The History of a Beloved Art Form | Teen Ink

The History of a Beloved Art Form

August 25, 2022
By BookwormVackerDiAngelo BRONZE, Foster City, California
BookwormVackerDiAngelo BRONZE, Foster City, California
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
When given the choice between being right and being kind, always choose kind.
-Wonder (R.J Palacio)


Animation is an art form that brings joy to many. Nowadays, when people think of Animation, they think of Disney movies. But there is so much more to Animation than just the Disney movies. Animation has a vast history that not many people know about, and there’s so much to learn about it’s past.

The first animation was a short called “The Humorous Phases of Funny Faces”. It was by J. Stuart Blackton. The short was in black and white and a stop motion. It was the earliest account of stop-motion shorts of its kind. The frames appear to be drawn on a chalkboard and they are each individual pictures strung together. If you watch the short today, it seems like another old short film with unimpressive techniques and low-quality pictures. But for its time, it was a very novel concept.

The first animated feature film was called “El Apóstol”. It was made in Argentina in 1917. “El Apóstal”’s animation was cut-out characters that were moved across the screen. It was a silent film in black and white. The animation was said to be very good, along with the story. The film was shown in theatres and the audience loved it. Unfortunately, people who didn’t get a chance to see the film the first time missed out on it, as the film tape was burned in a studio fire after just one show. We will never know just how good the first animated feature film was.

Over the next six years, artists tried creating new ways to make animated movies, trying new techniques-including rotoscoping! The results of these new techniques were mediocre. They didn’t always work, but they didn’t always fail. 

It was at this time when a small animation studio called Walt Disney opened up in Los Angeles and changed everything. 

Walt Disney made so many revelations in the world of animation, he’s like the father of the field. He brought so many new concepts to the animator’s table, and just changed the way we think of animation for the better! ‘Disney Studios’ is such a broad term, has it’s own animation history. Disney Pixar’s Toy Story was the first CGI (Computer animated) film. Disney has even got it’s own time periods, like an animation renaissance. 

The Disney Renaissance was a time when each Disney movie brought a new concept. Whether it was a new animation technique or a new story idea, Disney movies in this period were all unique. Nowadays, when people think of animation, it’s Walt Disney they think of.

In conclusion, animation is an amazing art form. It’s got such an interesting history and it brings smiles to the faces of everyone watching the film or short film. Animation has evolved from just little cutouts of paper that people move around the set while taking pictures, to an established field that’s worth over 68 billion dollars, and an art form. Animation is such a great concept and I hope it never dies out.


The author's comments:

I love animation, and I love character art. I decided to write this piece because I wanted to learn more, and I wanted to share my findings with others as well!


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