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Animation

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From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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An animated bounce ball.

Animation is a way of making a movie from many images that don’t move. The images are put together one after another, and then played at a fast speed to make it look like movement.

A person who makes animations is called an animator. The first animator was a French man called Emile Cohl who made a short film called Fantasmagorie in 1908.[1]

There are at least three ways to animate:

  1. Draw each frame
  2. Use stop-motion: make a model scene and change it to create a new image (frame)
  3. Make computer graphics
    Many of these images are called "GIF's" (pronounced Jif)
    This is a computer animation of circular waves made by an underwater explosion.

Overview

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Joy & Heron - Animated CGI Spot by Passion Pictures

Because it is expensive to make, most animation comes from professional companies. However, independent animators have existed since the 1950s in America, with many of those people entering the professional industry. In Europe, the independent moments has existed since the 1910s, with animators like Russia's Ladislas Starevich and Germany's Lotte Reiniger.

Lots of people use a computer animation program called Adobe Flash to create animations. Flash uses a combination of drawing and computer graphics to make animations. Many animations on the internet are made in Flash. Most animators on the internet do not work for professional companies.

Many television shows, especially those made for children, use limited animation. Companies such as UPA and Hanna-Barbera Productions do this. Simple, limited movement makes the images easier to draw, which allows faster and cheaper production of animation.

Usually, cartoons are hand drawn and short. Cartoons can be a TV series or a theatrical short. The running time of an animated feature is usually more than one hour. Animated features can be hand drawn, stop motion, or computer animated.

Computer generated image (CGI) animation has also become popular since the 1990s. CGI animation needs animators who know how to use computer software to create models of characters, and then move the models around in a realistic way. The first feature-length CGI animation was Toy Story, released in 1995 by Pixar Animation Studios for Disney. Some CGI animation is put into filmed videos and movies of real life too. This is how some of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park were made.[2]

Across the world

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Animation has been used by people in different cultures in different ways. A major example of this is anime, which is a Japanese style of animation. Anime has been exported across the world and become a major industry in Japan. In 2025, the anime market was worth $25 billion for Japan.[3] Studio Ghibli is a major anime film studio.

The Chinese movie Ne Zha 2 made more than $2 billion in cinemas and movie theatres, becoming the first animated film to do so. No other animated movie has made more money than Ne Zha 2 so far.[4] Only four films in history have made more money than it has.

Models made by Aardman Animation animators of Wallace and Gromit with Norbot. The characters are sat around a wooden table in Wallace and Gromit's house.
Aardman Animations is known for their use of clay animation using models like those shown here, for A Vengeance Most Fowl.

In the UK, a major animation studio is Aardman Animations which is known for films and characters like Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, and Shaun the Sheep. They are known for using clay animation which involves using stop-motion animation with small clay models of characters.

The popular series Masha & the Bear comes from the Russian movie studio Animaccord Animation Studio.[5]

Animation is becoming more popular in the Indian movie industry called Bollywood as well. Major Bollywood animations often use CGI technology.

The USA has a major animation industry also. Most major cartoons, animated films, and animated movies come from the USA. Notable American brands include Disney, Pixar, Warner Bros., and Dreamworks. Characters such as the Simpsons, Mickey Mouse, and SpongeBob SquarePants all come from the USA.

Famous names in the business

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Famous animation studios

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United States

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Canada

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Europe

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Asia

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Japan

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China

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Philippines

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Australia

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  1. ↑ Beckerman, Howard (2003). Animation: The Whole Story. Allworth Press. ISBN 978-1-58115-301-9.
  2. ↑ "What Is CGI Animation and How Does It Work? | Adobe". www.adobe.com. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
  3. ↑ Ramachandran, Naman (2025-10-30). "Japan's Anime Market Hits Record $25 Billion, Driven by Global Boom, AJA Report Finds". Variety. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
  4. ↑ Scott, Mathew (2025-06-16). "'White Snake' Director: China's Animation Boom Must Lead to Creative Risk, Not Repetition". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
  5. ↑ "Animaccord Animation Studio". Animaccord. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
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