Facts About Animators

Greatest & Famous Animators

One of the many famous animators and International icons who thank for their performance and professional work in animation is Walt. A creator of many characters such as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Snow White, the Seven Dwarfs, Donald Duck, and Mickey Mouse, among others. Walter Elias Disney, born on November 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois, was the fourth of five children of his parents, Elias and Flora Disney.

Despised by his father since he was very severe with him, he grew very close to his mother. When he was seven years old, he lived in a town very close to Marceline, Missouri, where animals and nature surrounded him, and his passion for drawing was born there.

Walt Disney

In 1901 Walt decided to go with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, where he began to help his father in the distribution of newspapers, and that caused Walt to have a poor performance in school. After a few years, Walt decided to study at the art institute of Kansas City, where he learned the first drawing techniques.

Walt Disney later found work as an apprentice in an advertising agency La Pesmen – Rubin Commercial Art Studio; in this new job, he met with Ub Iwerks, who also had an excellent ability for drawing. Walt became a partner of Iwerks and opened his own company called The Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists, which did not last long since Walt chose to have a stable job.

In this job, he learned the rudimentary techniques of cinematographic animation.

 

 

 

Working in the Garage

Disney decided to use the garage of his house as a studio and work on his first cartoon movie. One of his legacies was the animation of Alice In Wonderland, which was created in Kansas City. Mickey Mouse was another significant contribution that was made in 1928, and the idea of this mouse was born while he traveled on a train.

When he was created, he did not wear the white gloves that are part of this character. Walt was the first to put the voice to this character, and he did it between 1928 and 1947.

The first short film in which this character appeared was “Plane Crazy” in November 1928, and in 1929 he authorized several companies to use the image of mickey mouse in their products; from that moment, he incorporated white gloves and shoes to avoid that the hands and the feet disappeared on dark backgrounds.

First Feature Film

He produced his first feature film in 1937 which was called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which raised four million dollars; at the time was a record, but it was not enough since he stayed in debt until 1961 because of the credits that were requested to make that movie since the budget was $500.000.00 initial of the film had changed.

Walt also created musical series called Silly Symphonies. The first was the skeleton dance, which was drawn and animated by Iwerks, who was responsible for most of the films produced by Walt Disney in 1928 and 1929.

For the production of many of his films, Walt Disney hired artists of European origin, like the sketchers who collaborated in his first films. He was terrified that people would take him as an intellectual because he wanted to reach the most significant number of people, and he achieved it; proof of this is the success of his animations.

In the last months of 1966, he was diagnosed with cancer in the lung. He died on December 15, 1966. His brother Roy took over the project that Walt had in mind, which was to build the theme park in Orlando, Florida, and was called Walt Disney World in Walt’s honor.

Lotte Reiniger

Of course, it’s not just the males that should be credited to animators that shook and built the animation industry, but females also played an essential part! Lotte Reiniger is one of many prominent female animators credited for directing a feature-length film, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, in 1918. She also worked on a cut frame-by-frame silhouette.

For example, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, released in 1926, became an international hit. 

Credited with directing the first feature-length animated film, Reiniger was born in 1899 in Berlin. Fascinated as a child by acting and movies, she worked on an animated sequence in The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1918) and other films. Reiniger earned recognition for using cut-out silhouettes that she would move frame by frame.

Capitalizing on a German fascination with “shadow plays,” a technique stretching back to the time of the Egyptians, Reiniger began work on a project in 1923 drawn from the 1001 Arabian Nights. Released in 1926, The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a delicate, whimsical, enchanting film built around tinted silhouettes, with some sets and figures constructed from wax, soap, and sand.

After a screening in Berlin and a premiere in Paris, the film became an international hit. Reiniger continued making movies until 1979′s, The Rose and the Ring. The Adventures of Prince Achmed was restored in 1979.

 

Hayao Miyazaki

The Japanese animator, director, manga artist, storyteller, and producer are just a few words describing the multitalented Hayao Miyazaki.

Miyazaki’s films are enjoyed worldwide because they have hidden meaning behind them and are different from most animated movies. In the opinion of Pixar’s John Lasseter, Miyazaki is “the world’s greatest living animator”. He was born on January 5, 1941, in Tokyo.

A significant theme in Miyazaki’s films is environmentalism. He emphasizes the impact humans have on the environment in his animations in a subtle way. Also, there is usually always a strong female protagonist around that he focuses on the story around.

 

 

Traditional Animation

Miyazaki insists on using traditional hand-drawn animation and rarely relies on computer graphic imagery. Most of the individual frames in his films are done using watercolor.

Hayao Miyazaki has devoted his life to making high-quality films that entertain audiences and delivering meaningful messages.

In Hayao Miyazaki’s early life, he lived with his four brothers and parents, who owned a family business called Miyazaki’s Airplanes. They manufactured parts for warplanes in World War II for Japan’s military defense.

Miyazaki admitted that he felt guilty his family had made money off the war. He has shown his dislike for the military in most of his films. For instance, He creates military officials who only care for power and wealth. Miyazaki’s father moved the family to Utsunomiya City from 1944 to 1946.

My Neighbor Totoro

The landscape of the area is what he used as a reference for one of his films called My Neighbor Totoro. Around this time, his mother became sick and was in the hospital for about three years, which is a theme in My Neighbor Totoro.

In 1963, he graduated from Gakushuin University with political science and economics degrees. He decided to go with a career he was passionate about as opposed to what he majored in.

He started his animation career at Toei Animation, where his job was to fill in a cell-by-cell movement of objects and characters. His coworkers soon recognized his talent, and he later was part of the animator’s union.

The following year, he met an animator named Akemi Ota, who eventually became his wife. He also met the director Isao Takahata in the same year, who would play a significant role later in some of Miyazaki’s films.

Feature film, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro.

In 1979, Miyazaki was finally able to direct his first important feature film, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. Later in 1982, Miyazaki was asked to direct his second animated film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which was the breakthrough film in his career. In this adventure film, Miyazaki created a future world where humanity is close to extinction.

The main character, princess Nausicaä, was based on a manga that he had previously created. Miyazaki hired Takahata to be the producer of the film. The success of this film became well-known among Japanese audiences and had a big influence on other animations.

The Takuma production company created Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Yasuyoshi Tokuma. So far, Studio Ghibli has released 18 feature films.

A Disney Animation

In the 1990s, Studio Ghibli made a deal with Disney, allowing them to distribute their animations globally due to financial problems. Since then, Hayao Miyazaki has become very popular in western culture and continues to grow.

Today, animation is a booming industry, constantly changing and ever-evolving. Where animation giants like Disney and Miyazaki once stepped, industry game-changers like John Lasseter and Tim Burton now walk in their footsteps, constantly revolutionizing how we create animations.

 

Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Many of you may not have heard of a famous animator like Jennifer Yuh Nelson but may have seen her work. The famous Dreamworks Madagascar and the first Kung Fu Panda really put her on the map.

Her accomplishment with Kung Fu Panda resulted in Dreamworks giving her Kung Fu Panda, which took three years to complete.

As a young girl, she was influenced by her mother, that would watch her mother draw for hours.

Nelson is one of four women to have directed films at Dreamworks.  Another memorable animation film she co-wrote with another female animator Mechi was “Brave”.

Nelson attended Cal State Long Beach and graduated with a degree in illustration. She spent a brief time in television before joining DreamWorks in March 1998 as a storyboard artist on “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” quickly moving through the ranks to become head of the story on “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.”

 

John Lasseter

Animator John Lasseter joined Pixar in the ’80s with a dream of revolutionizing the animation process. He and the Pixar team likely

didn’t realize the full scope of their legacy to come. Lasseter created several short films with Pixar, including Luxo Jr. and Tin Toy, until the acquisition of the company by Disney, when they finally had the resources to begin working on Toy Story, the first full-length computer-animated film.

Now Pixar’s chief creative officer, Lasseter has directed and produced countless computer-animated films at Pixar and Disney Animation Studios.

Before Pixar, no one had dreamed a full-length animated film would be created without cells and ink. Now, thanks mainly to John Lasseter, computer animation is the industry standard.

Of every animation method, stop-motion is the most rigorous, time-consuming, and arguably the most difficult.

The process of manipulating objects one frame at a time has been around since the late 19^th century, but it wasn’t until the 30s that stop-motion began to hit the major cinemas.

 

King Kong & The Ware of the Worlds

Famed animator Willis O’Brien combined stop-motion elements with live-action films to bring us classics such as King Kong and The War of the Worlds.

But stop-motion was no more than a means for added special effects until 1993 when The Nightmare Before Christmas hit the big screen. Created by Tim Burton and directed by Henry Selick, it was the first full-length, fully animated stop-motion film.

Burton created many stop-motion films, including James and the Giant Peach, Corpse Bride, and Frankenweenie. Selick directed James and the Giant Peach and also went on to lead the award-winning stop-motion film Coraline by LAIKA studios.

Cartoons have been an entertainment staple since the dawn of television. From Bugs Bunny to Spongebob SquarePants, much of American pop culture has revolved around beloved cartoon characters for generations. While the animated film is an epic story with a great legacy, the face of animation is shifting even more rapidly on TV.

The people who bring those characters to life will always have a place of honor in the mythos of entertainment.

Joseph Barbera

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, creators of Tom and Jerry, went on to found Hanna-Barbera Productions, which defined an era of cartoons. Yogi Bear, The Flinstones, and The Smurfs are just some of their famous creations. The studio eventually evolved into Cartoon Network, owned by Warner Bros. Animation, which is known most famously for Looney Tunes.

These animated shorts originated as starters to entertain guests at the movies and joined the TV revolution with the invention of the at-home television. Its beloved characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzales, and many others, were most famously brought to life by animator Chuck Jones.

Hanna-Barbera’s rebirth as Cartoon Network in the ’90s ushered in a new generation of cartoons and cartoonists.

Some notable names from this era include Craig McCracken (The Powerpuff Girls, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends), David Feiss (Cow & Chicken, Ren & Stimpy), Butch Hartman (Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, T.U.F.F. Puppy), Stephen Hillenburg (SpongeBob Squarepants), and Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: The Clone Wars).

 

Golden Age of Animation

This golden age of animation spanned from 1989 to the early 2000s and was known as the Animation Renaissance. Reflected in both cinematic and television animation alike, it was a booming time for animators everywhere. Disney’s hiring of animator Glen Keane gave them The Little Mermaid, a hit, and they began popping out instant classics left and right. Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Mulan, The Lion King, Hercules, and Tarzan, among others.

Other cinematic animation studios rose from Disney’s massive shadow during this period.

Former Disney animator Don Bluth created original films such as An American Tail, The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go To Heaven. Dreamworks Animation joined the transition to CGI from The Prince of Egypt to Shrek.

During this same period, it was proven that cartoons aren’t just for kids. Matt Groening created The Simpsons in 1989. Ten years later, Seth MacFarlane created Family Guy. Today the Fox and Adult Swim networks are full of adult animated comedies—Groening’s Futurama, MacFarlane’s American Dad, The Cleveland Show, Loren Bouchard’s Bob’s Burgers, Adam Reed’s Archer, and many others.

 

Takeaway on Animators

Today the animation industry is alive, and Cartoon Networks thrive.  With shows like Pendleton Ward’s Adventure Time and Rebecca Sugar’s Steven Universe raging in popularity. Studio Ghibli continues to create thought-provoking feature films, like The Red Turtle, which was just recently released. Also, Pixar and Disney Animation Studios keep Walt Disney’s legacy alive, where the animators work hard to create more award-winning films every year.

 

Television and animation have provided a wealth of visual creativity. Whether it’s a state-of-the-art 3D movie or just a micro-animation, each has engaged viewers in one way or another. Also, having tools to generate animation has excelled animators and allowed them to create fantastic creativity through animation and allowed more artists to become successful animators.