(dates are the approximate year of first known work ]

• widely regarded as the first animator Combined drawing (using a light box), live action, cutouts and found objects and film.
  • Fantasmagoria

• First Abstract animations
  • Studied Music and painting, considered cinema to be the future, experimented with painting on glass, and paper cutouts.
  • Lichtspiel Opus 1

• Worked on special effects for films in germany. First MTV style music video for Electrola Disk #1337, Vaya Veronika.
  • Moved to LA in 1936 to work for Paramount.
  • Stills from Allagretto and Radio Dynamics.
  • http://www.oskarfischinger.org

• More strictly a abstract film maker than animator, but employed the “cameraless film making” technique of painting directly (using stencils and prints) on the film stock.
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Lye

• Initially worked closely with musician Joseph Schillinger. She used light and reflectioms of common objects as well as drawing. Her films were the first experimental animations widely shown - and played to millions in cinemas in the US.

• Hollywood cameraman turned animator.
  • Used ocilloscopes to generate patterns for animation.

• First computer animator. Modified WW2 targetting computer into an animation plotter. Went on to become pioneer of computer graphics.
  • Sons John jr, Mark and Michael continued his work.
  • http://www.siggraph.org/artdesign/profile/whitney/whitney.html

• Another filmmaker without a camera, although he employed more traditional means occasionally.
  • My favorite work of his was “Mothlight” 1963: http://www.fredcamper.com/Film/BrakhageS.html#Mothlight
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brakhage

• Pioneer of computer graphics.
  • Experimented with dance, projection and holographic diplays.

• Painter, computer animator using analogue and digital vector plotter computers.
  • http://www.siggraph.org/artdesign/profile/csuri

• Worked on early computer animations of the Voyager space craft orbiting Jupiter and Saturn in the 70's.
  • Invented image and texture mapping, and has a surface reflection model bearing his name.
  • http://research.microsoft.com/users/blinn

• Began building kinetic scultures, moved into computer animation/programming and contributed to the scientific fields of visual and colour perception.
  • First computer animator to be in the MOMA.
  • Resident artist and consultant at Bell Laboratories.
  • http://www.lillian.com

• Programmed for John Whitney, Produced his first film using NASA's computers at it's Jet Propulsion Lab.
  • Produced an animation which was used for “Star Wars”.
  • http://www.iotacenter.org/
  • http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/timeline.html
  • http://www.siggraph.org/s98/media/discovery.html

category animation