Since you first started reading these lessons and after creating a few flip books, my guess is that you have also watched a bunch of cartoon shows and animated feature films. However, you may not have noticed that the animation in the television shows and films looks different. For example, if you watch Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck short films on YouTube, you will notice that they are slightly different from Scooby Doo cartoons. Also, the animation and the drawings in the film The Lion King (1994) looks different from that in Tm Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), or Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022). This lesson focuses on different types of animation that you can learn to use to creatively bring the characters in your stories to life.
Before going any further, as you learn to become an aspiring animator, I encourage you to think about the words and the special terminology that is used in the lessons and in the videos you may choose to watch online about animation. These are vocabulary words that you should commit to memory because you will hear them over and over again in other lessons and by animators when they talk about the work that they do. By now, you are familiar with what a flip book is, and the general definitions of the words animate, exaggeration, depth, and the phrase follow through. But you probably have no earthly idea what compositing or rigging means. Part of your “homework” for this lesson is to write each vocabulary word you do not know on an index card and look up that word’s definition. Write the definitions of the words/phrases on the back of each index card so that you can study them in your spare time. As you learn about the subject of animation, the vocabulary words and the terminology will also become more familiar to you. This will help you to grow in this great field of industry.
In this lesson, I will focus on the following types of animation:
• Traditional animation
• Limited animation
• 2D animation
• 3D animation
• Stop Motion animation
• Claymation animation
• Cut-out animation
• Motion graphics animation
Traditional Animation
Traditional animation, also referred to as classical or hand-drawn animation is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand to create the illusion of movement. Nineteenth century artists and craftsmen entertained audiences by exhibiting moving characters through the use of puppets, shadow puppets, automatons, and lanterns. The characters were put together and physically manipulated to give the illusion of life. By the late 1800s, flip books were being made so that drawings could be viewed in rapid succession also giving the illusion of movement. By the 1910s, the images were drawn or painted on transparent celluloid sheets (called cels) that were then photographed and exhibited on film. Film producer John Bray and animator Earl Hurd developed and patented cel animation, which made the animation process faster and easier. This innovative technique led to the production of animated "cartoons" as an industry in the United States. Felix the Cat was a character that debuted in 1919. It became the first fully realized animal character in the history of American animation. By 1922, Walt Disney and his business partner Ub Iwerks had begun to use the traditional and cel animation process extensively creating the Alice Comedies, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and later, the popular characters Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
Limited Animation
Limited, or planned animation, is a technique in which the least number of in-between images are used. An in-between is a drawing, or an image created between two key poses to make movements look smooth and fluid. Tweening is the word used to describe this process. With limited animation, the actions are usually quick and hold for longer periods of time during dialogue. The technique was developed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in the 1950s. The Hanna-Barbera animated television series "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" was created using this process.
Limited animation does not require an entirely new drawing for every frame of film. Only the part of the character that has to move actually moves, while the rest of the figure remains stationary. Parts of each character are drawn on different cels and then photographed. The bottom cel may contain the character's body, while the cel laid over it contains the arm or head, or whatever part is required to move. It makes the animation process faster, easier and less expensive.
Below is a scene from the Scooby Doo television cartoon series. This clip is published on YouTube by Cartoon Nostalgia. It is titled “A Clue For Scooby Doo.” As you watch it, you can see how limited animation is different from traditional animation.
2D Animation
Two-dimensional, or 2D, animation is a type of animation where pictures are drawn on pieces of paper or on a computer program. These pictures are then played one after the other to make it look like they are moving. Flip books employ 2D animation by manually changing or “flipping” the pages with the sequential drawings to create the illusion of movement. Most traditional animation is 2D animation because the drawings or paintings are drawn/painted on paper, cels, or on computer screens that are flat surfaces.
3D Animation
Three-dimensional, or 3D, animation is a type of animation in which the characters and objects are designed to look like they have depth and can move in three directions. The phrase is used both for images created to look like they are three dimensional as well as for images that are created on a computer or as computer-generated imagery (CGI). In the examples below, the first photo shows a 3D drawing of a partial staircase. The second photo shows a 3D computer-generated image of a staircase.
The following two photos are also examples of 3D images that can be animated. The first photo is a 3D drawing of a dinosaur in a scene from Steven Spielberg’s film Jurassic Park (1993). The second photo includes CGI of the dinosaurs that were featured in the movie. The dinosaurs were created and animated using 3D CGI.
Stop Motion Animation
Stop motion animation is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames is played back. It is frame by frame film making using small scale practical sets, props and real lighting. The animator can use objects such as puppets with movable joints or plasticine figures made of plastic (Barbie dolls, Legos) or clay. Models built around a skeletal structure are also often used in this type of animation. Stop motion of flat materials such as paper, fabrics or photographs is called Cutout animation. Stop motion of clay molds and clay figures is called Claymation. Stop motion with live actors is called Pixilation. Stop Motion animation can be created in 2D and 3D formats.
Examples of stop motion animation can be seen in the animated television series South Park, the interactive educational children's television series Blue’s Clues, the animated musical fantasy film Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), the animated adventure comedy film Chicken Run (2000), and the animated musical dark fantasy film Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022).
Motion Graphics
Motion graphics are pictures and words that are animated on film to generate interest and excitement, to tell a story, or to provide information. They are often used in cartoons, videos, and movies but you will mostly notice this type of animation in television commercials. In much the same way that important information is strategically placed on posters where someone viewing it will usually look first, product descriptions, contact information, and times for events are displayed using eye-catching graphics. Logos and images are floated across the screen, flashed in the middle of the screen, and/or displayed in bright, bold colors to get the attention of the viewer to entice them to make a purchase or to participate in an event. The following commercial published by Predeo Digital Agency on YouTube makes use of motion graphics to briefly display the product in a way that causes the viewer to become thirsty for a glass of Coca Cola.
Television networks make use of motion graphics to advertise and let potential viewers know about programming schedules. The commercial in the following video is published by CBS Evening News is on YouTube.
A Simple Illustration
I created the following video that shows an example of stop motion cutout animation with the use of clip art on the computer. I searched for clip art on Pinterest of a character with various poses and parts that I would be able to use to animate in different ways. I used Microsoft Publisher to design the clip art images. Then, I made snapshots of each finished image with Adobe Acrobat after I saved the document as a pdf file. I uploaded the images that I created to make a Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow. Finaly, I animated the character by setting the slideshow to advance the slides automatically and saving it as a video. I also inserted the music to the slideshow that I found online titled “Country Boy” from Bemsound.
Your Assignment
After you read this lesson, 1) write down the vocabulary words that were defined and discussed on index cards. 2) Write the definition and a brief example of each word on the back of each index card. 3) Place these cards in a box where you can collect them and study the words in your spare time.
Have fun learning!