Introduction to blog

  The Evolution of Animation

     During the past 100 years, animation has grown from a niche art form by a handful of small studios into the major industry that animation is today. How did it get there? What innovations were needed to bring animation into the mainstream media? Recovering the roots of animation and its principles is beneficial for young animators to understand both how to apply them and why they are so important. Knowing the history and development of animation is key to knowing not just how it's done in modern studios by why it's done the way it is. Because of this I decided to take it upon myself to fill that gap and educate those interested in

animation through this blog.

     This blog will cover how animation has evolved since the first animated film in 1899 to become the giant international industry that it is today. The blog will be primarily focused on contributions made by past animators and films and how they relate to modern animation. The blog will discuss both important past animations during the 1900s and modern ones that building towards the future of animations. I will also cover the origins and development of the 12 principles of animation, the problems they solved in early animation, and how they are used by animation studios today. Special interest will be given to the early years of Disney and the animators there who developed many of the major techniques and showed the world how to bring life into drawings.

Topics covered

• The foundation of the 12 principles of animation and the problems they were developed to solve.
• Landmark animations and historically important animators.
• How animation was shaped over time to be what it is today.
• Where the industry is today and where it is going.
• Disney and its impact on the animation industry. 

This blog isn't only for aspiring animators, it's for people of all ages with an interest in animation and a love for animated films produced by the industry.

This is for you if...

•  You are an animator interested in knowing why animation is done the way it is. 
•  You enjoy animated films and want to learn more about them. 
•  You want to learn more about the principles of animation. 
•  You love Disney and want to know how it was brought to the forefront of animation.

I'll start off by introducing the 12 principles of animation used in the industry today.

1. Squash and Stretch
2. Anticipation
3. Staging
4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
6. Slow In and Slow Out
7. Arcs
8. Secondary Action
9. Timing
10. Exaggeration
11. Solid Drawing
12. Appeal

 I will use future blog posts to go through each of these in more detail in order to explain both why they are used and where they came from.