Animator Profile

Winsor MacCay

Born 1867 & Died 1934

From a young age Winsor had a knack for drawing and by the age of 13 he had a drawing being photographed and sold to the public. However, Winsors father would not share the publics view and would try to shun his talents. At the age of 19, he enrolled Winsor in a business school in order to learn a real trade. (J, Vadeboncoeur, 2011)

Like Little Nemo, Girtie was born and brought to the screens through a bet, a bet which started from him saying he could make this dinosaur more. Girtie was a breakthrough in animation as it contained a personality which would respond, it would seem, to Winsors voice. What Gertie the Dinosaur was the first universally popular cartoon release, and also the first to exploit the possibilities of "personality" animation, rather than merely offering a series of moving images. this emphasis on personality would, of course, later become the cornerstone of Walt Disney's success.

Girtie The Dinosaur, 1914.

Winsor would continue with Girtie by adding colour and shade later on.

This is the true story of the Sinking of the Lusitania, which would lead up to the American joining the fight in World War One.
This was used to create an anti-German attitude. Unlike the other films, such as Little Nemo and Girtie the Dinosaur, this was a special one, not just the subject but that this was Winsor going out and doing this with out anyway other artists betting him to do it. As with other McCay shorts, it begins with the artist himself, but here, instead of betting his friends he can produce a cartoon, the film shows him researching the details around the tragedy. (C,Chronological , 2010)

Sinking of the Iusitania, 1918

Bibliography
JVJ PUBLISHING ILLUSTATIONS, Jim Vadeboncoeur, 2011 (12-3-12) http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/mccay.htm
Hal Erickson, R (2010) Gertie the Dinosaur (12-3-12) http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/151281/Gertie-the-Dinosaur/overview Sam Hayes, CGARTS AND ANIMATION UCA, 2010 ( 12-3-12) http://samhayes101.blogspot.com/2010/03/windsor-mccay.html 100 Years of Movies. 2010 cinephile's chronological (12-3-12) http://www.100yearsofmovies.net/2010/09/sinking-of-lusitania-1918.html

Illustrations
Hart,Reg (2011) The History of Animation- Winsor McCay (12-3-12) http://reghartt.ca/cineforum/?p=2660
Kezia, Tooby (2011) Flick Feast Winsor McCay (12-3-12) http://flickfeast.co.uk/top-ten/top-10-influential-animated-characters/ SMFA Animation, 2011 (12-3-12) http://smfaanimation.blogspot.com/2011/03/winsor-mccays-lusitania.html