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Animation facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Animhorse
An animated horse.

Animation is a cool way to make movies from lots of still images. Imagine flipping through a flipbook really fast – that's kind of how it works! These images are shown one after another, super quickly. This makes your brain think the pictures are actually moving, creating the illusion of movement.

Animation is a pretty new art form. Even though people have dreamed of moving pictures for a long time, it wasn't until the late 1800s that real animation experiments began. Today, the animation world is huge! It's a massive business that creates many of the movies and shows we love.

The person who creates animations is called an animator.

There are three main ways to make animation:

  • Drawing each frame: This is like drawing thousands of tiny pictures, each one slightly different from the last.
  • Using stop-motion: Here, you use real-life models or objects. You take a picture, move the object a tiny bit, take another picture, and so on. When you play the pictures fast, the objects seem to move on their own!
  • Making computer graphics: This is done using special computer programs. Artists create characters and scenes digitally, and the computer helps them make everything move.
Blender3D CircularWaveAnim
This is a computer animation of circular waves made by an underwater explosion.

What is Animation All About?

Making animation can be quite expensive. Because of this, most animated movies and shows come from big, professional companies. However, there have always been independent animators. These are artists who create their own animations, often without a big studio. In America, independent animators started appearing in the 1950s. Many of them later joined the professional animation world. In Europe, independent animation has been around even longer, since the 1910s! Famous early independent animators include Ladislas Starevich from Russia and Lotte Reiniger from Germany.

Many people use computer programs to create animations. One popular program used to be Adobe Flash. Flash combines drawing with computer graphics to make animations. A lot of animations you see on the internet were made using Flash. Most animators who share their work online don't work for big companies.

Some television shows, especially those for kids, use what's called "limited animation." This means the characters might not move as much or as smoothly. Companies like UPA and Hanna-Barbera used this style. Simple movements make the drawings easier and faster to create. This helps them make more animation quickly and at a lower cost.

Some people used to think animation was just for kids or not serious art. But animation has really changed art history! It gives artists amazing new ways to tell stories and create visuals that normal, still art can't. Many animated movies have been made, and some have become huge successes, earning lots of money and winning awards.

Famous Animators You Should Know

Famous Animation studios

United States

Canada

Europe

Asia

Japan

  • Bandai Visual
  • BONES
  • GAINAX
  • Gonzo
  • Kyoto Animation
  • Madhouse Studios
  • Production I.G.
  • Pierrot
  • Studio Ghibli
  • Sunrise
  • Tatsunoko Productions
  • Toei

China

  • Beijing Xie Art (mainland)
  • Colorland (Hong Kong)
  • Wang Film Productions (Taiwan)

Philippines

  • Toon City

Australia

Related pages

Images for kids

  • Prof. Stampfer's Stroboscopische Scheibe No. X

    Nr. 10 in the reworked second series of Stampfer's stroboscopic discs published by Trentsensky & Vieweg in 1833.

  • Lanature1882 praxinoscope projection reynaud

    A projecting praxinoscope, from 1882, here shown superimposing an animated figure on a separately projected background scene

  • Fantasmagorie (Cohl)

    Fantasmagorie (1908) by Émile Cohl

  • Quirino Cristiani con una figura

    Italian-Argentine cartoonist Quirino Cristiani showing the cut and articulated figure of his satirical character El Peludo (based on President Yrigoyen) patented in 1916 for the realization of his films, including the world's first animated feature film El Apóstol.

  • Claychick

    A clay animation scene from a Finnish television commercial

  • Catenary animation

    A 2D animation of two circles joined by a chain

  • World of Color overview

    World of Color hydrotechnics at Disney California Adventure creates the illusion of motion using 1,200 fountains with high-definition projections on mist screens.

See Also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Animación para niños

kids search engine
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Animation Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.