Winsor McCay ANIMATION?!

[Manedwolf]

I had no idea he did this!

You might have seen the early 20th century comic "Little Nemo in Slumberland", famous for its massive broadsheet pages of incredible vistas of surreal places. But did you know that McCay also did a color animation of the characters?

This animated short is from nineteen-freaking-TEN! And look how smooth it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seOGEwx0NfQ

The bit where one of the characters draws another, every stroke of the pen and movement of the hand is there, each one is another individual drawing. That just...amazes me. McCay was an absolutely incredible artist.

[Brad Johnson]

Looks cool, but from 1910?  It wouldn't be in color unless someone re-shot the original color drawings or artificially colorized a B&W filmstrip.

Brad

[Manedwolf]

Looks cool, but from 1910?  It wouldn't be in color unless someone re-shot the original color drawings or artificially colorized a B&W filmstrip.

Brad

That is what he did. McCay was a perfectionist.

He drew each one in color, shot them on film in B&W, and then handpainted each frame. The weekly readers of Nemo were used to seeing it in color, so he brought the characters to life in color.

BTW, if you've never seen his more famous animation, Gertie the Dinosaur, it's here. The motion of the characters is amazing, he has a dinosaur act like a big dog...and it's pretty darned funny in parts.

"Gertie! Don't hurt jumbo!"

*picks up mammoth walking by, nonchalantly throws it in the lake*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY40DHs9vc4