox’s technique to streamline the cel animation process in the production of 101 Dalmatians in 1959/60. Scanning drawings directly onto cels saved animators time and money.
Rotoscoping: A technique used by animators to bring realistic movement to characters by tracing over footage of characters as they move frame by frame. Rotoscoping was developed in the early1900s and brought to the big screen by Disney in Snow White in 1937.
DISCUSSING ROTOSCOPING IN DETAIL
Rotoscoping is an animation technique where animators trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to create realistic action. Initially, live-action movie images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper using a device called a rotoscope, invented by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer. Although computers have since replaced this equipment, the process remains known as rotoscoping.
In the visual effects industry, rotoscoping involves manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate, allowing it to be composited over a different background. While chroma keying is more commonly used for background replacement due to its speed and reduced post-production work, rotoscoping offers higher accuracy and can be used alongside chroma keying. Additionally, rotoscoping is useful when the subject is not filmed against a green or blue screen or for practical or economic reasons.
Technique:
Rotoscoping has long been a critical tool for visual effects in live-action films. By meticulously tracing an object, filmmakers generate a silhouette, or matte, which allows them to seamlessly extract the object from one scene and integrate it into another background. While blue- and greenscreen techniques have simplified the process of layering elements within scenes, rotoscoping remains essential in the creation of visual effects imagery. In the digital age, rotoscoping is significantly enhanced by advanced motion-tracking and onion-skinning software.
It is frequently employed to prepare garbage mattes for other matte extraction processes and to create special visual effects, such as glows, guided by the matte or rotoscoped outline. A quintessential example of traditional rotoscoping is found in the original Star Wars trilogy, where it was utilized to produce the iconic glowing lightsaber effect. This was achieved by tracing each frame with the prop, then enlarging the line and adding the luminous glow.
The method was extensively employed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to enhance the realism of human characters’ movements, though the film’s budget surpassed expectations due to the intricacy of the animation.
Rotoscoping was occasionally utilized by Leon Schlesinger Productions, the studio responsible for producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. For instance, the opening sequence of the 1939 MGM cartoon “Petunia Natural Park” from The Captain and the Kids featured a rotoscoped rendition of MGM’s mascot, Jackie the Lion.
In the challenging circumstances of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, rotoscoping was extensively employed in Princess Iron Fan (1941), China’s inaugural animated feature film.
During the early days of animated filmmaking in the Soviet Union, rotoscoping found favor, particularly in adaptations of folk tales or poems, such as The Night Before Christmas or The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish. It wasn’t until the early 1960s, following the “Khrushchev Thaw,” that animators began exploring divergent aesthetics.
The creators of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine incorporated rotoscoping into the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” sequence. Similarly, director Martin Scorsese utilized rotoscoping to edit out a conspicuous chunk of cocaine from Neil Young’s nose in his rock documentary The Last Waltz.
Ralph Bakshi heavily relied on rotoscoping for several of his animated features, including Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), Fire and Ice (1983), and Cool World (1992). Bakshi initially turned to rotoscoping when 20th Century Fox denied his request for a budget increase to complete Wizards; he employed the technique to finish the battle sequences.
Rotoscoping found further application in a variety of productions, such as Tom Waits For No One (1979), Heavy Metal (1981), What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?(1983), It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984), the Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” music video (1985), and three of A-ha’s music videos, “Take On Me” (1985), “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” (1985), and “Train of Thought” (1986). It was also utilized in Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail(1986), Harry and the Hendersons (closing credits), The BFG (1989), and Titan A.E. (2000), as well as Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues(2008).
In 1994, Smoking Car Productions devised a digital rotoscoping technique for the development of its acclaimed adventure video game The Last Express, ultimately securing U.S. patent 6,061,462 for the Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. The game was conceptualized by Jordan Mechner, who had previously employed rotoscoping extensively in his games Karateka and Prince of Persia.
In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.”
In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions.
Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping.
Kowabon[jp], a short-form horror anime series, also utilized rotoscoping and aired on Japanese TV in 2015.
The cutscenes in Faith: The Unholy Trinity (2017) were animated using rotoscope.
Undone(2019–), an Amazon Prime original series, employed rotoscoping in its creation.
The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films.
STOP MOTION ANIMATION
Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation.
Types of stop motion animation:
Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman
Animations and Rankin/Bass seasonal specials. Examples: Morph, Wallace & Gromit
Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908)
Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker)
Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings
Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales.
Examples: T he Adventures of Prince Achmed(1926), Papageno(1935)
# Acknowledgements
1. “Rotoscoping.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
2. Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. *Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life*. Hyperion, 1981.
3. Crafton, Donald. *Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898–1928*. University of Chicago Press, 1982.
4. Beck, Jerry. *The Animated Movie Guide*. Chicago Review Press, 2005.
5. Solomon, Charles. *Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation*. Random House, 1989.
6. Pilling, Jayne. *Animation: 2D and Beyond*. Laurence King Publishing, 2017.
7. Priebe, Ken A. *The Art of Ralph Bakshi*. Universe, 2003.
8. Mechner, Jordan. *The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985–1993*. eBookIt.com, 2012.
9. Crogan, Patrick. “Interactivity, Autonomy, Aesthetics: The Achievement of ‘The Last Express’.”
*Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader*, edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen
and Jill Walker Rettberg, MIT Press, 2008.
10.King, Morgan Galen. “Animating ‘The Spine of Night’.” *Animation World Network*, 21
11. “Stop Motion Animation.” Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
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Follow
The Medium Digest Section of the popular ghostwriting and seo company Jurnol.co.za
Follow | article | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,315 | Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. | sentence | Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,316 | It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. | sentence | Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,317 | These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. | sentence | Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,318 | Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation. | sentence | Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,319 | Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman | paragraph | Sign up
Sign up
# ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES
·
10 min read
·
May 21, 2024
--
Listen
Share
An almost Exhaustive Look at the Various Animation Techniques used throughout History.
Article by: Nhlakanipho Kubheka
Animation, an intricate art form, has evolved significantly throughout history, showcasing a diverse range of techniques employed by artists to bring still images to life. At its core, animation involves the creation of moving images through a series of carefully crafted iterations, each subtly different from the last to convey fluid motion. From the early days of hand-drawn animation, where artists painstakingly crafted each frame, to the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and advanced digital techniques, animation has continuously evolved, pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation.As we delve into the intricate world of animation, we’ll explore the innovation, creativity, and ingenuity that have propelled these techniques to the forefront of visual storytelling.
CEL ANIMATION
Disney captivated audiences for generations with its cel animation in the 20th century. This traditional hand-drawn technique transformed the visual landscape of cinema. But what exactly is cel animation, and how does it function? Explore the comprehensive breakdown in our expert guide. Artists at Walt Disney Studios popularized the technique during the 1930s. Cel animation became standard practice from the 1950s through the 1980s, highlighted by films like The Little Mermaid.
However, by the early 1990s, the digital era emerged. Initially, computers were employed for coloring film, but soon the entire process transitioned to digital handling, as explained by Disney animator Floyd Norman to Collider. Despite this shift, critics, artists, and cinema enthusiasts fondly remember the era of cel animation as a golden age.
Cel animation vs. digital animation: key differences. Cel animation dominated Hollywood for much of the 20th century, thanks to its popularization by Walt Disney Studios. It wasn’t until 1995 that the first computer-generated film arrived with Toy Story, from the then-new studio, Pixar. But what sets digital animation apart from traditional animation?
Hand-drawn vs. computer-designed
The primary distinction between these two animation types lies in their creation process. Cel animation involves artists drawing by hand onto celluloid sheets, known as animated cels, while digital animation is primarily created using software and computers.
Algorithm vs. artistry.
Disney animators working on films like Snow White were primarily artists, using pens, pencils, and paints as their tools. On the other hand, CGI creators work with algorithms and 3D graphics. While CGI artists demonstrate vast creative skills, their approach differs from the hand-drawn finesse of traditional animation, which resembles fine art.
Large teams vs. smaller teams.
Producing films using traditional animation and animated cels required significant resources. With each frame hand-drawn, productions needed numerous animators. In contrast, CGI films could be created with fewer people in less time.
Examples of cel animation. Cel animation gained public attention in the late 1930s when Disney used the technique in its animated films, bringing color, movement, and realism to animated films.
Some notable examples include:
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• The Lion King (1994)
• The Princess and the Frog (2009)
How to Make Traditional Animation:
While traditional cel animations have been largely replaced by CGI and other digital animation techniques, you can still create a cel animation today. Here’s how:
• Gather the right tools: Traditional animation relies on pens, pencils, and paper.
• Source your plastic: You’ll need a thin sheet of colorless, transparent, and flexible plastic for your animated cel.
• Draw your outline: Hand-draw the outline on the front of the plastic sheet.
• Add color: On the flip side of your sheet, add color and detail within the outline.
• Repeat for each frame: Draw and fill an outline for each frame in your scene.
• Create a background: Design the background of the scene separately.
- Place the animation: Place the animation cels over your background and photograph each frame.
Traditional Animation Techniques
Traditional animation comprises several techniques and processes, including cel animation. To understand how those iconic animations were created, let’s explore some of these techniques:
Cel drawing: Hand drawing individual frames of animation on thin, transparent plastic sheets.
These animations, called animated cels, popularized by Disney in the late 1930s, were placed over pre-created backgrounds and photographed.
Cel overlay: Part of the cel animation process that transformed animated filmmaking in the mid-20th century. Characters were hand-drawn on plastic sheets and placed over existing backgrounds, enabling characters to move and change positions and expressions.
Limited animation: Created as a compromise to the time-consuming process of frame-by-frame cel drawing, limited animation techniques re-used existing frames wherever possible, only creating new animated cels when necessary.
Animation loops: Short, simple sequences of animation set to continually replay. Animation loops date back to the early 1900s, with digital technology transforming their potential in recent years.
Multiplane processes: Disney revolutionized cel animation with the multiplane camera in the late 1930s. This camera introduced different levels or planes with characters and objects placed at different levels, creating a sense of depth in animations.
Xerography: Disney utilized Xerox’s technique to streamline the cel animation process in the production of 101 Dalmatians in 1959/60. Scanning drawings directly onto cels saved animators time and money.
Rotoscoping: A technique used by animators to bring realistic movement to characters by tracing over footage of characters as they move frame by frame. Rotoscoping was developed in the early1900s and brought to the big screen by Disney in Snow White in 1937.
DISCUSSING ROTOSCOPING IN DETAIL
Rotoscoping is an animation technique where animators trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to create realistic action. Initially, live-action movie images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper using a device called a rotoscope, invented by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer. Although computers have since replaced this equipment, the process remains known as rotoscoping.
In the visual effects industry, rotoscoping involves manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate, allowing it to be composited over a different background. While chroma keying is more commonly used for background replacement due to its speed and reduced post-production work, rotoscoping offers higher accuracy and can be used alongside chroma keying. Additionally, rotoscoping is useful when the subject is not filmed against a green or blue screen or for practical or economic reasons.
Technique:
Rotoscoping has long been a critical tool for visual effects in live-action films. By meticulously tracing an object, filmmakers generate a silhouette, or matte, which allows them to seamlessly extract the object from one scene and integrate it into another background. While blue- and greenscreen techniques have simplified the process of layering elements within scenes, rotoscoping remains essential in the creation of visual effects imagery. In the digital age, rotoscoping is significantly enhanced by advanced motion-tracking and onion-skinning software.
It is frequently employed to prepare garbage mattes for other matte extraction processes and to create special visual effects, such as glows, guided by the matte or rotoscoped outline. A quintessential example of traditional rotoscoping is found in the original Star Wars trilogy, where it was utilized to produce the iconic glowing lightsaber effect. This was achieved by tracing each frame with the prop, then enlarging the line and adding the luminous glow.
The method was extensively employed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to enhance the realism of human characters’ movements, though the film’s budget surpassed expectations due to the intricacy of the animation.
Rotoscoping was occasionally utilized by Leon Schlesinger Productions, the studio responsible for producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. For instance, the opening sequence of the 1939 MGM cartoon “Petunia Natural Park” from The Captain and the Kids featured a rotoscoped rendition of MGM’s mascot, Jackie the Lion.
In the challenging circumstances of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, rotoscoping was extensively employed in Princess Iron Fan (1941), China’s inaugural animated feature film.
During the early days of animated filmmaking in the Soviet Union, rotoscoping found favor, particularly in adaptations of folk tales or poems, such as The Night Before Christmas or The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish. It wasn’t until the early 1960s, following the “Khrushchev Thaw,” that animators began exploring divergent aesthetics.
The creators of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine incorporated rotoscoping into the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” sequence. Similarly, director Martin Scorsese utilized rotoscoping to edit out a conspicuous chunk of cocaine from Neil Young’s nose in his rock documentary The Last Waltz.
Ralph Bakshi heavily relied on rotoscoping for several of his animated features, including Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), Fire and Ice (1983), and Cool World (1992). Bakshi initially turned to rotoscoping when 20th Century Fox denied his request for a budget increase to complete Wizards; he employed the technique to finish the battle sequences.
Rotoscoping found further application in a variety of productions, such as Tom Waits For No One (1979), Heavy Metal (1981), What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?(1983), It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984), the Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” music video (1985), and three of A-ha’s music videos, “Take On Me” (1985), “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” (1985), and “Train of Thought” (1986). It was also utilized in Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail(1986), Harry and the Hendersons (closing credits), The BFG (1989), and Titan A.E. (2000), as well as Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues(2008).
In 1994, Smoking Car Productions devised a digital rotoscoping technique for the development of its acclaimed adventure video game The Last Express, ultimately securing U.S. patent 6,061,462 for the Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. The game was conceptualized by Jordan Mechner, who had previously employed rotoscoping extensively in his games Karateka and Prince of Persia.
In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.”
In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions.
Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping.
Kowabon[jp], a short-form horror anime series, also utilized rotoscoping and aired on Japanese TV in 2015.
The cutscenes in Faith: The Unholy Trinity (2017) were animated using rotoscope.
Undone(2019–), an Amazon Prime original series, employed rotoscoping in its creation.
The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films.
STOP MOTION ANIMATION
Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation.
Types of stop motion animation:
Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman
Animations and Rankin/Bass seasonal specials. Examples: Morph, Wallace & Gromit
Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908)
Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker)
Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings
Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales.
Examples: T he Adventures of Prince Achmed(1926), Papageno(1935)
# Acknowledgements
1. “Rotoscoping.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
2. Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. *Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life*. Hyperion, 1981.
3. Crafton, Donald. *Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898–1928*. University of Chicago Press, 1982.
4. Beck, Jerry. *The Animated Movie Guide*. Chicago Review Press, 2005.
5. Solomon, Charles. *Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation*. Random House, 1989.
6. Pilling, Jayne. *Animation: 2D and Beyond*. Laurence King Publishing, 2017.
7. Priebe, Ken A. *The Art of Ralph Bakshi*. Universe, 2003.
8. Mechner, Jordan. *The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985–1993*. eBookIt.com, 2012.
9. Crogan, Patrick. “Interactivity, Autonomy, Aesthetics: The Achievement of ‘The Last Express’.”
*Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader*, edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen
and Jill Walker Rettberg, MIT Press, 2008.
10.King, Morgan Galen. “Animating ‘The Spine of Night’.” *Animation World Network*, 21
11. “Stop Motion Animation.” Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
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Follow | article | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,320 | Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. | sentence | Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,321 | Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. | sentence | Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,322 | Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman | sentence | Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,323 | Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908) | paragraph | Sign up
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# ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES
·
10 min read
·
May 21, 2024
--
Listen
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An almost Exhaustive Look at the Various Animation Techniques used throughout History.
Article by: Nhlakanipho Kubheka
Animation, an intricate art form, has evolved significantly throughout history, showcasing a diverse range of techniques employed by artists to bring still images to life. At its core, animation involves the creation of moving images through a series of carefully crafted iterations, each subtly different from the last to convey fluid motion. From the early days of hand-drawn animation, where artists painstakingly crafted each frame, to the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and advanced digital techniques, animation has continuously evolved, pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation.As we delve into the intricate world of animation, we’ll explore the innovation, creativity, and ingenuity that have propelled these techniques to the forefront of visual storytelling.
CEL ANIMATION
Disney captivated audiences for generations with its cel animation in the 20th century. This traditional hand-drawn technique transformed the visual landscape of cinema. But what exactly is cel animation, and how does it function? Explore the comprehensive breakdown in our expert guide. Artists at Walt Disney Studios popularized the technique during the 1930s. Cel animation became standard practice from the 1950s through the 1980s, highlighted by films like The Little Mermaid.
However, by the early 1990s, the digital era emerged. Initially, computers were employed for coloring film, but soon the entire process transitioned to digital handling, as explained by Disney animator Floyd Norman to Collider. Despite this shift, critics, artists, and cinema enthusiasts fondly remember the era of cel animation as a golden age.
Cel animation vs. digital animation: key differences. Cel animation dominated Hollywood for much of the 20th century, thanks to its popularization by Walt Disney Studios. It wasn’t until 1995 that the first computer-generated film arrived with Toy Story, from the then-new studio, Pixar. But what sets digital animation apart from traditional animation?
Hand-drawn vs. computer-designed
The primary distinction between these two animation types lies in their creation process. Cel animation involves artists drawing by hand onto celluloid sheets, known as animated cels, while digital animation is primarily created using software and computers.
Algorithm vs. artistry.
Disney animators working on films like Snow White were primarily artists, using pens, pencils, and paints as their tools. On the other hand, CGI creators work with algorithms and 3D graphics. While CGI artists demonstrate vast creative skills, their approach differs from the hand-drawn finesse of traditional animation, which resembles fine art.
Large teams vs. smaller teams.
Producing films using traditional animation and animated cels required significant resources. With each frame hand-drawn, productions needed numerous animators. In contrast, CGI films could be created with fewer people in less time.
Examples of cel animation. Cel animation gained public attention in the late 1930s when Disney used the technique in its animated films, bringing color, movement, and realism to animated films.
Some notable examples include:
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• The Lion King (1994)
• The Princess and the Frog (2009)
How to Make Traditional Animation:
While traditional cel animations have been largely replaced by CGI and other digital animation techniques, you can still create a cel animation today. Here’s how:
• Gather the right tools: Traditional animation relies on pens, pencils, and paper.
• Source your plastic: You’ll need a thin sheet of colorless, transparent, and flexible plastic for your animated cel.
• Draw your outline: Hand-draw the outline on the front of the plastic sheet.
• Add color: On the flip side of your sheet, add color and detail within the outline.
• Repeat for each frame: Draw and fill an outline for each frame in your scene.
• Create a background: Design the background of the scene separately.
- Place the animation: Place the animation cels over your background and photograph each frame.
Traditional Animation Techniques
Traditional animation comprises several techniques and processes, including cel animation. To understand how those iconic animations were created, let’s explore some of these techniques:
Cel drawing: Hand drawing individual frames of animation on thin, transparent plastic sheets.
These animations, called animated cels, popularized by Disney in the late 1930s, were placed over pre-created backgrounds and photographed.
Cel overlay: Part of the cel animation process that transformed animated filmmaking in the mid-20th century. Characters were hand-drawn on plastic sheets and placed over existing backgrounds, enabling characters to move and change positions and expressions.
Limited animation: Created as a compromise to the time-consuming process of frame-by-frame cel drawing, limited animation techniques re-used existing frames wherever possible, only creating new animated cels when necessary.
Animation loops: Short, simple sequences of animation set to continually replay. Animation loops date back to the early 1900s, with digital technology transforming their potential in recent years.
Multiplane processes: Disney revolutionized cel animation with the multiplane camera in the late 1930s. This camera introduced different levels or planes with characters and objects placed at different levels, creating a sense of depth in animations.
Xerography: Disney utilized Xerox’s technique to streamline the cel animation process in the production of 101 Dalmatians in 1959/60. Scanning drawings directly onto cels saved animators time and money.
Rotoscoping: A technique used by animators to bring realistic movement to characters by tracing over footage of characters as they move frame by frame. Rotoscoping was developed in the early1900s and brought to the big screen by Disney in Snow White in 1937.
DISCUSSING ROTOSCOPING IN DETAIL
Rotoscoping is an animation technique where animators trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to create realistic action. Initially, live-action movie images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper using a device called a rotoscope, invented by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer. Although computers have since replaced this equipment, the process remains known as rotoscoping.
In the visual effects industry, rotoscoping involves manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate, allowing it to be composited over a different background. While chroma keying is more commonly used for background replacement due to its speed and reduced post-production work, rotoscoping offers higher accuracy and can be used alongside chroma keying. Additionally, rotoscoping is useful when the subject is not filmed against a green or blue screen or for practical or economic reasons.
Technique:
Rotoscoping has long been a critical tool for visual effects in live-action films. By meticulously tracing an object, filmmakers generate a silhouette, or matte, which allows them to seamlessly extract the object from one scene and integrate it into another background. While blue- and greenscreen techniques have simplified the process of layering elements within scenes, rotoscoping remains essential in the creation of visual effects imagery. In the digital age, rotoscoping is significantly enhanced by advanced motion-tracking and onion-skinning software.
It is frequently employed to prepare garbage mattes for other matte extraction processes and to create special visual effects, such as glows, guided by the matte or rotoscoped outline. A quintessential example of traditional rotoscoping is found in the original Star Wars trilogy, where it was utilized to produce the iconic glowing lightsaber effect. This was achieved by tracing each frame with the prop, then enlarging the line and adding the luminous glow.
The method was extensively employed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to enhance the realism of human characters’ movements, though the film’s budget surpassed expectations due to the intricacy of the animation.
Rotoscoping was occasionally utilized by Leon Schlesinger Productions, the studio responsible for producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. For instance, the opening sequence of the 1939 MGM cartoon “Petunia Natural Park” from The Captain and the Kids featured a rotoscoped rendition of MGM’s mascot, Jackie the Lion.
In the challenging circumstances of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, rotoscoping was extensively employed in Princess Iron Fan (1941), China’s inaugural animated feature film.
During the early days of animated filmmaking in the Soviet Union, rotoscoping found favor, particularly in adaptations of folk tales or poems, such as The Night Before Christmas or The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish. It wasn’t until the early 1960s, following the “Khrushchev Thaw,” that animators began exploring divergent aesthetics.
The creators of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine incorporated rotoscoping into the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” sequence. Similarly, director Martin Scorsese utilized rotoscoping to edit out a conspicuous chunk of cocaine from Neil Young’s nose in his rock documentary The Last Waltz.
Ralph Bakshi heavily relied on rotoscoping for several of his animated features, including Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), Fire and Ice (1983), and Cool World (1992). Bakshi initially turned to rotoscoping when 20th Century Fox denied his request for a budget increase to complete Wizards; he employed the technique to finish the battle sequences.
Rotoscoping found further application in a variety of productions, such as Tom Waits For No One (1979), Heavy Metal (1981), What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?(1983), It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984), the Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” music video (1985), and three of A-ha’s music videos, “Take On Me” (1985), “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” (1985), and “Train of Thought” (1986). It was also utilized in Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail(1986), Harry and the Hendersons (closing credits), The BFG (1989), and Titan A.E. (2000), as well as Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues(2008).
In 1994, Smoking Car Productions devised a digital rotoscoping technique for the development of its acclaimed adventure video game The Last Express, ultimately securing U.S. patent 6,061,462 for the Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. The game was conceptualized by Jordan Mechner, who had previously employed rotoscoping extensively in his games Karateka and Prince of Persia.
In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.”
In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions.
Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping.
Kowabon[jp], a short-form horror anime series, also utilized rotoscoping and aired on Japanese TV in 2015.
The cutscenes in Faith: The Unholy Trinity (2017) were animated using rotoscope.
Undone(2019–), an Amazon Prime original series, employed rotoscoping in its creation.
The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films.
STOP MOTION ANIMATION
Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation.
Types of stop motion animation:
Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman
Animations and Rankin/Bass seasonal specials. Examples: Morph, Wallace & Gromit
Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908)
Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker)
Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings
Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales.
Examples: T he Adventures of Prince Achmed(1926), Papageno(1935)
# Acknowledgements
1. “Rotoscoping.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
2. Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. *Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life*. Hyperion, 1981.
3. Crafton, Donald. *Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898–1928*. University of Chicago Press, 1982.
4. Beck, Jerry. *The Animated Movie Guide*. Chicago Review Press, 2005.
5. Solomon, Charles. *Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation*. Random House, 1989.
6. Pilling, Jayne. *Animation: 2D and Beyond*. Laurence King Publishing, 2017.
7. Priebe, Ken A. *The Art of Ralph Bakshi*. Universe, 2003.
8. Mechner, Jordan. *The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985–1993*. eBookIt.com, 2012.
9. Crogan, Patrick. “Interactivity, Autonomy, Aesthetics: The Achievement of ‘The Last Express’.”
*Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader*, edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen
and Jill Walker Rettberg, MIT Press, 2008.
10.King, Morgan Galen. “Animating ‘The Spine of Night’.” *Animation World Network*, 21
11. “Stop Motion Animation.” Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
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The Medium Digest Section of the popular ghostwriting and seo company Jurnol.co.za
Follow | article | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,324 | Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. | sentence | Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908) | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,325 | One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” | sentence | Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908) | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,326 | Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker) | paragraph | Sign up
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# ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES
·
10 min read
·
May 21, 2024
--
Listen
Share
An almost Exhaustive Look at the Various Animation Techniques used throughout History.
Article by: Nhlakanipho Kubheka
Animation, an intricate art form, has evolved significantly throughout history, showcasing a diverse range of techniques employed by artists to bring still images to life. At its core, animation involves the creation of moving images through a series of carefully crafted iterations, each subtly different from the last to convey fluid motion. From the early days of hand-drawn animation, where artists painstakingly crafted each frame, to the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and advanced digital techniques, animation has continuously evolved, pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation.As we delve into the intricate world of animation, we’ll explore the innovation, creativity, and ingenuity that have propelled these techniques to the forefront of visual storytelling.
CEL ANIMATION
Disney captivated audiences for generations with its cel animation in the 20th century. This traditional hand-drawn technique transformed the visual landscape of cinema. But what exactly is cel animation, and how does it function? Explore the comprehensive breakdown in our expert guide. Artists at Walt Disney Studios popularized the technique during the 1930s. Cel animation became standard practice from the 1950s through the 1980s, highlighted by films like The Little Mermaid.
However, by the early 1990s, the digital era emerged. Initially, computers were employed for coloring film, but soon the entire process transitioned to digital handling, as explained by Disney animator Floyd Norman to Collider. Despite this shift, critics, artists, and cinema enthusiasts fondly remember the era of cel animation as a golden age.
Cel animation vs. digital animation: key differences. Cel animation dominated Hollywood for much of the 20th century, thanks to its popularization by Walt Disney Studios. It wasn’t until 1995 that the first computer-generated film arrived with Toy Story, from the then-new studio, Pixar. But what sets digital animation apart from traditional animation?
Hand-drawn vs. computer-designed
The primary distinction between these two animation types lies in their creation process. Cel animation involves artists drawing by hand onto celluloid sheets, known as animated cels, while digital animation is primarily created using software and computers.
Algorithm vs. artistry.
Disney animators working on films like Snow White were primarily artists, using pens, pencils, and paints as their tools. On the other hand, CGI creators work with algorithms and 3D graphics. While CGI artists demonstrate vast creative skills, their approach differs from the hand-drawn finesse of traditional animation, which resembles fine art.
Large teams vs. smaller teams.
Producing films using traditional animation and animated cels required significant resources. With each frame hand-drawn, productions needed numerous animators. In contrast, CGI films could be created with fewer people in less time.
Examples of cel animation. Cel animation gained public attention in the late 1930s when Disney used the technique in its animated films, bringing color, movement, and realism to animated films.
Some notable examples include:
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• The Lion King (1994)
• The Princess and the Frog (2009)
How to Make Traditional Animation:
While traditional cel animations have been largely replaced by CGI and other digital animation techniques, you can still create a cel animation today. Here’s how:
• Gather the right tools: Traditional animation relies on pens, pencils, and paper.
• Source your plastic: You’ll need a thin sheet of colorless, transparent, and flexible plastic for your animated cel.
• Draw your outline: Hand-draw the outline on the front of the plastic sheet.
• Add color: On the flip side of your sheet, add color and detail within the outline.
• Repeat for each frame: Draw and fill an outline for each frame in your scene.
• Create a background: Design the background of the scene separately.
- Place the animation: Place the animation cels over your background and photograph each frame.
Traditional Animation Techniques
Traditional animation comprises several techniques and processes, including cel animation. To understand how those iconic animations were created, let’s explore some of these techniques:
Cel drawing: Hand drawing individual frames of animation on thin, transparent plastic sheets.
These animations, called animated cels, popularized by Disney in the late 1930s, were placed over pre-created backgrounds and photographed.
Cel overlay: Part of the cel animation process that transformed animated filmmaking in the mid-20th century. Characters were hand-drawn on plastic sheets and placed over existing backgrounds, enabling characters to move and change positions and expressions.
Limited animation: Created as a compromise to the time-consuming process of frame-by-frame cel drawing, limited animation techniques re-used existing frames wherever possible, only creating new animated cels when necessary.
Animation loops: Short, simple sequences of animation set to continually replay. Animation loops date back to the early 1900s, with digital technology transforming their potential in recent years.
Multiplane processes: Disney revolutionized cel animation with the multiplane camera in the late 1930s. This camera introduced different levels or planes with characters and objects placed at different levels, creating a sense of depth in animations.
Xerography: Disney utilized Xerox’s technique to streamline the cel animation process in the production of 101 Dalmatians in 1959/60. Scanning drawings directly onto cels saved animators time and money.
Rotoscoping: A technique used by animators to bring realistic movement to characters by tracing over footage of characters as they move frame by frame. Rotoscoping was developed in the early1900s and brought to the big screen by Disney in Snow White in 1937.
DISCUSSING ROTOSCOPING IN DETAIL
Rotoscoping is an animation technique where animators trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to create realistic action. Initially, live-action movie images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper using a device called a rotoscope, invented by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer. Although computers have since replaced this equipment, the process remains known as rotoscoping.
In the visual effects industry, rotoscoping involves manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate, allowing it to be composited over a different background. While chroma keying is more commonly used for background replacement due to its speed and reduced post-production work, rotoscoping offers higher accuracy and can be used alongside chroma keying. Additionally, rotoscoping is useful when the subject is not filmed against a green or blue screen or for practical or economic reasons.
Technique:
Rotoscoping has long been a critical tool for visual effects in live-action films. By meticulously tracing an object, filmmakers generate a silhouette, or matte, which allows them to seamlessly extract the object from one scene and integrate it into another background. While blue- and greenscreen techniques have simplified the process of layering elements within scenes, rotoscoping remains essential in the creation of visual effects imagery. In the digital age, rotoscoping is significantly enhanced by advanced motion-tracking and onion-skinning software.
It is frequently employed to prepare garbage mattes for other matte extraction processes and to create special visual effects, such as glows, guided by the matte or rotoscoped outline. A quintessential example of traditional rotoscoping is found in the original Star Wars trilogy, where it was utilized to produce the iconic glowing lightsaber effect. This was achieved by tracing each frame with the prop, then enlarging the line and adding the luminous glow.
The method was extensively employed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to enhance the realism of human characters’ movements, though the film’s budget surpassed expectations due to the intricacy of the animation.
Rotoscoping was occasionally utilized by Leon Schlesinger Productions, the studio responsible for producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. For instance, the opening sequence of the 1939 MGM cartoon “Petunia Natural Park” from The Captain and the Kids featured a rotoscoped rendition of MGM’s mascot, Jackie the Lion.
In the challenging circumstances of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, rotoscoping was extensively employed in Princess Iron Fan (1941), China’s inaugural animated feature film.
During the early days of animated filmmaking in the Soviet Union, rotoscoping found favor, particularly in adaptations of folk tales or poems, such as The Night Before Christmas or The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish. It wasn’t until the early 1960s, following the “Khrushchev Thaw,” that animators began exploring divergent aesthetics.
The creators of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine incorporated rotoscoping into the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” sequence. Similarly, director Martin Scorsese utilized rotoscoping to edit out a conspicuous chunk of cocaine from Neil Young’s nose in his rock documentary The Last Waltz.
Ralph Bakshi heavily relied on rotoscoping for several of his animated features, including Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), Fire and Ice (1983), and Cool World (1992). Bakshi initially turned to rotoscoping when 20th Century Fox denied his request for a budget increase to complete Wizards; he employed the technique to finish the battle sequences.
Rotoscoping found further application in a variety of productions, such as Tom Waits For No One (1979), Heavy Metal (1981), What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?(1983), It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984), the Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” music video (1985), and three of A-ha’s music videos, “Take On Me” (1985), “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” (1985), and “Train of Thought” (1986). It was also utilized in Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail(1986), Harry and the Hendersons (closing credits), The BFG (1989), and Titan A.E. (2000), as well as Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues(2008).
In 1994, Smoking Car Productions devised a digital rotoscoping technique for the development of its acclaimed adventure video game The Last Express, ultimately securing U.S. patent 6,061,462 for the Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. The game was conceptualized by Jordan Mechner, who had previously employed rotoscoping extensively in his games Karateka and Prince of Persia.
In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.”
In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions.
Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping.
Kowabon[jp], a short-form horror anime series, also utilized rotoscoping and aired on Japanese TV in 2015.
The cutscenes in Faith: The Unholy Trinity (2017) were animated using rotoscope.
Undone(2019–), an Amazon Prime original series, employed rotoscoping in its creation.
The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films.
STOP MOTION ANIMATION
Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation.
Types of stop motion animation:
Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman
Animations and Rankin/Bass seasonal specials. Examples: Morph, Wallace & Gromit
Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908)
Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker)
Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings
Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales.
Examples: T he Adventures of Prince Achmed(1926), Papageno(1935)
# Acknowledgements
1. “Rotoscoping.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
2. Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. *Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life*. Hyperion, 1981.
3. Crafton, Donald. *Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898–1928*. University of Chicago Press, 1982.
4. Beck, Jerry. *The Animated Movie Guide*. Chicago Review Press, 2005.
5. Solomon, Charles. *Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation*. Random House, 1989.
6. Pilling, Jayne. *Animation: 2D and Beyond*. Laurence King Publishing, 2017.
7. Priebe, Ken A. *The Art of Ralph Bakshi*. Universe, 2003.
8. Mechner, Jordan. *The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985–1993*. eBookIt.com, 2012.
9. Crogan, Patrick. “Interactivity, Autonomy, Aesthetics: The Achievement of ‘The Last Express’.”
*Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader*, edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen
and Jill Walker Rettberg, MIT Press, 2008.
10.King, Morgan Galen. “Animating ‘The Spine of Night’.” *Animation World Network*, 21
11. “Stop Motion Animation.” Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
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The Medium Digest Section of the popular ghostwriting and seo company Jurnol.co.za
Follow | article | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,327 | Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. | sentence | Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker) | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,328 | The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. | sentence | Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker) | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,329 | Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker) | sentence | Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker) | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,330 | Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings | paragraph | Sign up
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# ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES
·
10 min read
·
May 21, 2024
--
Listen
Share
An almost Exhaustive Look at the Various Animation Techniques used throughout History.
Article by: Nhlakanipho Kubheka
Animation, an intricate art form, has evolved significantly throughout history, showcasing a diverse range of techniques employed by artists to bring still images to life. At its core, animation involves the creation of moving images through a series of carefully crafted iterations, each subtly different from the last to convey fluid motion. From the early days of hand-drawn animation, where artists painstakingly crafted each frame, to the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and advanced digital techniques, animation has continuously evolved, pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation.As we delve into the intricate world of animation, we’ll explore the innovation, creativity, and ingenuity that have propelled these techniques to the forefront of visual storytelling.
CEL ANIMATION
Disney captivated audiences for generations with its cel animation in the 20th century. This traditional hand-drawn technique transformed the visual landscape of cinema. But what exactly is cel animation, and how does it function? Explore the comprehensive breakdown in our expert guide. Artists at Walt Disney Studios popularized the technique during the 1930s. Cel animation became standard practice from the 1950s through the 1980s, highlighted by films like The Little Mermaid.
However, by the early 1990s, the digital era emerged. Initially, computers were employed for coloring film, but soon the entire process transitioned to digital handling, as explained by Disney animator Floyd Norman to Collider. Despite this shift, critics, artists, and cinema enthusiasts fondly remember the era of cel animation as a golden age.
Cel animation vs. digital animation: key differences. Cel animation dominated Hollywood for much of the 20th century, thanks to its popularization by Walt Disney Studios. It wasn’t until 1995 that the first computer-generated film arrived with Toy Story, from the then-new studio, Pixar. But what sets digital animation apart from traditional animation?
Hand-drawn vs. computer-designed
The primary distinction between these two animation types lies in their creation process. Cel animation involves artists drawing by hand onto celluloid sheets, known as animated cels, while digital animation is primarily created using software and computers.
Algorithm vs. artistry.
Disney animators working on films like Snow White were primarily artists, using pens, pencils, and paints as their tools. On the other hand, CGI creators work with algorithms and 3D graphics. While CGI artists demonstrate vast creative skills, their approach differs from the hand-drawn finesse of traditional animation, which resembles fine art.
Large teams vs. smaller teams.
Producing films using traditional animation and animated cels required significant resources. With each frame hand-drawn, productions needed numerous animators. In contrast, CGI films could be created with fewer people in less time.
Examples of cel animation. Cel animation gained public attention in the late 1930s when Disney used the technique in its animated films, bringing color, movement, and realism to animated films.
Some notable examples include:
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• The Lion King (1994)
• The Princess and the Frog (2009)
How to Make Traditional Animation:
While traditional cel animations have been largely replaced by CGI and other digital animation techniques, you can still create a cel animation today. Here’s how:
• Gather the right tools: Traditional animation relies on pens, pencils, and paper.
• Source your plastic: You’ll need a thin sheet of colorless, transparent, and flexible plastic for your animated cel.
• Draw your outline: Hand-draw the outline on the front of the plastic sheet.
• Add color: On the flip side of your sheet, add color and detail within the outline.
• Repeat for each frame: Draw and fill an outline for each frame in your scene.
• Create a background: Design the background of the scene separately.
- Place the animation: Place the animation cels over your background and photograph each frame.
Traditional Animation Techniques
Traditional animation comprises several techniques and processes, including cel animation. To understand how those iconic animations were created, let’s explore some of these techniques:
Cel drawing: Hand drawing individual frames of animation on thin, transparent plastic sheets.
These animations, called animated cels, popularized by Disney in the late 1930s, were placed over pre-created backgrounds and photographed.
Cel overlay: Part of the cel animation process that transformed animated filmmaking in the mid-20th century. Characters were hand-drawn on plastic sheets and placed over existing backgrounds, enabling characters to move and change positions and expressions.
Limited animation: Created as a compromise to the time-consuming process of frame-by-frame cel drawing, limited animation techniques re-used existing frames wherever possible, only creating new animated cels when necessary.
Animation loops: Short, simple sequences of animation set to continually replay. Animation loops date back to the early 1900s, with digital technology transforming their potential in recent years.
Multiplane processes: Disney revolutionized cel animation with the multiplane camera in the late 1930s. This camera introduced different levels or planes with characters and objects placed at different levels, creating a sense of depth in animations.
Xerography: Disney utilized Xerox’s technique to streamline the cel animation process in the production of 101 Dalmatians in 1959/60. Scanning drawings directly onto cels saved animators time and money.
Rotoscoping: A technique used by animators to bring realistic movement to characters by tracing over footage of characters as they move frame by frame. Rotoscoping was developed in the early1900s and brought to the big screen by Disney in Snow White in 1937.
DISCUSSING ROTOSCOPING IN DETAIL
Rotoscoping is an animation technique where animators trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to create realistic action. Initially, live-action movie images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper using a device called a rotoscope, invented by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer. Although computers have since replaced this equipment, the process remains known as rotoscoping.
In the visual effects industry, rotoscoping involves manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate, allowing it to be composited over a different background. While chroma keying is more commonly used for background replacement due to its speed and reduced post-production work, rotoscoping offers higher accuracy and can be used alongside chroma keying. Additionally, rotoscoping is useful when the subject is not filmed against a green or blue screen or for practical or economic reasons.
Technique:
Rotoscoping has long been a critical tool for visual effects in live-action films. By meticulously tracing an object, filmmakers generate a silhouette, or matte, which allows them to seamlessly extract the object from one scene and integrate it into another background. While blue- and greenscreen techniques have simplified the process of layering elements within scenes, rotoscoping remains essential in the creation of visual effects imagery. In the digital age, rotoscoping is significantly enhanced by advanced motion-tracking and onion-skinning software.
It is frequently employed to prepare garbage mattes for other matte extraction processes and to create special visual effects, such as glows, guided by the matte or rotoscoped outline. A quintessential example of traditional rotoscoping is found in the original Star Wars trilogy, where it was utilized to produce the iconic glowing lightsaber effect. This was achieved by tracing each frame with the prop, then enlarging the line and adding the luminous glow.
The method was extensively employed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to enhance the realism of human characters’ movements, though the film’s budget surpassed expectations due to the intricacy of the animation.
Rotoscoping was occasionally utilized by Leon Schlesinger Productions, the studio responsible for producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. For instance, the opening sequence of the 1939 MGM cartoon “Petunia Natural Park” from The Captain and the Kids featured a rotoscoped rendition of MGM’s mascot, Jackie the Lion.
In the challenging circumstances of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, rotoscoping was extensively employed in Princess Iron Fan (1941), China’s inaugural animated feature film.
During the early days of animated filmmaking in the Soviet Union, rotoscoping found favor, particularly in adaptations of folk tales or poems, such as The Night Before Christmas or The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish. It wasn’t until the early 1960s, following the “Khrushchev Thaw,” that animators began exploring divergent aesthetics.
The creators of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine incorporated rotoscoping into the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” sequence. Similarly, director Martin Scorsese utilized rotoscoping to edit out a conspicuous chunk of cocaine from Neil Young’s nose in his rock documentary The Last Waltz.
Ralph Bakshi heavily relied on rotoscoping for several of his animated features, including Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), Fire and Ice (1983), and Cool World (1992). Bakshi initially turned to rotoscoping when 20th Century Fox denied his request for a budget increase to complete Wizards; he employed the technique to finish the battle sequences.
Rotoscoping found further application in a variety of productions, such as Tom Waits For No One (1979), Heavy Metal (1981), What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?(1983), It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984), the Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” music video (1985), and three of A-ha’s music videos, “Take On Me” (1985), “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” (1985), and “Train of Thought” (1986). It was also utilized in Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail(1986), Harry and the Hendersons (closing credits), The BFG (1989), and Titan A.E. (2000), as well as Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues(2008).
In 1994, Smoking Car Productions devised a digital rotoscoping technique for the development of its acclaimed adventure video game The Last Express, ultimately securing U.S. patent 6,061,462 for the Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. The game was conceptualized by Jordan Mechner, who had previously employed rotoscoping extensively in his games Karateka and Prince of Persia.
In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.”
In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions.
Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping.
Kowabon[jp], a short-form horror anime series, also utilized rotoscoping and aired on Japanese TV in 2015.
The cutscenes in Faith: The Unholy Trinity (2017) were animated using rotoscope.
Undone(2019–), an Amazon Prime original series, employed rotoscoping in its creation.
The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films.
STOP MOTION ANIMATION
Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation.
Types of stop motion animation:
Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman
Animations and Rankin/Bass seasonal specials. Examples: Morph, Wallace & Gromit
Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908)
Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker)
Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings
Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales.
Examples: T he Adventures of Prince Achmed(1926), Papageno(1935)
# Acknowledgements
1. “Rotoscoping.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
2. Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. *Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life*. Hyperion, 1981.
3. Crafton, Donald. *Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898–1928*. University of Chicago Press, 1982.
4. Beck, Jerry. *The Animated Movie Guide*. Chicago Review Press, 2005.
5. Solomon, Charles. *Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation*. Random House, 1989.
6. Pilling, Jayne. *Animation: 2D and Beyond*. Laurence King Publishing, 2017.
7. Priebe, Ken A. *The Art of Ralph Bakshi*. Universe, 2003.
8. Mechner, Jordan. *The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985–1993*. eBookIt.com, 2012.
9. Crogan, Patrick. “Interactivity, Autonomy, Aesthetics: The Achievement of ‘The Last Express’.”
*Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader*, edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen
and Jill Walker Rettberg, MIT Press, 2008.
10.King, Morgan Galen. “Animating ‘The Spine of Night’.” *Animation World Network*, 21
11. “Stop Motion Animation.” Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
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Follow
The Medium Digest Section of the popular ghostwriting and seo company Jurnol.co.za
Follow | article | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,331 | Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. | sentence | Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,332 | Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. | sentence | Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,333 | Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales. | paragraph | Sign up
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# ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES
·
10 min read
·
May 21, 2024
--
Listen
Share
An almost Exhaustive Look at the Various Animation Techniques used throughout History.
Article by: Nhlakanipho Kubheka
Animation, an intricate art form, has evolved significantly throughout history, showcasing a diverse range of techniques employed by artists to bring still images to life. At its core, animation involves the creation of moving images through a series of carefully crafted iterations, each subtly different from the last to convey fluid motion. From the early days of hand-drawn animation, where artists painstakingly crafted each frame, to the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and advanced digital techniques, animation has continuously evolved, pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation.As we delve into the intricate world of animation, we’ll explore the innovation, creativity, and ingenuity that have propelled these techniques to the forefront of visual storytelling.
CEL ANIMATION
Disney captivated audiences for generations with its cel animation in the 20th century. This traditional hand-drawn technique transformed the visual landscape of cinema. But what exactly is cel animation, and how does it function? Explore the comprehensive breakdown in our expert guide. Artists at Walt Disney Studios popularized the technique during the 1930s. Cel animation became standard practice from the 1950s through the 1980s, highlighted by films like The Little Mermaid.
However, by the early 1990s, the digital era emerged. Initially, computers were employed for coloring film, but soon the entire process transitioned to digital handling, as explained by Disney animator Floyd Norman to Collider. Despite this shift, critics, artists, and cinema enthusiasts fondly remember the era of cel animation as a golden age.
Cel animation vs. digital animation: key differences. Cel animation dominated Hollywood for much of the 20th century, thanks to its popularization by Walt Disney Studios. It wasn’t until 1995 that the first computer-generated film arrived with Toy Story, from the then-new studio, Pixar. But what sets digital animation apart from traditional animation?
Hand-drawn vs. computer-designed
The primary distinction between these two animation types lies in their creation process. Cel animation involves artists drawing by hand onto celluloid sheets, known as animated cels, while digital animation is primarily created using software and computers.
Algorithm vs. artistry.
Disney animators working on films like Snow White were primarily artists, using pens, pencils, and paints as their tools. On the other hand, CGI creators work with algorithms and 3D graphics. While CGI artists demonstrate vast creative skills, their approach differs from the hand-drawn finesse of traditional animation, which resembles fine art.
Large teams vs. smaller teams.
Producing films using traditional animation and animated cels required significant resources. With each frame hand-drawn, productions needed numerous animators. In contrast, CGI films could be created with fewer people in less time.
Examples of cel animation. Cel animation gained public attention in the late 1930s when Disney used the technique in its animated films, bringing color, movement, and realism to animated films.
Some notable examples include:
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• The Lion King (1994)
• The Princess and the Frog (2009)
How to Make Traditional Animation:
While traditional cel animations have been largely replaced by CGI and other digital animation techniques, you can still create a cel animation today. Here’s how:
• Gather the right tools: Traditional animation relies on pens, pencils, and paper.
• Source your plastic: You’ll need a thin sheet of colorless, transparent, and flexible plastic for your animated cel.
• Draw your outline: Hand-draw the outline on the front of the plastic sheet.
• Add color: On the flip side of your sheet, add color and detail within the outline.
• Repeat for each frame: Draw and fill an outline for each frame in your scene.
• Create a background: Design the background of the scene separately.
- Place the animation: Place the animation cels over your background and photograph each frame.
Traditional Animation Techniques
Traditional animation comprises several techniques and processes, including cel animation. To understand how those iconic animations were created, let’s explore some of these techniques:
Cel drawing: Hand drawing individual frames of animation on thin, transparent plastic sheets.
These animations, called animated cels, popularized by Disney in the late 1930s, were placed over pre-created backgrounds and photographed.
Cel overlay: Part of the cel animation process that transformed animated filmmaking in the mid-20th century. Characters were hand-drawn on plastic sheets and placed over existing backgrounds, enabling characters to move and change positions and expressions.
Limited animation: Created as a compromise to the time-consuming process of frame-by-frame cel drawing, limited animation techniques re-used existing frames wherever possible, only creating new animated cels when necessary.
Animation loops: Short, simple sequences of animation set to continually replay. Animation loops date back to the early 1900s, with digital technology transforming their potential in recent years.
Multiplane processes: Disney revolutionized cel animation with the multiplane camera in the late 1930s. This camera introduced different levels or planes with characters and objects placed at different levels, creating a sense of depth in animations.
Xerography: Disney utilized Xerox’s technique to streamline the cel animation process in the production of 101 Dalmatians in 1959/60. Scanning drawings directly onto cels saved animators time and money.
Rotoscoping: A technique used by animators to bring realistic movement to characters by tracing over footage of characters as they move frame by frame. Rotoscoping was developed in the early1900s and brought to the big screen by Disney in Snow White in 1937.
DISCUSSING ROTOSCOPING IN DETAIL
Rotoscoping is an animation technique where animators trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to create realistic action. Initially, live-action movie images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper using a device called a rotoscope, invented by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer. Although computers have since replaced this equipment, the process remains known as rotoscoping.
In the visual effects industry, rotoscoping involves manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate, allowing it to be composited over a different background. While chroma keying is more commonly used for background replacement due to its speed and reduced post-production work, rotoscoping offers higher accuracy and can be used alongside chroma keying. Additionally, rotoscoping is useful when the subject is not filmed against a green or blue screen or for practical or economic reasons.
Technique:
Rotoscoping has long been a critical tool for visual effects in live-action films. By meticulously tracing an object, filmmakers generate a silhouette, or matte, which allows them to seamlessly extract the object from one scene and integrate it into another background. While blue- and greenscreen techniques have simplified the process of layering elements within scenes, rotoscoping remains essential in the creation of visual effects imagery. In the digital age, rotoscoping is significantly enhanced by advanced motion-tracking and onion-skinning software.
It is frequently employed to prepare garbage mattes for other matte extraction processes and to create special visual effects, such as glows, guided by the matte or rotoscoped outline. A quintessential example of traditional rotoscoping is found in the original Star Wars trilogy, where it was utilized to produce the iconic glowing lightsaber effect. This was achieved by tracing each frame with the prop, then enlarging the line and adding the luminous glow.
The method was extensively employed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to enhance the realism of human characters’ movements, though the film’s budget surpassed expectations due to the intricacy of the animation.
Rotoscoping was occasionally utilized by Leon Schlesinger Productions, the studio responsible for producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. For instance, the opening sequence of the 1939 MGM cartoon “Petunia Natural Park” from The Captain and the Kids featured a rotoscoped rendition of MGM’s mascot, Jackie the Lion.
In the challenging circumstances of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, rotoscoping was extensively employed in Princess Iron Fan (1941), China’s inaugural animated feature film.
During the early days of animated filmmaking in the Soviet Union, rotoscoping found favor, particularly in adaptations of folk tales or poems, such as The Night Before Christmas or The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish. It wasn’t until the early 1960s, following the “Khrushchev Thaw,” that animators began exploring divergent aesthetics.
The creators of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine incorporated rotoscoping into the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” sequence. Similarly, director Martin Scorsese utilized rotoscoping to edit out a conspicuous chunk of cocaine from Neil Young’s nose in his rock documentary The Last Waltz.
Ralph Bakshi heavily relied on rotoscoping for several of his animated features, including Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), Fire and Ice (1983), and Cool World (1992). Bakshi initially turned to rotoscoping when 20th Century Fox denied his request for a budget increase to complete Wizards; he employed the technique to finish the battle sequences.
Rotoscoping found further application in a variety of productions, such as Tom Waits For No One (1979), Heavy Metal (1981), What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?(1983), It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984), the Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” music video (1985), and three of A-ha’s music videos, “Take On Me” (1985), “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” (1985), and “Train of Thought” (1986). It was also utilized in Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail(1986), Harry and the Hendersons (closing credits), The BFG (1989), and Titan A.E. (2000), as well as Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues(2008).
In 1994, Smoking Car Productions devised a digital rotoscoping technique for the development of its acclaimed adventure video game The Last Express, ultimately securing U.S. patent 6,061,462 for the Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. The game was conceptualized by Jordan Mechner, who had previously employed rotoscoping extensively in his games Karateka and Prince of Persia.
In the mid-1990s, animator and computer scientist Bob Sabiston, an MIT Media Lab veteran, pioneered a computer-assisted “interpolated rotoscoping” process, notably showcased in his award winning short film “Snack and Drink.” Director Richard Linklater subsequently enlisted Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software for the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Linklater was the first director to utilize digital rotoscoping for an entire feature film. Additionally, a series of television commercials for Charles Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck campaign from 2005 to 2008 showcased Sabiston’s rotoscoping work, while The Simpsons employed rotoscoping for a couch gag in the episode Barthood, described by Lisa as “a noble experiment that failed.”
In 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil adopted rotoscoping to create a distinct visual style divergent from its manga source material. While viewers criticized the show’s shortcuts in facial animation, reuse of backgrounds, and liberties taken with realism, critics praised the film, with Anime News Network awarding it a perfect score for initial reactions.
Early 2015 saw the release of the anime film The Case of Hana & Alice, a prequel to the 2004 live action film Hana and Alice, entirely animated using Rotoshop. Unlike The Flowers of Evil, it received widespread acclaim for its rotoscoping.
Kowabon[jp], a short-form horror anime series, also utilized rotoscoping and aired on Japanese TV in 2015.
The cutscenes in Faith: The Unholy Trinity (2017) were animated using rotoscope.
Undone(2019–), an Amazon Prime original series, employed rotoscoping in its creation.
The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed by Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, was animated using rotoscoping. Prior to this, King’s Gorgonaut Studios had utilized rotoscoping for a series of short fantasy films.
STOP MOTION ANIMATION
Numerous acclaimed films highlight stop motion animation. But what exactly constitutes stop motion video? It entails manipulating real-world objects and photographing them frame by frame. These frames are then compiled into a sequence and played back, creating the illusion of movement. Stop motion encompasses various animation forms, including claymation and cutout animation.
Types of stop motion animation:
Claymation: This technique involves sculpting characters and props from modeling clay to craft unique worlds. Claymation entails the sculpting and frame-by-frame manipulation of clay-based characters or objects. Notable examples include the beloved Wallace & Gromit duo from Aardman
Animations and Rankin/Bass seasonal specials. Examples: Morph, Wallace & Gromit
Pixilation: Pixilation incorporates live actors into the process, requiring them to hold poses for still photography while making subtle movements between frames. One noteworthy example is the music video by The Maccabees for their song “Latchmere.” Examples: Hôtel électrique (1908)
Cutout-Motion: Involving two-dimensional objects typically made from paper, cutout-motion animates their movements. The pilot episode of South Park was famously created using cutoutmotion, although its creators have since refined their techniques. Examples: The Spirit of Christmas(Matt Stone and Trey Parker)
Puppet Animation: This technique involves crafting and manipulating puppets to achieve a charming animated aesthetic. Laika, known for films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, is renowned for its puppet animation. Examples: Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings
Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales.
Examples: T he Adventures of Prince Achmed(1926), Papageno(1935)
# Acknowledgements
1. “Rotoscoping.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
2. Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. *Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life*. Hyperion, 1981.
3. Crafton, Donald. *Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898–1928*. University of Chicago Press, 1982.
4. Beck, Jerry. *The Animated Movie Guide*. Chicago Review Press, 2005.
5. Solomon, Charles. *Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation*. Random House, 1989.
6. Pilling, Jayne. *Animation: 2D and Beyond*. Laurence King Publishing, 2017.
7. Priebe, Ken A. *The Art of Ralph Bakshi*. Universe, 2003.
8. Mechner, Jordan. *The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985–1993*. eBookIt.com, 2012.
9. Crogan, Patrick. “Interactivity, Autonomy, Aesthetics: The Achievement of ‘The Last Express’.”
*Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader*, edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen
and Jill Walker Rettberg, MIT Press, 2008.
10.King, Morgan Galen. “Animating ‘The Spine of Night’.” *Animation World Network*, 21
11. “Stop Motion Animation.” Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
--
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Follow | article | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,334 | Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. | sentence | Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,335 | Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales. | sentence | Silhouette Animation: Combining cutout-motion with shadow play, silhouette animation produces captivating frames of action. Pioneered by European studios in the 1920s, it’s exemplified by the work of Lotte Reiniger, who created over 70 silhouette animation films retelling folk tales. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | ANIMATION AND ITS TIMELINE OF TECHNIQUES | by Jurnol | https://medium.com/@Jurnol/animation-and-its-timeline-of-techniques-ab0e85de87b1 |
5,336 | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | title | تاريخ فن الأنميشن | query | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,337 | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
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12.18.2020
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× | article | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | title | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,338 | The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,339 | However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope. | sentence | The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,340 | Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,341 | Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. | sentence | Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,342 | These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows. | sentence | Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,343 | Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
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#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
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#### Case Studies +
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Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,344 | Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. | sentence | Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,345 | This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement. | sentence | Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,346 | Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
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5,347 | The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
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12.18.2020
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5,348 | Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
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#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,349 | Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,350 | Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. | sentence | Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,351 | They are thought to be transformational for the industry. | sentence | Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,352 | Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
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#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,353 | Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. | sentence | Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,354 | This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation. | sentence | Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,355 | Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,356 | Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. | sentence | Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,357 | In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
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12.18.2020
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,358 | In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). | sentence | In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,359 | Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic. | sentence | In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,360 | Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,361 | He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney. | sentence | Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,362 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,363 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. | sentence | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,364 | It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow. | sentence | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,365 | Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
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12.18.2020
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5,366 | The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
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#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
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#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,367 | They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,368 | They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. | sentence | They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,369 | It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession. | sentence | They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,370 | Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
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12.18.2020
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,371 | Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,372 | These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to. | sentence | Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,373 | Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,374 | However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop. | sentence | Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,375 | The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
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12.18.2020
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,376 | Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,377 | Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. | sentence | Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,378 | They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon. | sentence | Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,379 | Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940). | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,380 | Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. | sentence | Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940). | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,381 | These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. | sentence | Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940). | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,382 | A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940). | sentence | Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940). | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,383 | Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949). | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,384 | Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. | sentence | Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949). | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,385 | This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949). | sentence | Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949). | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,386 | With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
×
×
×
×
×
×
×
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Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
×
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,387 | With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. | sentence | With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,388 | Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids. | sentence | With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,389 | Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
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12.18.2020
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,390 | Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. | sentence | Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,391 | By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon. | sentence | Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,392 | Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
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#### Home
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#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,393 | Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. | sentence | Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,394 | This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. | sentence | Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,395 | Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,396 | Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. | sentence | Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,397 | The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series. | sentence | Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series. | paragraph | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
5,398 | Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
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5,399 | However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records. | paragraph | # History of Animation and its Evolution in Film
The history of animation is diverse. The evolution of animation is an ongoing process. However, what we regard as animation today came into being in the 1800s with inventions like the magic lanterns and the zoetrope.
It was when animation was brought to cinema that we began to see substantial development in successive eras of animation.
Animated cartoons came at least half a century before animated films. These included a lot, from Victorian parlor decoration to touring magic lantern shows.
Animation owes its existence to the principle of persistence of vision. This theory stipulates that if images are shown in succession at a fast pace, they will give an illusion of movement.
## A brief evolutionary history of animation in entertainment
In 1834, Joseph Plateau from Belgium created a phenakistoscope, it was one of the first attempts at classical animation.
It was a cardboard disc with successive images that gave the illusion of movement once spun and viewed in the mirror.
In 1876, Emilé Reynaud in France applied the same phenomenon and devised a system to project animation into theatrical exhibitions.
He was the first to bring color and personality to animated characters through ribbons of celluloid painted by hand.
It was not long before the sprocket is driven film stock hit the animation market setting it several steps forward.
## History of animation: The silent era (1900s-1920s)
There are some defining names in the animation industry whose works are known to be pivotal in the evolution of animation as entertainment.
### Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton used this technique to make the animated series Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.
Blackton is also regarded as the pioneer of stop-motion animation in his short film Haunted Hotel .
Émile Cohl had copied Blackton, however, he had used a much-simplified stick figure style as opposed to the slightly elaborate cartoon animation in Haunted Hotel.
Cohl can also be regarded for making the first hand-drawn animated video.
The budding animation industry employed the serviceas of some of the best artists like Rube Goldberg, Bud Fisher, and George Herriman producing iconic animations like Mutt and Jeff and Krazy Kat.
And…
Later as the process of animation evolved, these artists started outsourcing the services of other illustrators for design work while masterminding the projects in terms of concept execution.
### Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) are some other well-known efforts in animation by the celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay. They are thought to be transformational for the industry.
McCay is thought to be the pioneer in the animation industry for giving a personality to his characters and a fluid movement.
McCay’s other works involve The Sinking of Lusitania(1918) which was further developed Pat Sullivan.
It was the Australian-born Sullivan that brought forth the genius of Otto Messmer, the creator of Felix of one-reel cartoons, Feline Follies.
Felix the cat soon became the template on which animal cartoons were shaped with their round heads and large eyes. This model was easy to draw for multiple frames of animation.
## History of animation: The golden age (1930s-1960s)
### Walt Disney
Felix is said to be the manual on which legendary cartoonist Walt Disney modeled most of his early characters starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Most people would argue that Mickey Mouse was just a repurposed Oswald. However, Disney’s genius did not stop there.
Walt Disney’s sound-synchronized animations revolutionized cartoons giving them just the element of life that they were missing. Steamboat Willie (1928) took the industry by surprise.
Disney employed many more revolutionary techniques like technicolor in Flowers and Trees(1932) and music like in The Skeleton Dance.
In addition to that, he used the three-plane camera technique in Old Mill(1937). Every succession of these projects brought Disney’s cartoons closer to natural and realistic.
Disney did not accomplish this alone. He had the services of a long-time trusted companion, Ub Iwerks who played a pivotal role in the phenomenal innovations that are crowned to Disney.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first hand-drawn animated feature film that hit the box office with a proper Hollywood style release. It was an iconic phenomenon complete with as much dramatic expression as animation could allow.
Disney released several jaw-dropping feature films that can be regarded as the epitome of photographic realism.
Pinocchio(1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo(1941), and Bambi (1942), one after another Disney’s endeavors in feature films that ultimately redefined animated feature.
It is safe to say that Walt Disney and his achievements were monumental in the history of animation.
### Fleischer Brothers
It was not long before other filmmakers realized the market had a lot of opportunity with not many people to take them.
The Fleischer Brothers were a New York-based dynamic duo that coined even more sophisticated techniques in animation while Disney was still in Kansas.
They launched and perfected the technique of rotoscoping. It’s a technique that involves drawing cartoonish images over the footage of a live-action film and playing it in succession.
The Fleischer brothers pioneered this technique in their series Out of the Inkwell that went on for a good ten years from 1919 to 1929.
This series had the unique element of real-life characters that Disney seemed to struggle with in his productions of Alice.
It was much later in 1964 that Disney was able to get a grip of the technique in his musical fantasy Marry Poppins.
However, there is a stark difference in how Disney cultivated the animation industry and how Max and Dave Fleischer did.
Disney had more of a Mother Goose and Norman Rockwall feel to his work while the Fleischers verged upon a more adult genre of animated content with urban, suggestive, and crowded animations.
Their characters were overtly sensual like Betty Boop. These cartoons made a deep cut in American association to cartoons until they dialed it way back down giving us the same cute content Disney used to.
history of animation
Some of them include Gulliver’s Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941). However, Fleischer Studio’s main work still remains to be Popeye(1933) , a spin-off to Betty Boop.
It was after Baby Wants a Bottleship, that the Fleischer studio sold their rights over to Famous Studios.
### Tex Avery
If Fleischer Studios were known for their edgy animated content, Warner Bros. took it several notches up to an almost chaotic level.
The Warner Bros. cartoon studio, Termite Terrace, was founded by some of the seasoned members of the Disney enterprise like Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, and Fritz Freleng.
It wasn’t until the young and eccentric Tex Avery joined the studio that they started to get on the map in the industry.
Avery was young had an eye for talent which he recognized in his team of artists who went on to become legends on their own. They included Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bob Cannon.
Together, they added speed and quirkiness to the Warner Bros’ animation. These characters were fast, witty, and often aggressive. A great example of this is Tex Avery’s A Wild Hare(1940).
Successively, these characters evolved into Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
Avery went on to leave Warner Brothers and join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio. This is where his character as an anarchic and chaotic animator became even more evident in works like Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Bad Luck Blackie(1949).
With the progress of techniques in animation, the sky was the limit to what could be done with a cartoon. Animation soon became one of the most crucial genres of entertainment, especially for kids.
With each passing day, it is becoming more sophisticated, diverse, and popular. It has opened up storytelling to possibilities.
## The American television era (1950s-1980s)
The animation industry had been predominantly confined to the cinema until it began to adapt to television.
The major driving factor was that the average American family started to choose cartoons as their preferred entertainment medium.
Major studios started making animated series for television using the technique of limited animation in the 1960s. By the mid-80s, cartoons were a very common thing on television especially with channels like Disney and Nickelodeon.
Flinstones were the first animated series to be aired on television at prime-time. This was followed by Yogi Bear both in time and popularity. These were both Hanna-Barbera productions.
Adult animated sitcoms also became one of the most popular categories in American television. The dominant productions in this area were The Simpsons series.
In 2009, The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest-running prime-time television series.
history of animation
The PinkPhink was the first animated short to receive an Academy Award.
## Modern American era
From 1980 to 2014, we have seen massive leaps of progress with 2D and 3D CGI animation. It has revolutionized the American animation industry.
In the 90s, Walt Disney Production Company and Animation Studios gave us several phenomenal feature films based on age-old fables and folklore.
Some of the iconic and notable animated films among them are The Lion King, The Princess, and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Bambi.
So, what’s CGI?
In simple words, CGI is when you make 3D models instead of drawing. It is basically a digital version of stop motion animation.
The Graphics Group that has now evolved into Pixar is known for their first 3D animated film, The Adventures of André & Wally B.(1984) .
However, it was 1995 when Pixar was able to release their first fully-animated computer feature, Toy Story. It went on to become a worldwide franchise breaking box office records.
Computer 3D animation gave us several mainstream blockbuster franchises like Shrek, A Bug’s Life, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Frozen, Cars, Madagascar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hotel Transylvania, and Big Hero 6.
If you are asked to summarize the history of animation, you cannot just do it in a few films.
Animation, like any other art form, is a long process of innovation and game-changing genius of artists and story-tellers. Safe to say that we have come a long way from hand-drawn stop motion although they were the foundation upon which the entire evolution of animation stands.
Want a video for your business?
12.18.2020
### Subscribe to the MotionCue Newsletter
For monthly video and marketing insights from company founder/CEO Osama Khabab
Leave this field empty if you're human:
## Contact Us
Δ
#### Home
#### Services
#### Verticals
#### Case Studies
#### Home +
#### Services+
#### Verticals +
#### Case Studies +
#### Ready to win with video?
Set up a free 30-minute strategy session with our team.
Copyright © 2012-2026 MotionCue.
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Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
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× | article | Arabic | ar | History of Animation and its Evolution in Film | MotionCue | https://motioncue.com/history-and-evolution-of-animation-in-film/ |
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