Introduction to the Series
As technology advances and new computer programing is developed, different projects can be completed in more styles than before. Technology impacts projects from writing papers to creating artistic works like fine paintings and music to developing and sharing research. These technologies impact the levels of difficulty, capability, and ease it takes for people to express themselves. Technology also expands the entertainment industry, for example the number of viewers and fans and the growing trend of viral videos. Entertainment and technology complement each other in the growth and expansion of entertainers and artists around the world.
Cartoon animators are no exception as they try to entertain and use technology appropriately. When cartoons were first created, everything was hand drawn, but now everything is created digitally. Cartoons are created through different digital animation and video programs that are available to anyone with a computer, and internet connection. With all the different technologies available, such as Adobe programs, drawing tablets, and video creation softwares, the development, method, and creation of cartoons is far different than in previous decades.
The difference in cartoons like Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie, and in cartoons like Tangled or Moana are significant not only in the physical development, but in the cultural meaning as well. The concept of cartoon animations is nearly 100-years-old, and the time periods culture (i.e. current events, social norms, etc.) impact the viewers’ understanding and lessons taken from the television shows or movies created in the animation style. In this four part blog series, there are two main questions that I will be exploring and trying answer:
R1: In what ways has cartoon animation evolved?
R2: Why are animated cartoons still such a popular medium after nearly 100 years of existence?
Part Two: Methods of Cartoon Animation
During the 1930s and 1940s, the popularity of cartoon animation in America was dominated by Walt Disney Studios. Disney came out with their first animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937, it immediately became a major hit. Disney based the movie off of the fairy tale written by the Brothers Grimm, making appropriate edits to make the audience broader. The movie was created in technicolor, and production of the film took over three years to complete.
The extensive process started off with Walt Disney working with his animators, writers, and directors on developing a plot, then the directors called in assistants and musical director to plan the musical score. The directors, assistants, and musical director had to plan each dialogue, sound, and movement carefully, then send it off to the animators who had to hand draw each and every movement with strong, precise detail. Artists used transparent paper to draw each movement in the correct position, and mirrors to see close up what the expressions and faces looked like as a reference and guide.
Once the drawings were complete, the drawings are photographed one at a time in sequence, and tested for quality once developed in a moviola. The pencil drawings are then sent to the ink room and painting department, where artists add ink lines and color to the drawings on a special type of transparent paper. The color ink is mixed by expert chemists, and Snow White alone used over 1,500 shades of all different colors. After the characters are being painted with ink, another department spends many months painting the background sets using watercolor paints. Once the characters and backgrounds are painted, they must be photographed in the correct sequence and in Snow White’s case, over 500,000 photographs were taken. After the visuals are complete, the footage is given to a technical team and the sound effects are created and recorded, and a symphony plays and records the score.
This technique was used for over three million paintings and drawings for other hit animations by Disney, and even by Warner Brothers along with other major animation cartoon companies. As the trend of cartoon animation grew in popularity in the United States, cartoonists developed more techniques to give different looks and appearances to their cartoons.
Warner Brothers Studios, for example, developed methods to create blur and add a sense of speed and agility in movements, versus drawing out each tiny movement demonstrating grace as the sequence was happening. They were able to accomplish the blur of motion by using a technique called animation smears, which use an illusion of motion in a single frame place in between the typical key frame patterns. They also used the idea of motion blurs in real life and incorporated it into cartoons as well, using motions that are too quick for the eye to process, like throwing a football or writing on a piece of paper, creates motion to create the blur. Warner Brothers used this technique for the first time in The Dover Boys at Pimento University (1942). At first it wasn’t a huge success to viewers, and critics called it lazy animating, but eventually after a few more animated cartoon releases that used these techniques, like in the hit cartoon Looney Tunes, it became a popular trend in the animation world.
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DANIELLE JEAN BELVOIX 