The Evolution Of Animation

Let’s remember that animation is based on still images that, when arranged in consecutive order, create a motion effect. Commonly, 24 images per second are used.

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Starting with the thaumatrope, invented in 1824 by John Ayrton Paris, which consisted of a disc with two images that created an optical illusion when spun, followed by Joseph Plateau’s phenakistoscope (1832) and William George Horner’s zoetrope (1834) which used images viewed through slits to achieve the illusion of movement, there was a great interest in giving movement to something inanimate, with increasingly sophisticated designs for the devices, until French painter Charles-Émile Reynaud invented the praxinoscope in 1877, which allowed for up to 500 images on a rotating tape creating animated films.

One of the first cartoons in history was Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, filmed in 1906 by James Stuart Blackton, followed in 1908 by Emile Cohl’s Fantasmagoria, which consisted of characters drawn with simple lines and surreal movements. Meanwhile, Georges Meliès was one of the great pioneers in visual effects of the time, manipulating camera speed to achieve accelerated movements in his shots. A Trip to the Moon in 1902 and The Impossible Voyage in 1904 are two of his most famous films. Inspired by the…