Winsor McCay & the Education of Animation
Who was Winsor McCay?
Winsor McCay was an American artist who developed his techniques in the field of comic strip drawing into the production of short animation features. While McCay’s works were simplistic by the standards of today’s designs, it is McCay who is considered “the father of animation” (Illustration History). Without his contribution to the art form, we wouldn’t have the style of animation that has come to exist through Disney animation studios or any other major animation studios.
McCay found that infusing recognizable personality into his characters made audiences feel more connected to the piece of art overall, guaranteeing smash hits in animation – and his style paid off. Despite the fact that Winsor’s animation was at the earliest stages of the production, and much of his success was redirected because of the timing of WWI, his work endures long enough that we study it as the predecessor of one of the largest and most successful media and animation conglomerates in the world.
Even before animating, it was McCay’s comics that were considered high-level artistry. His character Little Nemo was beloved in newspapers, and McCay was an expert in drawing.
McCay had three shorts that exhibit his experimentation with personality animation: “How a Mosquito Operates”, “Gertie the Dinosaur”, and “The Sinking of the Lusitania”.
"How a Mosquito Operates"
Winsor first explores the characterization of animals and objects when he animates a mosquito pestering a man until he eventually explodes. The short is comedic, paced well for audience enjoyment and laughter. The mosquito, usually a little bug, has a persona and engages with the audience. While the short is simplistic, it is one of the first examples of dabbling in animal characterization and comedy.
"Gertie the Dinosaur"
Gertie the Dinosaur is McCay’s shining moment of personality animation, and an impressive landmark of performance and animation. McCay wanted to illustrate and animate dinosaurs, which at that point hadn’t yet been animated for audience consumption. Gertie has a ton of personality; she’s lovable and funny, and McCay experiments with animating himself onto the screen to engage with her.
"The Sinking of the Lusitania"
While initially illustrated to show the tragedy and destruction of the sinking of the Lusitania, the short also experiments with high-level cinematography and personality animation, albeit on a tragic level rather than a comedic one. McCay experiments with animating the fish in the sea reacting to the submarine missile and draws the panicked passengers of the Lusitania jumping into the sea.
McCay's Enduring Legacy: Education
As evidenced by the works I’ve talked about above, McCay was a pioneer in the field of animation, and he also was a big believer in the power of animated stories and characters. Primarily, McCay saw the future of animation headed in the direction of education. Animation could inform and illustrate concepts that otherwise couldn’t be understood or taught. Take Gertie the Dinosaur, for instance. Dinosaurs couldn’t be observed in live action in any other way. McCay knew that he wanted to animate something so inaccessible to try and educate people about it. When he drew the Lusitania, it was because it mattered to him that people understood what that sinking was like and why it was so horrible and scary. McCay’s only means of doing this was through animation, and for many Americans, their only way to fully understand it was to learn through entertainment and film.
Winsor was also passionate about teaching what went on behind the scenes of animating. His animated shorts often started with a live action sequence of McCay betting his colleagues and friends that he could make 4000 drawings or something of that nature—McCay wanted people to know that animation took an insane amount of time and dedication, and he did so by including the production of animation into his stories. Ultimately, McCay noticed the elements of animation that remain with us today—the power of the character, and the power that animation has to influence and educate.
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