Cartoon Animation
Researched by Mary Michael G. 2003-04	RESEARCH REPORT  MY INTERVIEW  BIBLIOGRAPHY  ABOUT THE AUTHOR  DEDICATION  WHY I CHOSE THIS TOPIC  SELF-EVALUATION  THANK YOU

A cartoon animator is someone who uses computers or draws pictures to make movies or T.V shows.
 
 
 
 

Basic Definition

Animation is a touch of magic coming from the computer going to the BIG screen! A cartoon is a character, with funny features created by an artist. It’s not a real actor or actress doing the acting, it’s only a drawing or sculpture. The only thing human actors do for cartoons is the voice. 
 

History

Cartoon animation started a long time ago (not before dinosaurs though.) It started in the 1900’s. Thomas Edison created the first animated movie, “An Enchanted Dream” in the early 1900’s. Walt Disney and Thomas Edison were very important in the early cartooning business. Walt introduced sound to the movie industry. Edison made the first cartoon. That is pretty awesome that one of the world’s favorite cartoonists, the one who introduced Mickey Mouse, gave us the opportunity to hear Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and the gang’s voices. To hear his music, his passion, it was beautiful. If it weren’t for Thomas Edison we wouldn’t be watching cartoons at all! 

There is something about the human eye that is very important for animation. It is called persistence of vision. Persistence of vision is a phenomenon whereby the human eye retains visual image for a fraction of a second. If the eye sees images faster than 10 a second, the images overlap or blend together. Movies show 24 still pictures per second and T.V. shows 30 frames per second. This tricks your eyes and mind into thinking the still pictures are moving. 
 
 
 
 

Education & training
Cartoonists don’t need a degree or license to be able to do their jobs. They do need to take the following classes in high school though! They need to take English, photography, art and drawing, history, literature, social studies, political science, and communications. They actually do have to work very hard! They have to be creative on DEMAND and always be coming up with clever new ideas that they bring to you on the screen!

Earnings
Cartoonists work hard and some make lots of money. Top animators can command weekly fees of about $6,500 dollars or more! But most cartoonists and animators make an average amount of $200-$1,500 dollars a week, although some can make much, much more. The animation checkers make about $930 dollars a week! Freelance cartoonists earn from $50-$1,200 dollars per drawing! 
 
 

“THINK”
If freelance cartoonists draw for a living and come to be pretty fast, and if they make $100-$200 per drawing think how much they make in a week!
 

TOOLS
Cartoonists use different kinds of tools. There is the camera. This tool shoots the scene and saves it on film. There is the pencil that they use to draw pictures. The pen helps draw pictures too. There is a paintbrush cartoonists use to make their pictures come alive with radiant, beautiful colors. A computer is also one of the main tools cartoonists use. Today many cartoonists and animators use computers to create their work. But drawing skills are still necessary! The last tool is the scanner. It takes pictures from other things and copies them into the computer.
 
 

 Types of jobs 
There are many jobs in the cartoon animation business. There is the key animator, for instance he/she will draw cels 2,4,6,7,and 10. Now the in-betweener comes along and draws cels 1,3,5,8,and 9. There is the animator himself/herself making the magical changes. There is the writer, painter, and director. There is the editor, the storyboard, and background artist. There is the track reader, the layout artist, and the sound effects person. There are many other jobs too.

Methods
There are many ways to do a creative piece of art. There is sculping, you can do that with clay or plaster. With this you can make anything from a piece of grass to the open sky. As we all say the sky is the limit! You can also paint a picture with watercolors, paints, oils, acrylics and pastels. You can almost paint with anything. You can use a pencil or pen to create a picture. You can also computerize your own picture. All these methods are called illustrations.

32 Facts About Walt Disney

Walt’s first great success was “Steamboat Willy.” In 1929 Horace Horsecollar and Clarabell Cow left the farm to go to Hollywood to join Mickey and Minnie. That was the end of the 1930’s. Walt made the feature film “Fantasia,” one of Walt’s most famous animations in, 1940. In 1932 Walt received his 1stOscar. “The Newspaper” comic for Disney studios first appeared in 1930. At first Pluto was not very famous. In fact he didn’t have a name in his first film, but soon became Mickey’s friend and companion. In 1934 Donald Duck joined the group. Mickey and Minnie choice rolled in the movie, “Brave Little Tailor.” In the 1940’s Disney moved to a new studio in Burbank. “Pinocchio” was the first film made in the Burbank studio. “Lend A Paw” won an academy award in 1941. U.S Servicemen and allies asked Mickey and his pals to represent them on insignias for units in World War II. There was a grand opening for Disneyland, July 17, 1955. Mickey’s face was in flowers at the opening of Disneyland. Walt died December 15, 1966. October 1, 1971 welcomed the first happy visitors to Disney World Magic Kingdom. Disney World has Mickey’s face in flowers in front again. In honor of Mickey and the studio where both worked together, it was called the mouse factory. Minnie’s yoo-hoo was first ever written for Disney film, and was, (for many of Mickey’s cartoons) the theme song. The gang wanted to keep Mickey’s 50th birthday quiet and when it never happened everyone from around the world sent cards. On November 3, 1978, Mickey was given a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. He was the first actor in animated films to be honored so much. The studio’s first movie in 30 years was, “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” (1983). A brand new building for Walt Disney feature animation opened December, 1994. The first short film in 40 years for the gang was, “Runaway Brain” it premiered 1995. In 1993, a statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse was placed in the hub of things at the end of main street, DISNEYLAND. 2003 was Mickey’s 75thbirthday.

FUTURE 
In the future it will probably be more natural to use computers. You will need to know many things about computers and not drawing animation on cels.
 

Who I Interviewed And What I Learned I interviewed Mr. Mathew A. Thompson on January 21,st 2004. His job is being a graphic artist and he puts his pictures in his advertisements. His mailing address is 1006 W. Yakima Ave. 98902. If you would like to reach him on the web his E~Mail address is mat@idfacto.com He has been involved with graphic arts for about 20 years! For a few of Mat’s advertisements he uses animation. He was a very good person to interview!  Mat does all kinds of art at his work. He always liked art, even as a little kid! He wanted a job that wasn’t boring and a job that he wouldn’t have to sit down in all day. He wanted his job to be different every day. Mat also went to college, in fact 3 colleges. He went to J.M. Perry Tech, Seattle Art Institute, and the School Of Visual Concepts. In order to be a graphic artist you have to be able to come up with ideas. You need lots of training on computers. The part he likes most about his job is it being different every day.  He said that Thomas Edison and Walt Disney were most important in the past of cartoon animation. Cartoon animation started in the 1900’s, but graphic arts started back in caveman times.  Thomas Edison was the first man to ever make a cartoon animated film but they didn’t have sound back then. His film was called, “An Enchanted Dream.” A big changing thing is the computer, the way they view, changed everything. AIGA (American Institute Of Graphic Arts.) is an important organization for graphic designers advertising firms. They also work with other advertising companies.  Mat said these days it’s highly competitive, and keeping up with technology is pretty hard. He said he predicts more technical knowledge for the job, more value for tools, and that there will come a day that graphic artists will become like any other painter. Also there is more visual importance. Mat said collaborating with other people will change most in the future. He predicted for cartoon animation that it would be more natural to use technology. You need to know many things about computers and doing animation without cells.  Some major advantages for graphic artists are that before there were 10,000 different styles. Now there are 400,000 different styles. Some good aspects for graphic artists is getting up late, you make good money, and the hours are good! The hardest part of Mat’s job is being creative on DEMAND, and deadlines! The easiest part, Mat said was that there is fairly low stress. He thinks that compared to being a cashier and office worker, it’s FUN! Some tools in Mat’s job are the computer and scanner. Mat was a wonderful choice and if you ever study cartoon animation, or Graphic Artists, call MAT!

Bibliography     Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. “Artists and related Workers.” Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2002-03 Edition. November 19, 2003 <http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos092.htm. “Cartoon Animation.” World Book Encyclopedia, 2002. Cosgrove, Holli R. “Cartoon Animation.” Career Discovery Encyclopedia.  Cosgrove, Holli R. “Cartoon Animation” Encyclopedia of Careers And Vocational Guidance, 2000 Schultz, Ron. Looking Inside Cartoon Animation. Santa Fe, New Mexico: John Muir Publications, 1992. pp. 1-33. Solomon, Charles. The History of Animation/Cartooning for Kids.    Tanis, Nicholas , Kunzle, David, and Furnis, Maureen. “Cartoon Animation.” Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe. 2001. CD-ROM. Microsoft Corporation.

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