Animation Legends that Changed Everything | Part 1

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]It's amazing what the human mind and creativity are capable of doing. The animators in this list have made incredible contributions to the development and art of animation, as well as the technological advancements that massively changed the game in terms of production and artistic possibilities. And so, in no particular order, because all these people are goats, let's start off our list with good old WD, the Diz-meister, Disneylitious, Walt Disney. Our boy started out as an animator and cartoonist way back in the 1920s. But before Steamboat Willie came out, he was no longer a hands-on animator and had moved into the role of producer, director, creative visionary. An interesting thing about him was that he wasn't actually considered an amazing animator. He was mid, but he was fantastic at directing, producing, and businessing. He started the Disney Brothers Studio, which later became the Walt Disney Company with his bro, Roy.

[00:00:54]Walt and his homeboy Ub Iwerks developed Mickey Mouse together in 1928, and Walt actually voiced Mickey in his early years. Walt was obviously integral to the development of the animation industry, and he's the one who brought synchronized sound to animation, Technicolor, feature-length animated movies, and technical leaps in terms of production. Walt Disney played a huge part not just in the development of the animation industry, but also in generalized Western culture and, you know, childhoods. Now, his buddy, Ub Iwerks, is actually the one who brought our good old friend Mickey Mouse to life. Ub became friends with Walt when he was just 18, and they met at a commercial art studio they were both employed at. Later down the line, Walt started his studio and Ub joined him there. They came up with the Mickey Mouse character together. Yep, Mickey wasn't just WD's idea. Iwerks handled the animation, while Disney, the man, not the studio, came up with the characterization and storylines.

[00:01:48]Iwerks did a lot of the animation for the Silly Symphony cartoons and Steamboat Willie, The Skeleton Dance, and The Haunted House. After a while, he left Disney to spread his wings for a little bit, and he ended up signing a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This was to produce a series around Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper. During that time, he still managed to make massive contributions to the development of animation techniques, one of which being the horizontal multiplane camera, which he actually built using Chevrolet parts.

[00:02:16]A multiplane camera is, simply put, a camera that can film multiple planes at once. So, an image would be divided into parts. For instance, the foreground, the character, the midground, and the background. And those would each be put on their own planes, which were panes of glass. So, each sheet of glass would have just that element painted on it, while the rest of the sheet was transparent, so you could see the other elements and layers through it. These separate sheets could then be moved to create the illusion of depth and a parallax effect in the animations. That wasn't his only contribution, as he also found a way to photocopy pencil-drawn animation frames onto cells. And he also came up with some technical solutions for Disneyland. He was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 1989. This is the perfect time to segue to another pioneer in animation who developed the prototype for the multiplane camera, and that was German animator Lotte Reiniger.

[00:03:06]She directed the earliest surviving animated feature, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, in 1926. It was a 65-minute silent fantasy epic told through silhouette animation, which was a technique Reiniger invented. The film took 3 years to be completed. She manipulated paper cutouts frame by frame and photographed them 24 frames per second, although some sources do say 18 frames, so that's up for debate. But it was done with multiple planes of glass for each different element to create a layered effect, basically the multiplane camera. They also made a wax slicing machine to visualize magic in some of the scenes. Stars were made by holding cardboard with small holes in it up to a strong light. Pieces of semi-transparent tissue paper was used to make the waves.

[00:03:48]For movable backgrounds, they would sometimes use two negatives, and they made different layers covered with different substances like sand or soap.

[00:03:55]The end result was a really distinctive, magical silhouette style animation with depth that hadn't really been seen Reiniger animated and directed in over 40 animated films in her career, and it's really a shame that she's not more well-known for her contributions to animation. Now, we have to talk about Naotoshi Shida, who's widely regarded as one of the most talented animators in the anime industry today. Interestingly, he didn't attend animation school, and he took an apprenticeship at a small company where he worked on an anime in the 1980s called Mu-Mu. He then joined Toei Animation, where he has worked and still does on most of the Dragon Balls.

[00:04:32]He's also worked on Death Note, One Piece, Pretty Cure films, Digimon Tamers. He has a really distinct style, easily recognizable by his unique shading and use of arcs in his animation. This means he doesn't animate anything in a straight line because arcs are more visually appealing. His action scenes and smooth animation are world-renowned, and his fans can usually pick out his shots pretty easily since they're so dope. He's the one in charge of the epic climactic scenes at Toei Animation for good reason. Now, for Tex Avery. He's seen by many as the godfather of the animation industry, as he was animating and directing during the golden age of cartoons. I remember seeing his name in the credits of Looney Tunes back in the day when Saturday morning cartoons were still a thing.

[00:05:15]Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Droopy, Porky Pig. Yeah, he's the one who gave them such dynamic personalities. His career in animation started in the 1930s at Warner Brothers. This is where he developed the characters for Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes. When he moved to MGM, he directed a series of animated shorts such as Red Hot Riding Hood and Screwball Squirrel, among others. His work appealed to both kids and adults, and his distinctive love of sarcasm and irony came through loud and clear, along with his love of rapid-fire gags, absurdity, and exaggerated animation, pushing the limits of cartoon physics.

[00:05:50]He'd break the fourth wall and immerse the audience in the cartoon, which was actually groundbreaking at the time.

[00:05:55]He's known for saying, "In a cartoon, you can do anything." And he definitely followed through on that sentiment in his own work. For a really long time, animation was a predominantly male industry. Women were only allowed to work as inkers and painters, not actual animators. Lillian Friedman, who worked on the Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons at Max Fleischer Studios in the 1930s, was one of the first women animators actually employed by a studio. She was initially hired as an inker, but animator James Culhane apparently saw her potential and had her promoted to be his assistant and in-betweener, and secretly trained her as an animator.

[00:06:32]Nelly Sanborn, the head of the timing department, let Friedman animate a Betty Boop test and showed it to the Fleischers without telling them at first that it was done by a woman. They were impressed, and she was promoted to the position of lead animator. This was a huge step forward for the inclusion of women in animation. Now, for Mildred Rossi. Disney was well-known for rejecting women applicants for animation training in the 1930s, of course, with the response that women don't do any of the creative work. They weren't even allowed in the animation building unless it was strictly concerning business.

[00:07:04]They had to stay over in the inking building. Mildred Rossi was one of the first women animators at Disney. She, of course, first started in the inking and paint department, but then she moved over to in-betweening with the animators. She was a trailblazer in color animation and developed the pastel effect used in Fantasia, which was incredibly challenging to produce, but of course was totally worth it cuz it looked sick. She also had incredible skill with animating special effects, working on scenes such as Rite of Spring, The Pastoral Symphony, and Toccata and Fugue in D minor. She later left Disney and had a hand in designing some iconic cinematic monsters, being dubbed the beauty who created the beast after she designed Gill-man for The Creature from the Black Lagoon. After this recognition for her talents in designing movie monsters and makeup special effects, she was fired and denied screen credits by Bud Westmore, head of Universal's makeup department, who was jealous of the attention that she was getting. Brutal. There were a lot of pioneering women in the animation industry who've been similarly buried in history.

[00:08:05]Now, Max Fleischer. He was the head of Fleischer Studios. He and his brother created Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, and Popeye. On top of this, Max Fleischer and his bro invented the rotoscope to facilitate the production of cartoons to cut costs and improve the motion of animation. It projected footage of a live figure, an actor, frame by frame, which was used as a guide for drawing an animated figure. It changed animation forever and is still used to this day.

[00:08:32]Fleischer also helped pioneer color and feature-length animation and introduced the Color Classics series as an alternative to Disney's Silly Symphonies. Fleischer Studios was direct competition for Disney, but they managed to differentiate themselves within their own niche with more gritty animation focused more on adult themes, surrealism, and dark humor. Hayao Miyazaki. Pretty sure you know who he is and his massive influence over the industry. Something you might not know is that he actually studied political science and economics at university, but his passion lay in animation and manga, obviously. So, he later joined Toei Animation as an in-betweener. While there, he formed a partnership with Isao Takahata, who he later founded Studio Ghibli with. They did this after Miyazaki published Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind as a manga in a magazine, and then created a film adaptation which Miyazaki directed, which was a massive success.

[00:09:24]So, then they opened Studio Ghibli along with Toshio Suzuki and his publishing company Tokuma Shoten, and I pronounce it Ghibli because that's how the literal owner of the studio pronounces it, regardless of where the name is actually derived from. It was actually the nickname of an Italian scouting plane because Miyazaki had a passion for aircraft, and that nickname came from the Italianization of the Libyan Arabic word for a hot wind from the Sahara.

[00:09:47]Miyazaki saw it as a metaphor for the way his studio would breathe fresh air or blow a new wind through the animation industry, and it really did. Not just through anime, but animation as a whole.

[00:09:58]Studio Ghibli showed the industry that animation could be used to tackle serious, complex adult themes, while still maintaining wonder and beauty.

[00:10:07]Recurring themes in Miyazaki's work are nature and environmentalism, the agency of children, particularly young girls, who are curious and brave and fully realized story drivers instead of story supporters. This was extremely radical in mainstream animation, where girls or women were commonly used as plot devices or a sexy lamp, if you know, you know.

[00:10:30]Miyazaki also had a lot of anti-war sentiment in his work, which you can never have too much of. And of course, the standout hand-drawn craftsmanship, which is basically his calling card.

[00:10:40]Studio Ghibli maintained hand-drawn production long after the industry shifted to digital. Pixar and Disney cited his work as a foundational influence, and a partnership was formed between Disney and Studio Ghibli. Studio Ghibli has extended far beyond just the anime industry and touched the hearts and souls of people the world over with films like My Neighbor Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, and tons more incredible films. So, I am busy editing this video, and as I suspected, it is way too long.

[00:11:12]So, I'm going to have to divide it into two parts. This will be part one, and there's going to be a part two coming up. Hit the like button and subscribe to keep up-to-date with other videos, and thank you as always to my amazing patrons for all the support. You guys are the real OGs. Okay, thanks for watching. Bye.