The Animation's Beginnings

Since the Paleolithic Age spotted some drawings on the caves, these drawings showed animals with legs in superimposed positions to show motion.

There were also other ways of animation in past. For example:

shadow puppets in the 6th century on China;
puppet shows in the Middle Ages;
the invention of animation devices (like the phenakistoscope[1], the praxinoscope[2] and the flip book).

The phenakistoscope was used to rotate a disk with drawings in different positions (as you can see above the animation) in front of a mirror, while displaying by one of the frames. It was invented by the Belgian Joseph Plateau and the Austrian Simon von Stampfer in 1832.

The praxinoscope was used to project animations with a stripe of pictures placed around the internal surface of a spinning cylinder. Invented by the French Charles-Émile Reynaud in 1877.

Adapted from the video Simpsons Intros [3]

The flip book is a pad of paper with drawings sequentially organized in a form of a booklet to be flipped by giving motion impression and creating an animated sequence without help from a machine. It was created in the ending of the 19th century and in the threshold of the 20th century.

The founders of animation

Thomas Alva Edison

He was an American inventor who created the first motion pictures, although he hadn't created
animated cartoons. He invented the Kinetoscope [4] which is a motion picture internal projection device in 1891.

The Kinetoscope

Georges Méliès

He was a French animator who created the first animations with special effects in movies. He is considered to be the Father of Special Effects. One of his famous movies was A Trip to the Moon in 1902.

James Stuart Blackton

He was the first film producer to make the silent animated cartoon called Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906.

Émile Cohl

One of the first cartoons of all time was Fantasmagorie directed by the Frenchman Émile Cohl in 1908. He is considered to be the Father of Animated Cartoons.

Winsor McCay

He created the first silent cartoon with a chracter who has an appealing personality called Gertie the Dinosaur in 1914. Gertie is funny, when she dances and moves her head with a yes or no answer.

John Randolph Bray [5]

He was the first animator to creat a colored cartoon called The Debut of Thomas Cat in 1920.

Walt Disney

He was a famous animator who created Mickey Mouse and his first cartoon with sound is named Steamboat Willie in 1928.

He also produced the first cartoon movie in full color and well-known in the English-speaking world called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs [6] in 1937. It is also considered to be the first Walt Disney Animated Calssic.

The Animation Prducers in the 1st half of the 20th century

Warner Bros. Inc.

This producer of film and television entertainment started to create cartoons in 1930. One of them is the well-known and famous Looney Tunes [7]. My favorite character is Bugs Bunny

Hanna-Barbera

Founded in 1944 by MGM and created by the cartoonist-duo William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Their first cartoon created by them was Tom and Jerry [8] in 1940.

This title card was used during the late 40's and early 50's and

attached to many reissues of early and mid 40's.

They also created other cartoons like: The Flinstones in 1960, Yogi Bear in 1961, Top Cat in the same year as The Flinstones, The Jetsons in 1962, Scooby Doo in 1969, The Addams Family in 1973, Hong Kong Phooey in 1974 and many more.

Animes

Animes are japanese cartoons. They appeared in the beginning of the 20th century. The first anime ever made was in 1917. It is called Imokawa Mukuzō Genkanban no Maki (translated: The Story of the Concierge Mukuzo Imokawa) made by Ōten Shimokawa.
Later, the first anime with sound was Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka (translated: Within the World of Power and Women or The World of Power and Women) made by Kenzō Masaoka in 1933.

The first anime movie was Momotarō: Umi no Shinpei (translated: Momotaro's Gods-Blessed Sea Warriors or Momotaro, Sacred Sailors) created by Mitsuyo Seo in 1945.

The first anime movie with colors was Hakujaden (translated: The Tale of the White Serpent and also known as The Great White Snake and The White Snake Enchantress) produced by Hiroshi Ôkawa in 1958. In the USA, it is called Panda and the Magic Serpent and it was realeased in 1961. Here are two clips of this movie below.

You can watch this movie on YouTube, but remember! It's divided by parts, so follow them correctly by watching it, okay?

The first anime bradcasted in Japan was Mittsu no Hanashi (translated: Three Tales) directed by Keiko Kozonoe and aired in 1960.
Next, the first anime series ever televised was Otogi Manga Calendar directed by Ryuichi Yokoyama in 1961.

Later, in 70's, there were famous well-known animes in the world such as: Doraemon in 1973, Heidi, Girl of the Alps in 1974, Maya, the Bee in 1975 and 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (also known as Marco in some European and Latin American countries) in 1976.

In the 80's, there were also other famous well-known animes like: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1980, Ninja Hattori-kun (also known as Ninja Hattori) in 1981, Captain Tsubasa (also know as Flash Kicker) in 1983 and Kiteretsu Encyclopedia in 1988.