A BRIEF HISTORY

OF ANIMATION
 30,000 BC
- 1500 AD

EARLY WAYS OF
SHOWING MOTION
 3000 B.C.

SHAHR-E SUKHTEH

A bronze-age pottery bowl

depicts goats leaping
(Shahr-e Sukhteh, Iran).
 1500 A.D.

VITRUVIAN MAN

Leonardo da Vinci’s
Vitruvian Man drawing
shows multiple angles,
implying movement.
 1600-1877

ANIMATION BEFORE
FILM
 1603

MAGIC LANTERN

The Magic Lantern is an

image projector using
pictures on sheets of glass.
Since some sheets contain
moving parts, it is
considered the first
example of projected
animation.
 1824

THAUMATROPE

The thaumatrope housed a rotating mechanism with a

different picture on each side. When rotated, you saw a
combined picture (known as persistence of vision).
 1831

PHENAKITOSCOPE

The phenakitoscope
featured spinning disks
reflected in mirrors that
made it seem like the
pictures were moving.
 1834

ZOETROPE

The zoetrope was a hollow

drum that housed images
on long interchangeable
strips that spin and made
the images appear to
move.
 1868

FLIP-BOOK

The flip-book, also known as the kineograph, reached a

wide audience and is credited with inspiring early animators
more than the machines developed in this era.
 1877

MOVIEOLA/PRAXINOSCOPE

The praxinoscope
expanded on the
zoetrope, using multiple
wheels to rotate
images. It is considered
to have shown the first
prototypes of the
animated cartoon.
 1900-1930

THE SILENT ERA

 1906
HUMOROUS PHASES OF FUNNY
FACES

marks the first entirely animated film, using stop-motion

photography to create action.
 1908

FANTASMAGORIE

is the first animated film using hand-drawn animation, and

is considered by film historians to be the first animated
cartoon.
 1914

GERTIE THE DINOSAUR

is considered the first

cartoon to feature
an appealing character.
 1919

FELIX THE CAT

Musical Mews and

Feline Follies
introduced Felix the Cat
—often considered the
first animated movie
star.
 1928

STEAMBOAT WILLIE...

featuring Mickey Mouse—becomes the first cartoon with the

sound printed on the film, and is the first notable success for
Walt Disney Studios, founded in Los Angeles in 1923.
 “
If you can dream it,
you can do it.
– WALT DISNEY –
 1930-1950

THE GOLDEN AGE OF

AMERICAN
ANIMATION
 1930

MERRIE MELODIES

Warner Brothers
Cartoons founded,
create Merrie Melodies
series.
 1937

SNOW WHITE

Walt Disney releases

Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs, the first
animated feature to use
hand-drawn animation.
 1960-1980

THE AMERICAN
TELEVISION ERA
 1960

FLINTSTONES

Hanna-Barbera
releases The
Flintstones, the first
animated
series on prime-time
television.
 1961

YOGI BEAR

The Yogi Bear Show, a

spin-off of Huckleberry
Hound (another Hanna-
Barbera production),
debuts on national TV.
 1964

THE PINK PHINK

DePatie-Freleng Enterprises wins the

Academy Award for Best Short Film
for The PinkPhink (of the Pink Panther
series) and continues to create shorts
for theatrical release.
 1980-2014

MODERN AMERICAN
ERA
 1984

THE ADVENTURES OF ANDRE & WALLY-B

This short film was the

first fully CGI-animated
film, created by The
Graphics Group, the
precursor to Pixar
 1987

THE SIMPSONS
longest running american program
 1995

TOY STORY

Toy Story, the first fully

computer-animated
feature film, was
released.
 2014

BIG HERO 6

Big Hero 6 is the first Disney animated film

to feature Marvel Comics characters.