History of Animation Techniques

The earliest attempts at Animation that we can see developed in paleolithic cave drawings. The idea to show the thought of motion existed within drawing an animal with multiple legs, to show the different stages of running.

A cave drawing showing the different positions of an animals legs in motion

An Egyptian drawing dating 4000BC

Next we see the development of drawings in motion. As with the Egyptian drawing, pictures would be drawn singularly showing each movement and then spun to give the illusion a drawing was moving. The phenakistoscope (1832), zoetrope (1834) and praxinoscope (1877) were the earliest examples of this. Below is what you would see if you watched a phenakistoscope.

The Praxinoscope led to the first animation projection screening in France. But it was drawn and not photographed. The first picture film to include animation was Enchanted Drawing in 1900. This led onto the first completely animated film in 1906, Humorous Phases of Funny Faces by J.Stuart Blackton, later to be known as the father of American animation. This was filmed in the Stop Motion technique on a BlackBoard.
This led to a series of different cartoon films being made including Gertie the Dinosaur and the more famous Felix the Cat.

Walt Disney was one of the most famous companies to use Animation to its full potential. In 1928 Mickey mouse found his fame in the cartoon Steam Boat Willie, one of the first cartoons to start adding sound and eventually colour. From this Disney went on to create his first full length colour cartoon, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1937) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2YSrK4-NgM)
Many of the animation films today are made with computers. The first ever animated film is Toy Story (1995). 
      In 2001 the Academy Award for Feature length animated motion picture was instituted. The first ever award went to Shrek (2001) Dreamworks Studios first ever film. However the most sought after award in Animation is the Annie award. 

The idea also existed within Egyptian and Greek culture in which drawings would be made showing the different movements in single pictures. This isn't the same thing we see in today's animation as there was no way of seeing the motion in full flight. You had to look from picture to picture and imagine.