Animated Cartoon Drawings An animated cartoon sketch is a short, hand-drawn (or made with computers to loo k similar to something

hand-drawn) film for the cinema, television or computer s creen, depicting some kind of story or plot (even if it is a very brief one). Animation itself can be described as the rapid showing of a succession of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model poses in order to create an illusion of movement . The effect is an optical illusion of action due to the phenomenon of persisten ce of vision, and can be created and immustrated in a number of ways. It is hard to believe but the very earliest instances of endeavours to capture t he impression of motion by drawing can be discovered in Paleolithic cave paintin gs. Here animals are shown with multiple legs in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to express the perception of activity. Further instances can be seen on an earthenware bowl more than 5,000 years old f rom Persia and an Egyptian wall painting of wrestlers in action, which is appro ximately 4,000 years old. However, these cases cannot honestly be described as animation as there was no m eans of making the objects appear to move. The earliest mechanical devices designed to supply the illusion of motion were i nvented for children s amusement or as entertainment at private parties. These inc luded the zoetrope, magic lantern, praxinoscope, thaumatrope, phenakistoscope, a nd flip book. Charles-Emile Reynaud created the first animated film in 1892 while he exhibited an animated film consisting of loops of about 500 frames. This film is also not eworthy as the first known instance of film perforations being used. His films w ere not photographed, but drawn directly onto a transparent strip. However the first film which can truly be designated as an animated cartoon was 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces' fashioned by J. Stuart Blackton in 1906. It f eatures a cartoonist sketching faces on a chalkboard, and the faces apparently c oming to life. One of the very first successful motion cartoons was "Gertie the Dinosaur" (1914 ) by Winsor McCay. It is considered the first example of real character animatio n. All the main film studios used animated cartoons of 5 to 10 minute lengths as fil lers before the main film was shown during the time of the 1930s to the 1960s.The atrical cartoons were in colossal numbers and MGM, Disney, Paramount and Warner Brothers were the greatest studios producing these 5 to 10-minute "shorts". However the ever blossomingh popularity of television and the consequent decline in cinema going has meant that these days most animated cartoons are produced f or TV. The most well-known animated cartoon character of all time is with no doubt Mic key Mouse who was introduced to the world by Walt Disney in May 1928 in "Plane C razy" but also starred some six months later in the first animated cartoon with sound - 'Steamboat Willie'. By the way, Mickey was initially christened Mortimer Mouse until Walt Disney s wif e persuaded him to make the modification. Mickey Mouse, predated by another cartoon animal called Felix The Cat, made his

first appearance in 1919. However another all time favourite cartoon series, 'To m and Jerry' had to wait until 1931 to put in an appearance. All these individuals and many more have long since made the transition from mov ies to TV where, no doubt, they will be seen for numerous years to come. Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on various topics but is currently concerned with <a href="http://kittencannon3.com/kitty-cannon-3.html">Kitty Can non 3</a>. If you would like to read more, please go over to our web site entitl ed <a href="http://kittencannon3.com">Kitten Cannon 3</a>.