Understanding: The Digital Age of Animation

In 1985 animation began to move towards the Digital age with John Lasseter and Steve Jobs co-founding Pixar Studios in 1986. It was here that Luxo Jr. was created, which was the animation that showed the full potential of 3D animation and was ground breaking to the way animation was seen from then on.

Luxo Jr.

Although we are currently still in the Digital Age of animation, there have been many animations that have explored the many different potentials of animation ranging from digital to traditional. There have been many animations that have begun to explore combining detailed animations with complex and moving story lines such as, When the Winds Blows, which explores the difficult subject of nuclear war.

It's not just traditional animation that has developed throughout this period, but it is also stop motion animation with the recent production of films such as Coraline and Boxtrolls created by Laika Studios, in which modern technology is combined with traditional stop motion animation to create beautiful stories that are full of life and magic.

The Digital Age of animation has also seen animation being used for more artistic purposes rather than just commercial or entertainment purposes. And despite the fact that animation was seen to be a dwindling aspect of film and cinema the Digital Age has seen it rise to great heights once again and develop with the advances of technology.