Moving pictures are eye-catching. When this technique was used in developing characters with a story, it was known to be the greatest innovation of all time. Animation has artistically brought millions of smiles on the faces of children and adults. The power it possesses to transport you to an unimaginable world has changed people’s outlook towards its ability to create optical illusion. The evolution in animation with the growing technology has been remarkable and it’s still expanding. It has significantly attracted children of all age groups across the world. Adults are finding it fascinating too. History of animation is diverse and revolutionizing.
It all began in 1834 when Joseph Plateau from Belgium tried his hand at classical animation. He created a cardboard disc that had images. When it was spun and viewed in the mirror, it gave an illusion of movement.
Silent era was a phase from 1900’s -1920’s where the films had moving pictures with no audio. J. Staurt Blackton founded Vitagraph Studios in 1897 and created first ever animated video was created by J. Stuart Blackton in 1900, called “The Enchanted Drawing”. In this video, a drawing was made by J. Stuart Blackton which has a face reacting in different motions. He experimented with stop-motion techniques in his videos. He was considered to be the ‘Father of American Animation’.
Emile Cohl tried creating a similar video. Cohl had created first ever hand-drawn video. One of his creations was “Haunted Hotel”. He used stick figures in his videos.
Later, the animation industry outsourced services of artists to create animations like Mutt and Jeff.
Another well known animation artists in the animation industry was Windsor McCay. He created genius animated videos like Little Nemo in Slumberland and The Sinking of Lusitania. It was later developed by Pat Sullivan.
Walt Disney, an esteemed cartoonist, had given the world most unique and loved characters of all time. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was his early creation followed by Mickey Mouse which went on to become the most beloved show. Steamboat Willie was the first sound synchronized show. The sound techniques Disney adopted in creating these cartoons brought life to the characters. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first hand written animated feature film that smashed the Hollywood box office. Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi and many others were iconic feature films that made Walt Disney the legend of animation. His achievements were phenomenal that entirely changed animation industry.
Animation industry was rapidly growing and people felt it had more to offer. Two brothers from New York took this opportunity and created even more sophisticated animation characters with more advanced technologies. They were the Fleischer Brothers. They worked on an unknown technique of rotoscoping. This technique was further introduced in their series “Out of the Inkwell”. Fleischer Brothers animation was more urban and adult.
Warner Bros. cartoon studios created even more edgy cartoons. Warner Bros. had the most talented artists like Chuck Jones, Bob Cannon, Tex Avery. The characters they had created were different and had a bit of quirkiness to them. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation studio was later joined by Tex Avery. Red Hot Riding Hood was the first ‘Red’ cartoon.
Animation industry is flourishing with advancement in technology and has become more prevalent in today’s entertainment industry. All these years, animation has given us classic shows and movies that are still being adapted in designing characters and developing fresh stories.
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