Armstrong, age 9, of Terre Haute, Ind., for his question:
HOW IS A CARTOON ANIMATED?
Animation is the process used to make motion picture cartoons from aiseries of drawings. In a full length feature, more than a million separate drawings are often needed.
To make an animated cartoon, the first thing you must have is a story. A writer artist prepares an illustrated script which is called
,a storyboard. The storyboard looks a lot like a giant comic strip and it includes rough sketches that show the action of the story.
Once the storyboard has been approved, the music and dialogue for the motion picture are recorded. The composer must be especially careful to follow the storyboard so that his music will match each sequence of the action.
Next, layout artists work with the director to determine what settings will be drawn, how each character will look and act and how the story can best be broken down into scenes.
Now the background artists and animators take over. The background artists draw all the backgrounds for the picture while the animators make separate drawings of the characters.
The animators work from a timing chart which indicates the number of frames or separate pictures that will be needed to express each word of the recorded dialogue. The animator then must create the exact number of drawings required by the dialogue.
If a character says "Mother" in one episode, the timing chart will show that eight frames are required for the single word. The animator must then make eight drawings in which the character's mouth moves in sequence to form the word "Mother." He must also include all the character's body movements.
After the animators complete their drawings, other artists trace them onto sheets of transparent celluloid called cels. Color is then applied to the reverse side of the cels.
The cels and backgrounds are finally sent to the camera department where the Gels are photographed frame by frame over the proper background.
In the camera department, an exposure sheet tells the operator what cels and background he needs for each frame.
Finally, after the photography is completed, the sound track is added. Prints of the film are then made ready for the theaters or television studios.
Perhaps the most famous animated cartoon character in the world is Mickey Mouse. This friendly talking mouse was the invention of one of the most famous motion picture producers in history, Walt Disney.
Mickey was born in December of 1928, which means that just a month ago, this little guy celebrated his 52nd birthday.
Disney himself provided Mickey Mouse's voice