OtterKnow Kids Encyclopedia

Try this: draw a stick figure on the corner of a piece of paper. On the next page, draw the same stick figure but move its arm a little. Keep going for many pages, changing the picture just a tiny bit each time. Then flip the pages fast — your stick figure will look like it is waving! This is called a flipbook, and it is how animation works.

Most animated shows and movies display about 24 pictures every single second. That is so fast your eyes cannot tell they are separate pictures. Your brain blends them together and sees movement instead. That is why a short cartoon needs thousands of drawings!

• The very first animated film was made in 1908 by a French artist named Emile Cohl. It was only about two minutes long!
• A one-minute cartoon can need over 1,400 individual drawings.
• Walt Disney’s Snow White, made in 1937, was the first full-length animated movie.
• Some animators draw on special tablets that let them see their drawings right on the screen.
• You can make your own animation at home with just paper, a pencil, and a stapler to hold your flipbook together.