Early Animation: A Study of Winsor McCay
Naomi Blowe
Animation History - Lambert
02 February 2022
Animation has a long and extensive history and it all dates back to the mid-1600s. Since then it has developed and formed into what we know now, blockbuster movies and tv shows. Along that journey, one name sticks out in the earlier years. That name is Winsor McCay.
McCay is often considered the "Father of Animation." Starting out as a portrait artist and moving on to circus posters, he found his way to comics. This is where he created his strips such as Little Sammy Sneeze (1904-6), Dream of the Rarebit Fiend (1904-11), and one of his most famous works Little Nemo in Slumberland. It is in his Little Nemo comic where he demonstrates his incredible understanding of movement. As can be seen in the picture below.
It was the latter comic from which he created his first animated film released in 1911. The film itself starts out in the "real world" (this portion was directed by James Stuart Blackton, another well-known animator) this is where we see McCay make a bet that he can animate his characters and make them come to life. Towards the end of the video when McCay presents his work to his friends we see him do what many before him had done; he draws a lightning sketch of one of his characters and shows us the mechanism in which he takes the photos to give the drawings the appearance of movement. After all that we finally get to see the completed characters consisting of Nemo and some other regular from the strip, perform a series of movements including elongating and shrinking their bodies, a visual technique that will later become known as "rubber hose" animations.
It was in this film and others to come where McCay developed "personality animation." The two films that exhibit this the best are How a Mosquito Operates (1912) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). The characteristics of the characters are evident in the actions they take, displaying distinct personalities -although sometimes rather violent- they are prevalent in their nature. Not only did these characters display McCay's understanding of personality and how to make characters think they also showed his evolution of accuracy to reality. One may notice that the mosquito (Steve) has trouble lifting himself after taking an excessive amount of blood from his target. His bulbous behind has a real sense of weight and space to it. This is all expressed through visuals only. And as it is in Gertie it is obvious more study into the movement and behaviors of other animals was put into this work. For example, Gertie rolls onto her back in a very cat-like way, she is also seen wagging her tail.
Winsor McCay has had a long and full career starting as a portrait artist and circus worker all the way up to creating works that would earn him the title of "Father of Animation." he laid the foundation for the animation world as we know it and I believe I speak for everyone when I say we thank him for his contributions.
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