An Exploration of Animation
Animation is a fascinating art form that has evolved over the years with the help of new technologies and innovative techniques. But how many types of animation are there? That's a question that many people ask, and the answer can vary depending on who you ask. I often see other sites that try to split up and categorize animation into genres, techniques, styles, and time periods. Still, often they fail to understand the similarities or differences between the categories they choose. One of the challenges with defining the kinds of animation is the overlap of multiple techniques and styles, making a clear-cut differentiation nearly impossible. To further complicated things, animation, like many art forms, has evolved and adapted to incorporate new technologies, thereby creating entire industries that didn’t exist a few years before. After all, the most popular form of animated film today didn’t even exist until the mid-1990s, with Pixar’s Toy Story.
As tempting as it is to categorize an art form as diverse as animation, it is also a futile exercise. In today’s world, Animation isn’t constrained to one use, one genre, one demographic, or one technique. As you’ll see, just about every category is invaded by the others. Motion Media uses 3D. Stop Motion uses Traditional. And 3D is basically Vector animation. The point I’m making is simple. These are not set-in-stone hard rules or categories. They are just a way to expand your understanding and vocabulary about what animation is and how it is made. So without further ado…
7 Types of Animation (According to Me)
I have done my best to try to categorize, for better or for worse, the different types of animation that exist right now. While these are my opinions, which you are free to disagree with, and it may be an incomplete list, I have put some effort into my reasoning which I will attempt to explain. Here are the 7 types of animation that I have come up with:
Image by Tania Van den Berghen from Pixabay
1/ Traditional Animation
Ever think animation used to be better in the “good old days”? Well, whether you agree or not, that idea of the “old,” “classic,” or “traditional” style of animation is still very much alive and kicking today. Even though it is often called “Hand-Drawn Animation”, it is usually more complex than that. Basically, Traditional Animation, in the modern sense, is any and all animation that requires a series of drawings, either made on paper, cellulite, or digitally, that are individually created. Each image, or “frame,” is a new unique image that has a relationship to the subsequent frames, which complete the illusion of movement when viewed in rapid succession. In other words, “fast-moving drawings make pretty”. This includes all the classic hand-drawn cell-animated films, digitally drawn tv shows, whiteboard animations, flipbooks, and other similar techniques.
It is important to note that despite the idea of traditional animation being “hand-drawn”, it isn’t always. In fact, almost all animation productions include CG elements, from computer-controlled fluid simulations to fully 3D productions. The main differentiating factor here is the intent of style. Is the intended style meant to look 2D, flat, and possibly hand-drawn or “cell-shaded”? Then you’ve got yourself a modern traditional animation. Or perhaps we should just call it “Frame-By-Frame” animation?
Image by Chris Smith from TrustedReviews, from the game Jedi Survivor
2/ 3D CG Animation
This is the most common kind of animated film today. This type of animation relies on computer processing and specifically uses "z-depth", or the illusion of depth. This creates a more realistic and life-like feel to the characters, objects, and environments, as well as allowing for complex calculations to create highly detailed textures and advanced lighting. It is not to be confused with “stereoscopic 3D”, which is where the audience sees in 3 dimensions usually with a pair of glasses. This type of animation also includes interactive Video Games, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Visual Effects, and simulations, not to mention technical animations as well.
3/ Motion Graphics
This type of animation focuses on the movements of text and symbolic or abstract iconography, often seen in corporate videos or commercials to animate words or logos. While they can have characters in them, they usually are more associated with educational or informative videos. Anytime you see a company’s logo “resolve” on screen, that is Motion Graphics at work. It can even be seen during the opening credits of many movies.
4/ Stop Motion
Image by Mary Harrsch from flickr, taken at the MoPOP Museum
Made re-famous in the modern day by movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas, this animation technique involves manipulating an object in the real world and capturing one photograph at a time to create the illusion of movement. Examples include claymation, puppetry animation, pixelation, sand animation, and silhouette animation. To further elucidate, Claymation is the manipulation of clay or putty to create the illusion of movement, like in Gumby. Puppetry Animation is when posable figurines of characters are made and posed, like in Kubo and the Two Strings. Pixelation is the same thing except instead of puppets you use actors who hold poses and change their poses to achieve the same effect. Sand animation is where particles of sand or similar substances are moved around on a surface, usually a glass plate, and photographed at specific positions and patterns. And Silhouette animation, also called “Paper Cut-Out Animation”, is where the artist uses paper cut into specific shapes to do the same thing as Sand animation, except by moving the paper or replacing it to bring characters to life, and it is one of the oldest forms of filmed animation.
5/ Vector Animation
This is basically 2D CG animation. Vector animation uses “symbols” or shapes made using mathematical vectors that are then moved and replaced to create animation. It is basically the same idea as 3D CG animation, but without computer calculations of depth and advanced materials and lights. In fact, they are usually very simple and cheap to make compared to other forms of animation. They were made popular in early internet "Flash" animations, but are still used today on many TV shows, like Archer.
6/ Animatronic Animation
This is specifically 3D animation that is intended to be programmed into a robot, or animatronic, often used for theme park rides, robot arms in factories, and advanced camera rigs. They are differentiated from other forms of animation because they are usually seen live and in person, as opposed to using film. Animatronic animation has to take real-world physics into account, such as inertia and mass. They also have a lot of technical hurdles to overcome such as the limitations of the mechanical rigs being controlled. One of the more impressive displays of animatronic animation comes from Bot & Dolly (now owned by Google), with their robotic arms and camera rigs that can do some amazing things, like this experimental Animation/Visual Effects piece, Box.
7/ Experimental Animation
Speaking of experimental animation… Yeah. Experimental animation! This type of animation tries to push the limits of techniques, ideas, technologies, and art, including mixed media, zeotropes (in my opinion, as they were mostly a predecessor to film animation), painted glass animation, drawn-on-film animation, pinscreen animation, and other techniques that are yet to be invented. At one point, all animation was experimental. Before 1995, 3D animation was experimental, and now it’s mainstream. By the very nature of experimental animation, it’s hard to define and can sometimes spawn new genres. It requires the intent to create something new, something unique that pushes the boundaries of what animation is and can be. While they usually have abstract or surreal themes to them, they can also be grounded in story and narrative. Perhaps animations made with AI will become their own art form, or be incorporated into others, or perhaps they will always remain an experimental quirky amusement.
BONUS
In addition to animation, there is another sister art form I would be remiss not to mention: Puppetry.
Puppetry and animation share many similarities in terms of the artistry and skill required to bring inanimate objects to life. Both involve the manipulation of objects, whether they are physical puppets or digital ones, to create the Illusion of Life. In puppetry, the puppeteer uses their hands and other mechanisms to control the movements of the rigged puppet, while in animation, the animator uses software and other digital tools to manipulate the movements of the rigged character. Both require a deep understanding of timing, movement, and the principles of animation to make their creations come to life. Puppetry and Animation focus on the artistry of time.
However, the biggest difference between the two is the live performance aspect of puppetry. Puppetry requires the puppeteer to perform the movements and actions in real-time, while Animation can be created and edited at any time and often takes a long time to create a short performance. Even animatronic performances have to be programmed and preplanned long before they are enacted by the animatronic. Puppetry is often seen in theater productions, TV shows, and films, while Animation is commonly used in movies, TV shows, video games, and other forms of digital media.
Despite their differences, puppetry and animation are both incredibly complex and beautiful art forms that require a lot of skill, practice, and dedication. They both have the power to captivate audiences and bring stories to life in unique and imaginative ways.
So, while puppetry and animation may have their differences, they are both important art forms that share a deep connection in the world of storytelling and entertainment. It's amazing to see how these two mediums have evolved over time and continue to inspire and influence each other. Directors, like Guillermo Del Toro, sometimes incorporate both techniques in their films, which, in my humble opinion, is the perfect marriage of these three amazing art forms.
In the end, whether you prefer the hands-on approach of puppetry or the digital wizardry of animation, one thing is for sure - Animation in all its forms has the power to bring a little bit of magic to our lives.