Animation

Animation


My personal enjoyment with animation has inspired me to write this essay,
pertaining to animation. Since I was a child I have been fascinated with
cartoons; from when they started out to be black and white, and until now with
full colour and computer effects. To better perceive what my personal feelings
about animation are, I must first discuss in full detail, a general overview of
how animators bring traditional animation alive with motion.

Animation seems like a smooth movement of drawn sequences of artwork,
pasted together to form a single sequence of animation. This is the basis of
animation, but animation is far simpler than it may seem. "The true meaning of
animation is that it is a series of drawings strung together to create the
illusion of smooth fluent movement."1 But the process of creating this so-
called illusion, is a pain staking process during which artists must spend
tremendous hours of agony to produce only seconds of animated film.

Before an animator goes about creating an animation he or she must have
the knowledge of several rules of animation, which animators around the world
follow. The first rule of animation is that an animator must hold the
understanding of the techniques used to produce single cells of animation.
Second rule, and one of the most important ones is that, the animator must have
great patience, so that his or her piece of artwork is not rushed, to prevent
the animation from looking choppy and not as smooth as it should look. Finally
what is required from an animator is "it takes commitment and effort to make the
basis of animation come alive with fresh ideas."2 The following is not a rule of
animation, but is often taught to animators around the world. "Animators were
often taught that animation is only limited by the imagination and skills of its
creators."3 Using these rules animation companies hire artists who are familiar
with the rules previously discussed, but to create a feature full-length
animation... [continues]

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