Art Central
Famous Animated Characters
How do artists make a drawing walk, talk and laugh? Let's peek behind the screen at some clever tricks animators use.
Did you know?
In old cartoons, characters were painted on clear plastic sheets called cels. The background was painted separately and showed through.
In many cartoons, the voices are recorded first. Then animators draw the mouths moving to match the words!
For the 1942 film Bambi, animators kept two real fawns (baby deer) at the studio. They studied how deer move!
Try this: Make a Character Sheet
Animators draw a character in many ways so it always looks the same. Invent your own cartoon character. Draw it four times on one page: happy, sad, surprised and sleepy. Keep its shape, clothes and colours the same each time. Only change its eyes, mouth and pose. Give your character a name!
Go further: Suits with Dots
Some animated films use a trick called motion capture. An actor wears a tight suit with small markers on it. Many cameras follow the markers as the actor moves. A computer then copies those moves onto a cartoon character. So the character runs, jumps and dances just like the actor! Video games use this trick too.