2D Animation In The 1930's To The 1950s

2D Animations today are bright and vibrant. From kids to adults, we all know and love them. We see 2D animations on TV, video games and once in movies. Before they ended up like the way they look now, 2D animation goes through a long history. Computers weren’t common until the 1980s, so before that, most of those animations were done by hand.

Gertie the Dinosaur was a 1914 animated short film created by Winsor McCay. While it’s arguably not the first cartoon animation ever created, it is known to be the first cartoon to feature an appealing character. This animated short consisted of Gertie, a curious dinosaur who plays and messes around with the audience. Gertie showed personality and emotion that hasn’t been shown in animations before. McCay’s

It became known as the “Golden Age” of animation because cartoons became a part of popular culture. This age introduced us to many new characters which are still beloved today. This includes Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Betty Boop, Donald Duck, and many more. Warner Bros came to a rise in this era, bringing us the iconic Looney Tunes, while Disney brought us Silly Symphonies consisting of shorts featuring Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Disney also brought the first animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Animation was fun, fluid and very expressive at this time. Cartoons wouldn’t just appeal to only children, but to adults as

This time commonly used the “limited animation style”. This style consisted of looped animations, smaller gestures, stagnated poses and smaller details to save more time, unlike its predecessors in the 30’s and 50’s. Hanna-Barbera used this style mostly for their cartoons such as Scooby Doo and The Flintstones. Cable companies would air these cartoons, soon with Nickelodeon and Disney Channel on the rise to later to join them. The television era overall helped broadcast rising cartoons to family viewers.

The modern era of cartoon animation is from 1980 to today’s 2018. Technology has grown with animation, and we can create high-quality HD films. Cell animation started to die around the 2000s when people started using tablets and computers instead. The first big hit CGI animated film came in 1995 with the debut of Toy Story. With CGI on the rise, it challenged 2D animation on being the main platform for animated movies. The Princess and the Frog, created in 2009, was Disney’s last 2D animated movie. Other studios have turned to CGI as