Animation (how animation works)

Have you ever seen a drawing jump and play. Or watched a cartoon dog wag its tail. That’s me. I take lots of still pictures, where each one is a tiny bit different from the one before. When you see them all very, very fast, your eyes play a wonderful trick. The pictures look like they are moving all by themselves. It’s not magic, but it’s just as fun. I am Animation.

Long, long ago, pictures in books just sat still. A drawing of a bird couldn't fly off the page. But then, people discovered my secret. A very clever man named John Barnes Linnett made a special little book on September 18th, 1868. When he flipped through the pages super fast, a drawing of a person would move. This was called a flip book. Soon, other people made spinning toys with pictures on them. When the toy spun around, pictures of horses looked like they were really galloping. They learned that if you show many pictures one after another, you can tell a whole moving story.

Today, I am in all your favorite cartoons and movies. I help bring talking lions, brave superheroes, and fairytale princesses to life on the screen. I can make anything you imagine seem real, from a dancing flower to a rocket ship blasting into space. I am the power of storytelling through pictures, and I am here to help you share all your amazing ideas with the world.