Animation Characters

Character animation is the animation of a character to create the illusion of life, usually as one aspect of a larger production, and often to complement voice acting. more...

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Aardman Animation
Betty Boop
Diddl
Dr. Seuss
Felix the Cat
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Other Animation Characters
Peanuts/ Snoopy
Pink Panther
Popeye
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Tintin
Tom & Jerry
Toy Story
Warner Bros.
Winnie the Pooh
Japanese/ Anime
Other Animation

Character animation is artistically unique from other animation in that it involves the creation of apparent thought and emotion, in addition to physical action.

Historically, Winsor McCay's Gertie the Dinosaur, 1914, is often considered the very first example of true character animation. Otto Messmer imbued his Felix the Cat with an instantly recognizable personality during the 1920s. The following decade, Walt Disney made character animation a particular focus of his animation studio, best showcased in productions such as Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Dumbo. Disney animation artists such as Bill Tytla, Grim Natwick, Fred Moore, Ward Kimball, Les Clark, John Sibley, Marc Davis, Wolfgang Reitherman, Hal King, Hamilton Luske, Norm Ferguson, Eric Larson, Johnny Lounsbery, Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston all became masters of the technique.

Other notable figures in character animation include the Termite Terrace/Warner Bros. staffers (Chuck Jones, Robert McKimson, Tex Avery, Friz Freleng), independent animator Richard Williams, John Lasseter at Pixar, and latter-day Disney animators Andreas Deja and Glen Keane. Character animation is not limited to Hollywood studios, however. Some of the finest examples of character animation can be found in the work of Aardman Animations and Russian independent animator Yuri Norstein.

Character animation is augmented by special effects animation, which creates anything that is not a character; most commonly vehicles, machinery, and natural phenomena such as rain, snow, and water.

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