Final project: Research: Early Disney Creations

 For this research, I decided to go to the library and pick up some books, that could be really helpful for me. The library on campus has many great resources and I am glad that even though we are in lockdown right now, I still can use them. 

Looking at Disney's very early work, goes far back. I have focused a little bit on Walt Disney by himself in my welcome post (click here to access the post), however I have not gotten to mention how his first animations were created. First basic animations were 'stop-motion' animations. In 1909, J. Stuart Blackton created a short stop-motion animation called Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (Donan, n.d.). I have found this animation on the YouTube channel of the Library of Congress in Washington DC. 

This is a very basic combination of a stop-motion animation, live-action footage and a cutout animation. Stop motion means, that there was a motion done before taking each picture. To create it, the artist used chalk and a chalkboard and for the beginning, he used adding and subtracting little pieces of paper to the text. I have done multiple stop-motion animations in the past, therefore I am very familiar with tis type of art. Especially the cutout animation in the first part, because I have actually incorporated this element in most of my stop-motions when I was younger. 

Other than stop motion, there is also the possibility of drawing an animation frame by frame. It is very similar to stop motion, but the difference is, each frame is drawn separately. 

Disney's early creations were drawn frame by frame, not only by Walt Disney of course, but by a whole team of animators. There are many factors that made the Disney Studios so successful, however the team work is what I think made it what it is. "He (Disney) insisted on an open atmosphere where each artist shared his views and discoveries. If one man made a drawing Walt liked, he called everyone together to point it out. Or if an action seemed clumsy or poorly staged, he would direct the artist immediately to get help from a stronger man" (Thomas and Johnston, 1981, p.31). I think the fact that Disney was so open minded, gave him the opportunity to have a great success. Personally, with my project, I can not include much teamwork, since it is an individual project, however I think what would be good is getting someone else's opinion on my drawings and the process of creating. Maybe someone, looking at a wrongly drawn image, would see the mistakes I would get used to and not see. This might be a great idea. I think, for an animator, the ability to work in a team is critical, and also being able to notice others' strong and weak points would be beneficial. When knowing, that there is someone really good at something, an animator can learn from them or ask for advice. 

Disney animators working together (1929)

I decided to research a very famous cartoon created by the Disney Studios. This cartoon is called "Steamboat Willie" and it is really well-known, because it is the first animation where Mickey Mouse appeared. I found it on YouTube, therefore I will place it below. 

This is a raw animation, that is very clumsy-looking. The motion in it is repetitive, however this is a storytelling animation. The storyline is not strong, but there is one. In the mid-twenties the animations were produced on a big scale and lacked the storyline. They were often based on violence and very simple motions. There was a need for a lot of very simple animations, therefore animators were discouraged to create new things. Audiences became bored with the cartoons that were meaningless. "The cartoon industry struck a depression. Studios shut down and animators were jobless" (Thomas, 1991, p.28). For Disney, creating a character with so much charisma and appeal, a character that stayed with the world for almost one hundred years now, was a milestone. The "Steamboat Willie" is a funny animation, but as I mentioned before it is repetitive, some motions are looped and not very interesting. For example in "Steamboat Willie" at minute 1:50, the character is chewing. The motion is not difficult to recognize, but it ti a linear movement, the mouth just goes up and down, but it is only the mouth part of the face that is moving, the eyes stay as they were. I do not find this scene very interesting, and that is what I mean by repetitive. However, if I looked at a different animation made by Disney, just eight years later, I would be able to see the improvement in motions. 

This is "The Country Cousin" and it is a Disney animation from 1936. If skipped to 3:20 minutes, there is a scene of the character chewing. What is very visible is that only after so little time, the understanding of how characters move, changed completely. In this animation, I can observe the application of the first principle of animation: Squash and Stretch. 

I decided to research this particular principle of animation, because I think this is what makes the visuals interesting and I definitely need to understand it, to be able to create an eye-pleasing animation. 

The best method to achieve good squish and stretch drawings, is to draw half full sack of flour in different poses, giving different emotions. "If dropped on the floor, it will squash out to its fullest shape, and if picked up by the top corners, it would stretch out to its longest shape; yet it will never change volume." (Thomas and Johnston, 1981, p. 49). In my opinion it is extremely important to keep the volume of a character or an object, the same, through all the frames drawn, because if it would change, the visual would not only be unappealing, but also confusing and unrealistic. 

I am a visual learner, therefore I process information better, whenever I get to see things explained, rather than just read about them. I like when there are examples shown to help me understand better and later apply it to my project work. I found this video on YouTube, explaining the first principle of animation and this video is based on examples from the movie "The Lion King".

The rule of keeping the same volume throughout the entire scene is explained very well at 2:00 minutes of the video. I think, this particular rule could be explained mathematically as well. If I created a cube out of clay and wanted to make it taller, using only the clay I have already used, I would have to take some of the clay from the sides and add it to the top. That would make my cube stretch , keeping the physics right. If I just added some more clay to it, it simply would make my cube bigger, not stretched. 

I think this principle is very important to keep in mind and I am generally glad I have researched it before drawing the scenes from my animation. 

Overall, I am very happy with this research, because I think I have learned quite a lot about the techniques Disney used and I think all that will be very helpful to me, in order to create my own project, which is an animation, highly inspired by Walt Disney's work. 

Reference list

Donan, J. (n.d.) 'Before Disney: Meet the Father of American Animation

The life and work of James Stuart Blackton' History of yesterday Available at: https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/before-disney-meet-the-father-of-american-animation-2f2e473fc9d1 [Accessed 12/11/2020]

Thomas, B. (1991) Disney's art of animation: from Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast. New York: Welcome Enterprises, 1st edition.

Thomas, F. and Johnston, O. (1981) The Illusion of Life Disney Animation. New York: Walt Disney Productions.