Animation facts for kids

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.
Contents
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
- Tex Avery
- Ralph Bakshi
- Joseph Barbera
- Brad Bird
- Seth McFarlane
- Don Bluth
- Sylvain Chomet
- Gabor Csupo
- Stephen Hillenburg
- Gene Deitch
- Walt Disney
- Adam Elliot
- Max Fleischer
- Friz Freleng
- Matt Groening
- Yoram Gross
- William Hanna
- Ray Harryhausen
- Ub Iwerks
- Henry Selick
- Chuck Jones
- Mike Judge
- Glen Keane
- Arlene Klasky
- Walter Lantz
- John Lasseter
- Winsor McCay
- Norman McLaren
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Yuriy Norshteyn
- Katsuhiro Otomo
- Nick Park
- Trey Parker
- Bill Plympton
- Matt Stone
- Will Vinton
- Bob Clampett
- Richard Williams
Famous Animation studios
United States
- DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
- DreamWorks SKG
- Nickelodeon Movies
- Film Roman
- Filmation
- Hanna-Barbera (now Cartoon Network Studios)
- Sony Pictures Animation
- Klasky Csupo
- MGM
- Reel FX Creative Studios
- List of Upcoming Warner Bros. Pictures Films
- Pixar
- List of Fuzzy Door Productions Films
- Blue Sky Studios
- Illumination Entertainment
- UPA
- Walt Disney Pictures
- Warner Bros.
- Warner Animation Group
Canada
- Atkinson Film-Arts
- Cinar (now Cookie Jar Entertainment)
- CinéGroupe
- National Film Board of Canada
- Nelvana
Europe
- Aardman Animations (United Kingdom)
- Arsyn Video Interactive (France)
- Belvision (Belgium)
- Centre for Animated Films Cacak (Serbia)
- Chromosomos (Spain)
- Cosgrove Hall Films (United Kingdom)
- CreaSyn Studio (France)
- DIC (France)
- Ellipse Programme (France)
- France Animation (France)
- Grand Slamm Children's Films (United Kingdom)
- kaViArt (France)
- MacGuff (France)
- Pannónia Filmstúdió (Hungary)
- Red 3ye Productions (France)
- Soyuzmultfilm (Russia)
- Sullivan Bluth Studios (Ireland)
- Synthĕsis Animation Studio (France)
- Zagreb Film (Croatia)
Asia
Japan
- Bandai Visual
- BONES
- GAINAX
- Gonzo
- Kyoto Animation
- Madhouse Studios
- Production I.G.
- Pierrot
- Studio Ghibli
- Sunrise
- Tatsunoko Productions
- Toei
China
Philippines
- Toon City
Australia
- DisneyToon Studios
- Liquid Animation
- Yoram Gross Films / Flying Bark Productions
Related pages
- Anime
- Cartoon
- CGI animation
- Movie
- Stop-Motion
- CGI ImageMovers And PlayTone
- Internet Movie Database's page for animation (and also its lists of best and worst titles)
Images for kids
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A projecting praxinoscope, from 1882, here shown superimposing an animated figure on a separately projected background scene
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Fantasmagorie (1908) by Émile Cohl
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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.
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A clay animation scene from a Finnish television commercial
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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
In Spanish: Animación para niños