%0 Journal Article
%T How Animation Won Over the Lightning Sketch: Re
%A Raz Greenberg
%J Animation
%@ 1746-8485
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1746847718783641
%X The short film Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, released in 1906 and directed by J Stuart Blackton (1875¨C1941), is considered to be one of the earliest examples of cinematic animation. This article aims at examining the film¡¯s influence from another perspective, beyond its pioneering use of film camera: the author argues that Blackton¡¯s film has also laid the foundation for common design principles in subsequent animated productions, particularly in the design of animated characters. The analysis of Blackton¡¯s film aimed at supporting this argument is based on Scott McCloud¡¯s seminal book Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (1993) and this article offers a modified method of McCloud¡¯s ¡®Vocabulary of Comics¡¯ to demonstrate how Blackton has introduced the basic building-blocks of animated characters¡¯ design that are common to this day: designs that rely on an emotional, universal core upon which culture-specific items are overlaid. Moreover, through appearance and performance of his animated characters, Blackton broke the design process of animated characters into such building blocks, emphasizing their importance
%K animation
%K comics
%K Humorous Phases of Funny Faces
%K J Stuart Blackton
%K Scott McCloud
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1746847718783641