INTRODUCTION

The history of animation is much older than the history of cinema. According to history, it can be
easily estimated that animation history is almost 100 years old. It is said that as back as 1650, few artists
tried to create some glass lantern slides, and created an illusion of motion using those slides. Soon
animators started to work with hand-drawn animation and also introduced several optical toys to use those
frames in those devices to create animation. Thus, as time grew up, this resulted in a new industry known
as animation industry1.

WHAT IS ANIMATION?

Animation can be defined as the range of non-photographic methods, including handmade

drawings, silhouette animation, model work (known as stop motion animation) cel-animation and
computer animation to create film images. The movement is handled with slight progressive changes from
one frame to the next frame.

PERSISTENCE OF VISION

It can be defined as the capacity of the eye to maintain an image on the retina for a moment after
the image has disappeared. That is after seeing a particular still image, the viewer can form a continuous
motion from it. Based on such criteria many later artists got a trace of some early single or a series of
artworks which could be perceived as the artwork is in motion. Thus, it can be concluded that earlier the
artist tried to experiment with the artworks to form a motion with the image or images. That is to make a
single or a set of non-living images to a living one by giving motion in it. The early and the best example of
such experimented artworks was the discovery of clay bowl in Iran. The clay bowl is 5200 years old. In the
bowl, there are five images painted around it. The paintings show the phases of a goat leaping to have the
leaves from the tree. Another such example is the Egyptian mural painting which is approximately 4000
years old. The images show very small movements from one image to the other drawn on it, as if it shows
the movement.

Fig.1: Vase animation drawing on clay bowl 5200 yrs. ago. (Source: Wikipedia)

1Introduction: Jerry Beck, Animation Art © 2015 Flame Tree Publishing Ltd

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EARLY DAYS OF ANIMATION

Film industry using the animation technique often labeled as CARTOONS. Their main audience
target is young people. The first step before the animation was the comic strips. For example, The yellow
kid which was first published in the US newspaper from the 1890s. Soon many new devices were invented
which successfully displayed the animated images before the advent of the motion picture. These devices
were used for entertaining the people, amaze and sometimes frighten the people. Most of the devices
which were invented to watch project their image only can be seen by a single person at a time. As a result,
these devices were considered as a toy because these could not serve large scale entertainment like the
animation today.

Fig.2: Reynaud's 'Theatre Optique' in Paris in 1892. (Source: Wikipedia)

THE SILENT ERA

Charles Emile Reynaud’s Theater Optique2 is known for projecting animation. It even predates
photographic motion picture device just like the invention of Kinetoscope by Thomas Edison in the year
1893 and the Cinematograph by Lumiere Brothers in the year 1894. Charles Emile Reynaud invented
Praxinoscope which he used in this theater to entertain people on a large scale. After the Cinematograph
got popularized, the field of motion picture producers began to explore the endless possibilities of
animation on a greater scale. The first film that was recorded on standard picture film that included the
sequence of animation was in the year 1900. It was named as Enchanted Drawings. Soon after this the first
entirely animated film in 1906 by J. Stuart Blackton. It was named The humorous phases of funny faces.
2Charles Emile Reynaud’s Theater Optique: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-%C3%89mile_Reynaud

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As a result of this J. Stuart Blackton3 was considered as the father of American animation. It marks the first
animated film using the stop motion photography to animate actions.

Fig.3: J. Stuart Blackton (left). (Source: Wikipedia), The humorous phases of funny faces (right). (Source: Fudge)

On the other hand, in the French artist, Emile Cohl4 created his first animated film in the year 1908,
which came to be known as traditional animation creation method. It was named as Fantamagorie. The
entire film projected a stick figure moving about and encounters all manners of morphing objects. And
some scenes include live actions where the animator’s hand would enter the scene. The entire animation
was done by drawing each frame on the paper and it was shot on negative film for giving such blackboard
effect.

The more detailed hand-drawn animation needs a good team for drawing each frame and detailed
background and characters. Thus, Winsor McCay5, a newspaper cartoonist directed a team of animators to
make Little Nemo and later How a mosquito operates. But his work got a lot of criticism and claims that he
traced over the live-action clips of people to make his animation. Thus in 1914, he set a target that he would
change the future of animation. And this he made Gertie the dinosaur where it was considered that for the
first time the animated character to have appealing and distinctive character traits.

In the early 1920s, the number of animators working in the USA created several brands like Max Fleischer’s
Koko The Clown, Pat Sullivan’s and Otto Messmer’s Felix The Cat and Paul Terry’s Aesop’s Fables. At the
same time, Viking Eggeling and Oskar Fischinger well experimented with several techniques of animation
for producing a good film. As a result, many film directors served good attention towards this type of
artworks. Some of them were Sergei Eisenstein, Dziga Vertov and film theorist like Theodar Adorno. Each
of them gave importance to animation as a distinct adjunct of modern art. Even at the same time animation
influenced countries like Japan and thus gave rise to Anime and Manga. It involves a new style of animation
artwork. Anime and manga both later became very famous worldwide.

3J. Stuart Blackton, 4Emile Cohl, 5Winsor McCay: Jerry Beck, Animation Art © 2015 Flame Tree Publishing Ltd

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 Soon by the end of the 1920s, the Silent era came to an end after the rise of sound technology,
giving way to the fruitful Golden Age of Animation, where more animators started to work with the new
art form and evolved more with new ideas and forms.

Fig.4: Space Battleship Yamato, Anime 1970s. (Source: Wikipedia)

THE EARLY OPTICAL DEVICES

In the Silent era, as mentioned before different animators successfully displayed the
animation work or rather their motion artworks using several new devices. Many of these devices
are still used by the students in the animation filed for learning the basic animation principles.

Some of the famous optical devices are:

Magic lantern6 (1659)- The magic lantern is basically the early replica of today’s projector. It is said
that in the 15th century the Venetian inventor Jiovanni Fontana published a small illustration of this
particular device that was used to project demons in his liver instrument. This device is made with
a translucent oil painting, a simple lens, and a candle or maybe an oil lamp. Now, in a dark room
using the lantern an image is projected on the adjacent flat surface i.e. a wall.
6Magic lantern: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_animation

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Thaumatrope7 (1825)- It was a simple but famous toy in the 19th century. It consisted of a small
disk with two different images on either side. It is attached with two string spices. When these
strings a pulled from both sides between the fingers, the two images seem combined together to
form a particular image. This principle is totally based on the persistence of vision.

Phenakistiscope8 (1833)- This particular device was invented by Joseph Plateau and Austrian Simon
von Stampfer. But Plateau first published it in 1833. It is made up of a disk with a series of images
evenly spaced along the radii of the disc. There are rectangular apertures along the rim of the disc.
Thus, the animation can easily view through the slits of the spinning disc in front of a mirror.

Zoetrope9 (1833)- Zoetrope was invented by a mathematician Willian George Horner. The principle
of this particular device is the same as the Phenakistiscope. Instead of painting the frames on the
radii of the disc, the series of the frames are drawn around the interior circumference of the
cylindrical spinning wheel. The viewer views through vertical slides present around the sides and
a moving image are formed on the opposite side when it spins. The most interesting part is that
more than one viewer can view it and it does not require any mirror in it to view the illusion.

Flipbook10 (1868)- It was first made by John Barnes Linnett. A flip book is basically a small pocket
diary type which consisted frame by frame animation is drawn on every page from first to last.
And from its name, it is very clear that on flipping every page one by one rapidly, an illusion of
motion will form.

Praxinoscope11 (1877)- This particular device was invented by a French science teacher, Charles
Emile Reynaud. It has the same principle as Zoetrope. But instead, vertical slides mirrors are
attached evenly at the center reflecting the image opposite to it. As the cylinder is spun, the center
being fixed reflects the images opposite to it in a rapid succession giving an illusion of motion in
the image sequences.

7Thaumatrope, 8Phenakistiscope 9Zoetrope, 10Flipbook, 11Praxinoscope: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_animation

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STOP MOTION

Stop motion is a type of animation where physically an object is moved in a small increment
in between the individual frames, which can create an illusion of continuous movement when
those series of frames are played in sequence. Like puppets made of clay or any other figure which
has moveable joints can easily be used for this type of animation technique. On the same time, if
an animator is using a puppet made of clay, it is termed as clay animation or rather a claymation.
But it is to be noted that stop motion not only limited in using puppets or clay models. It can also
be done using humans, household appliances and other things based on the requirement for the
dramatic or maybe comedic effects.

EARLY HISTORY

Stop motion animation has a really long history. The first work with this type of animation
technique was done by Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton. They used this stop motion
technique in Humpty Dumpty Circus, 1897. In that particular film, the characters were basically the
toys of her daughter, which she moved physically frame by frame so that in the output it looks like
that as if the characters are having their moves on their own. But, unfortunately, the first film lost
forever because it was unable to preserve for time and only a screenshot is available. In 1902, the
stop motion technique was again used in a film named Fun in a bakery shop, in the lighting
sculpting sequence. The French film director George Melies used actual stop motion to show title
cards in his short film, but he never revealed how he actually used the process for the perfect stop
motion work.

Fig.5: Humpty Dumpty Circus, 1897. (Source: The Wrap)

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GOLDEN PERIOD

The history of stop motion took a twist towards the path of betterment. The animators
tried to experiment with the three-dimensional look and tried to create a depth using the puppets
and the models and also the camera angles. They took a chance to make it more realistic. The stop
motion animation took its first step towards the film industry in the year 1925, through the
animator’s work named Willis O’Brien. In his film The Lost World, he actually mixed up the
animation work with the live action and received a major hit. But in the year 1933, his work on
King Kong took stop motion animation to a new height. Though he improved many of the
techniques in his very next film The Lost World, which he found as drawbacks in his last film i.e.
King Kong. The way he used to serve his animation through stop motion with the live action, made
him the stop motion Kong film star. He soon was placed as the father of the modern stop motion
animation. Soon in the year 1949, he was awarded an Oscar for his splendid work in the film Mighty
Joe Young, where he supervised stop motion animation special effects. On the other hand,
O’Brien’s greatest pupil, Ray Harryhausen made a line of important films which actually pushed up
the level of stop motion animation. The film includes The 7th Voyage OF Sinbad (1958), Jason and
the Argonauts (1963) and Cash of the Titans (1981).

Fig.6: King Kong, 1933. (Source: Wikipedia)

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WALT DISNEY AND WARNER BROS.

Walt Disney and Warner Brothers gave a good twist in the animation industry. Influenced by the
World Wars released huge numbers of cartoons. Maybe the purpose of mocking or emitting the
influence and consequences of the wars and they affected society. The loss and the gain of each
and every move of the war were tried to pull up to the people through such an approach.

EARLY HISTORY

In the year of 1923, a studio named Laugh-O-Grams was bankrupt. Later the owner of the
same studio opened a new one in Los Angeles. The very first project done by that studio was The
Alice Comedy Series. That comedy series featured a live-action girl interacts with many cartoon
characters. And soon the world understood that the studio was opened by Walt Disney11. The very
first breakthrough of Disney was Steamboat Willie (1928), the third part of Mickey Mouse series.
It the first cartoon show where it includes a fully post-produced soundtrack. It features both the
voice and the other sound effects.

Fig.7: Humpty Dumpty Circus, 1897. (Source: Wikipedia)

On the other hand, in the year 1933, Warner Brothers’12 cartoon shows were founded.
There was a very different work procedure between the two studios. The Disney studio always
maintained a stick control for its releases. Thus, the work freedom for the animators in that studio
was locked down. On the other hand, Warner brothers always gave freedom to their animators,
as a result, they got a got scope to improve more their own recognizable personal styles.

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 Fig.8: Warner Bros. Pictures logo. (Source: Fandom)

Disney studio used the full tri-color technique in the year 1932. As a result, they received
an academic award for their animation work. Soon the color animation became an industry
standard work. On the other hand, Warner Brothers released the Honeymoon Hotel of Marrie
Melodies. Meanwhile, Disney started to work with the other faults that were actually preventing
them from getting good success in the animation work. They saw that stories based on emotion
can lead their work to greater success. Thus, they made a separate department for the story. There
the storyboard artist will work separately from the animators to get a better result in the work
product. Soon in 1933, the first successfully animated short film was released. The name of the
film was Three Little Pigs. The characters were very well created.

Tex Avery released his first film in association with Warner Brothers in the year 1935. the
style used by him got good footage in the public. He focused mainly on the fast-paced, violent and
satirical with slapstick sensibility. The world considers Walt Disney's Snow White and Seven
Dwarves in 1937 was the first feature film. Though before this there were seven films released
earlier.

11Walt Disney, 12Warner Brothers: Jerry Beck, Animation Art © 2015 Flame Tree Publishing Ltd

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PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION

We all know that animation depends on physics laws and ideas. Without this scientific
approach, the animation is just normal motion. We all know that each and every motion in our
real world is based on physics. And thus, based on physics the two animators of Walt Disney, Ollie
Johnston, and Frank Thomas made twelve principles13 based on scientific logic and introduced
them in their book named The illusion of Life: Disney Animation in 1981. They are as follows:

• Squash and stretch

• Anticipation
• Staging
• Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose
• Follow Through and Overlapping Action
• Slow In and Slow Out
• Arc
• Secondary Action
• Timing
• Exaggeration
• Solid Drawing
• Appeal

13twelve principles: Ollie Johnston, and Frank Thomas, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation, Copyright: © l 98 I. \Wall Disney

Productions

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THE TELEVISION ERA

Television was invented in the year 1951 and was introduced in the American market. Thus,
animation studios took good advantage of this. Instead of releasing their artworks in the theater
like old days, they started to screen on the television screen. In the year 1958, the first half-n-hour
television show was screened by Hanna Barbera. The name of the show was The Huckleberry
Hound Show. another studio soon released Tom Terrific. Besides, this Disney also used air the
Disneyland in addition to Flinstones (1960) and Hanna Barbera’s Top Cat. But, the invention of
television and broadcasting of animated shows in it rapidly shifted the attention of the public from
the shows shown in the theater hall like the early times.

Fig.9: The Huckleberry Hound Show. Pictures logo. (Source: Wikipedia)

DIGITAL ANIMATION

As the passed by science improved to a greater scale. Television was introduced and later another
device, computer. The computer took the world to the next level of modernization. In other words,
it can be also claimed that the computer helped to get more advanced. And thus, it’s too reflected
on the field of animation and gave a brand-new language to it.

ANIMATION AS A NEW LANGUAGE

After the invention of the computer in the year 1943, it played a very important role to
give a new language to animation. But why a new language? This because it led to the first step of
computer graphics (CG) 14. People like William Fetter, Steve Russell, and Ivan Sutherland gave their
best contribution in this. Douglas Engelbart invented the mouse as a new part of the computer. In
the year 1971, the development of the microprocessor helped to build blocks for the very basic
animation. As time passed by, research improved gradually. Several textures were introduced like
Lambert, Blinn, Phong and many more. These textures were used based on the requirement of

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the models that were constructed. In the year 1995, the first computer animated film was made
by Pixar studio. The name of the film was Toy Story. But the 3D animation did not limit in Pixar but
also influenced the Disney studio.

Fig.10: The Utah Teapot in 3ds Max. Pictures logo. (Source: Andy Beane, 3D Animation, Copyright © 2012 by John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana)

Two new types of computers were introduced named as Microsoft and Mac. After the
invention of Silicon Graphics (SGI)15 in 1982, the computer became faster and smoother. It helped
the commercial industries a lot. Autodesk worked simultaneously and introduced AutoCAD for the
computers. And very soon Adobe worked with software like Photoshop but only for the Mac users.
But by the 21st-century, things in the animation and film industries change da lot. The software
was improved to make it useable for all the computer users. Films like Terminator, Jurassic Park
and many more used the CGI for better output.

Now in this 2019, the industry of animation and film have proceeded to the next level once
again. Filmmakers and directors are looking for a more realistic matter in their works. More and
more animated series is being released. And one more important thing was found in the viewers
is that after the invention of television the count in the theater though decreased but it again
gained its count in the current time. Besides, 3D animation is not only used for entertainment
purposes but also in other fields like video games, advertising, medical, laws, architecture and
product visualization. As a whole, the brand-new language of animation helped not only the film
industries but also the society for different required purposes.
14computer graphics (CG),15Silicon Graphics (SCG): Andy Beane, 3D Animation, Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
Indianapolis, Indiana

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