FRAMEBURST ACADEMY 9
Summary (TL;DR)
Animation didn’t originate with computers.
Nowhere near.
It started with people… observing movement…
and trying to seize it.
What you see today is merely the latest step in a very long journey.
🎬 The History of Animation: From Cave Drawings to AI Animation
Instead of thinking of animation as something modern…
Think of it as a novel.
A narrative that gradually grew over time.
Step by step.
🎭 It All Started with Watching Movement:
Long before animation…
People watched performances.
- Dance
- Theater
- Live acting
They witnessed characters move, react, and tell stories.
And they recognized something important:
Movement + Story = Emotion
That concept became the groundwork of animation.
People desired to capture that feeling…
Not just watch it once.
🪨 Cave Drawings: The First Attempt
They drew:
- Animals running
- Hunters moving
- Daily life scenes
Sometimes, they even drew the same animal several times in slightly different poses.
Why?
Because they were trying to depict movement… using static images.
It wasn’t animation yet.
But it was the first step.
🌀 The Zoetrope: Making Pictures Move
Later, people invented something called a ‘zoetrope‘.
It was a simple rotating object.
When it spun…
The drawings appeared as if they were in motion.
No screens.
No electricity.
Just movement… deceiving your eyes.
This was one of the first real ways people saw drawings move.
📖 Flipbooks: Animation in Your Hands
You draw something on each page.
Every drawing is slightly altered.
Now flip the pages swiftly…
And immediately:
The drawings come to life.
You could literally grab animation in your hands.
This made the idea much clearer to understand.
📸 Stop Motion: Giving Life to Real Objects
After Flipbook, people experimented something new.
Instead of drawing…
They used actual objects.
They would:
- Take a picture
-
Adjust the object slightly
- Take another photo
Repeat this numerous times.
When played together…
It seemed like the object was alive.
This is called stop motion.
Still simple.
Yet powerful.
✏️ Traditional Animation: Drawing Every Step
They started sketching each movement carefully.
Frame by frame.
This enabled:
- Better control
- Longer stories
- Smoother motion
This is where animation started evolving to what we know today.
Cartoons started to feel more closer to reality.
🖥️ Computer Animation: 2D & 3D Animation
Later, computers arrived in.
This changed everything.
Rather than manually drawing every page:
- People used digital tools
- Movement became more fluid
- Details became easier to handle
Characters no longer looked flat anymore.
They felt like they existed in 3D space.
You could navigate around them…
See them from different perspective…
Animation
🤖 AI Animation:
(Where We Are Now)
Now we are in a new era.
Animation through AI {Artificial Intelligence} also known as machine learning.
This means:
Computers can aid produce animation faster.
They can:
- Help generate ideas
- Assist with movement
- Speed up the process
Nevertheless, here is something crucial:
AI assists…
But it does not subsitute for creativity.
The story still comes from you.
🌱 What This Means for You?
Look at this journey:
- From cave drawings…
- To spinning wheels…
- To flipbooks…
- To computers…
- To AI…
Animation did not emerge overnight.
It grew slowly.
And now…
You are stepping in at a period where tools are more accessible than ever.
You do not need to start from very beginning.
You are building upon all that came before.
💬 A Final Thought:
Animation is not only a skill.
It is a part of a long human narrative.
A story of people trying to bring dreams to reality.
And at this generation…
You play a role in that story as well.
⏭️ What’s Your Next Step (Coming Thursday):
Next blog: Why your animation looks stiff and how to fix it
Click here -> https://takzicution.com/fix-your-stiff-animation/
You now know where animation animation all began…
But why do beginner animations feel unnatural or “rigid”?
And more importantly…
How do you resolve that?
We will reveal that next.
See you until the next summon. 🎬
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