Little Nemo (1911) aka Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics

[@Dwilproductionsplus]

Think about it. 1000s of frames. No erasing. All done in pen. Oh, no no no, no ballpoint pens either. no sketching. Straight Calligraphic pens. Yep. No room for error or messing up, no onion skinning, no cels, nothing except super fluid, accurate, acute-to-detail talent right here. His draftsmanship is impeccable. One chance per paper, and also you'll need to store all of your drawings in a very safe place.

[@SooziinCa]

+CrabbWalker Amazing huh! As anyone who has ever used a "Speedball" or any dip pen w/nibs & an inkwell, can attest, you can be finishing your drawing & be @ that LAST ascending or descending line & a big blob of ink will run out, ruining your project!

[@davidvincent380]

+CrabbWalker Heroic times indeed. Nowadays animators are a bit spoiled with their Cintiq tablets :)

[@Dwilproductionsplus]

david vincent As an animator myself, I do have to say we are quite spoiled XD I only have the Bamboo tablet, but still!

[@davidvincent380]

I'm into computer music and video games, and I have the same feeling, creation has never been so accessible these last years (I won't say "easy"). Only 10-15 years ago everything was so complicated, and slow...

[@DuneDemon8]

At the end it said No 4000!

[@royandjacqueline1294]

That man can draw. The prince in the middle looks like a real person being painted over. Especially when he turns to look at the clown. Also watch his legs as he paints his princess. His face is so life-like. This is true art.

[@_higherlevelgaming]

Roy and Jacqueline only makes me wonder why they couldn’t paint the black comic relief more realistically, oh right, racism.

[@watchmanschannelofdespair]

@@_higherlevelgaming Typical dumbass looking to be 'offended'. GTFO. Maybe if some blacks would have invented animation then they could've drawn carictaures of white folks? Maybe that would've made you happy (don't answer, it's a rhetorical question, stupid).

[@scr0ngle108]

@@watchmanschannelofdespair local ass forgets about slavery in America

[@TerraMarie34]

@@watchmanschannelofdespair Referring to black/african american people as "blacks" in 2021? Really? Also, there is nothing wrong with pointing out that, yes, black people were used as comic relief and were portrayed poorly in old cinema. You can't ignore the past and act like it wasn't deeply offensive and doesn't still impact the portrayal of black people in cinema today. Acknowledging it helps us move forward as a society. Pointing out flaws doesn't take away from the amazing animation that McCay created.

[@tamarabrugara]

​@@_higherlevelgaming racism but also : Nemo is a blank character who is usually a observer and will rarely himself be squashed and stretched to quite the same extend , there is media where simular characters of colour are human looking but for instance a native American of higher rank will also look more 'white' than such comic characters.

[@WillScarlet16]

It's impossible to overestimate how much we owe Mr. McCay - the list of people he inspired is endless - Walt Disney, Ray Bradbury, Maurice Sendak, Bill Watterson, all of them credit him. Winsor McCay pretty much invented fantasy for the 20th century.

[@JosephDutra]

He may not have made the first animation, but he definitely made it an art!

[@jadedraven8627]

Joseph that title goes to fantisamorgir

[@Internetshadow0000]

The animation of the dragon-throne thing as it was turning and moving was especially fluid and detailed. The whole thing was amazing, but I found that part especially amazing.

[@davidvincent380]

+Liftboard Rider Indeed, I bet McCay took it as a challenge in the challenge.

[@cristaki]

I think it’s very special

[@yelloweyeball]

The fact that McCay did that this early is astounding.

[@missbleach8767]

Network

[@Lucius1958]

While Blackton and Cohl may claim priority, this was definitely the first masterpiece of animation: full bodied figures moving naturally, with perspective as well...

[@Mr_x_19922]

1911, my favorite year in history, no titanic sinking, no world wars, no great depression, and no alcohol prohibition

[@kensuke0]

Plenty of racism, sexism, and other stuff happening tho

[@D.Aniel89]

And one Serbian (?) Dude is like: "He about no?"

[@D.Aniel89]

@@kensuke0 were 2 world wars, cold war, and other awful thing worth it? Doubt so, there would be another way...

[@dyringatory1096]

@@Zinwaq as much as i agree with you, that’s a grossly cynical way of looking at people saying “XXXX is my favorite year of all time!” like yeah, the year 1911 (and generally the early 20th century as a whole) was definitely a time of turmoil, harsh racism/sexism, and war, but literally EVERY era in recent history has all of these. genuinely, pick a year from 1800~ to 2021 and it’ll be CHALK FULL of instances of racism, war, disasters, and the like. just let people enjoy stuff, dickhead.

[@antikytheramechanism7909]

Exactly, no Federal Reserve causing inflation and the "Great Depression" they caused by manipulating the interest rate in the 20's, no income tax, money was real gold and silver, and no women voting which ushered in things that were anti-liberty because they vote differently than men as all the stats show.

[@shnbwmn]

Damn this guy could draw ... no prelim work or anything ... just puts pen to paper and bam, exquisite drawings.

[@theluckiesteh9058]

I can only imagine how long that animation sequence must've taken....

[@yhiggy8971]

That must've took forever to make, but it was all over in under 3 minutes.

[@Hubert99999]

A month itd seem

[@sherwinpelenio3256]

they also say that when they want color on the movie it needs to colored by hand

[@Diskoboy1974]

I don't care what you say... Creating animation, individually drawn frame by frame without cels or onion skin paper is nothing short of spectacular. Why Winsor McCay is not as famous (if not more famous) than Walt Disney boggles the mind. The man was pure genius. Today, he's largely overshadowed by Disney, Hanna/Barbara, and fly-by-night animators who owe their livelihoods to him.

[@haileyshannon7548]

Disney was more of a businessman than an animator!

[@starlord7900]

What about max fleischer..

[@doom5895]

There is onion skinning on paper you can see the drawing on the paper below the one your looking at

[@ratking9577]

@@doom5895 Yeah but it’s much more blurry and inaccurate

[@yelloweyeball]

@@starlord7900 He also deserves more recognition today, but most of his cartoons are in the public domain now.

[@kienischneider9862]

Really amazing how fluid and realistic the movement is.

[@isbsp]

the fact this is from the 1910s and its so fluid is actually amazing

[@remedyfaero6771]

I love you

[@icebird8575]

@@remedyfaero6771 🤮

[@ioriorioriorio]

was really moved by this...this is fine art..thanks for posting this windsor macay gem

[@DrZond]

This particular film was lost for many years. It was discovered in a movie theatre in the last decade or so. All the color was hand painted on each individual frame of film.

[@DanJackson1977]

If it was discovered in the last decade then why is it on my Winsor McKay collection DVD from 2001?

[@pitayau]

This dude inspires me. I really do love his art and creations. Seeing nemo brings a smile on my face. :) hopefully his alive and well future family members of now can be inspired to do art and animation like what McCay once did back then. *shine on.*

[@JulianR2JG]

Do you really expect him to be alive now? He is dead! He was born in the 19th century.

[@pitayau]

@@JulianR2JG i know that he's dead. PLEASE don't be smart

[@donttalktomeyoureannoying8736]

TheCreamyDoraemon // Spectrum99 you cannot read. The original poster said he hopes his ALIVE family members will carry on the tradition, dumbass!

[@iwillbeatyouwithinininchof7104]

@@pitayau I agree with your comment but your profile picture is terrifying

[@MrSb192]

I've come across many people who are good artists... they draw good pictures... great pictures, actually. But what I think sets a good animator from a great animator is the will to draw all those extra frames which adds that extra zing of life to the characters. And Winsor McCay was a great animator...

[@TheLpbrennan]

Notice the scene in the hallway around 5 minutes in, as the barrels of ink and bales of paper are being delivered, that the walls are flat: They are painted to represent the paneling and wainscoting. The scene was shot in a studio, probably under a skylight, and the set is made like stage flats.

[@OldSchool1947]

A bonafide GENIUS! AMAZING!

[@coolguy02536]

4000 drawings is pretty impressive. Hope it paid well!

[@zandin55]

To be completely fair, that's 4000 frames, roughly equivalent to panels. He would do about 12 standard size panels for each Little Nemo strip. So that is about 334 standard strips. The difference being that this animation lacks the detailed backgrounds McCay used, and is lacking the full detail of his signature shading and colouring styles. This is not to downplay how impressive this early animation is, but to focus on WHY is is impressive. It was a technical breakthrough, not an artistic one, and to focus on the number of frames seems to miss that.

[@coolguy02536]

Brian Jackson Stuff like this had to have made him rich at the time.

[@AstorDee]

It might surprise you but there are a lot of artists out there doing things for the pleasure and necessity(of the soul) to do it. Not money. Not sure if that was his case but it happens a lot.

[@greenliongirl07]

@@AstorDee These were more passion projects for him. His employer made him stop after the Lucintania animation. His boss thought he was spending too much time of these and if there was money to be made in these I don't think his employer would have stopped him. Too bad. Still, these animations have made him immortal.

[@luishirschlieb6083]

He hand draws his characters stepping thru in what in computer science we would measure as a 'sine' wave, crazy stuff! 10:07

[@hairybug3833]

BLOWING MY MIND

[@bronysimpson3250]

what an amazing work of art.

[@sketchysketchu]

I honestly can't get over how impressive this is, even now it's impressive.

[@fidgetypenguin8153]

4,000 frames divided by 31 days in a month (estimate) would total 1,290 drawings a day. Now that’s dedication.

[@goldenager59]

Dedication indeed (...and also Determination to be Winner in a Wager)! 😏 😄

[@stevetaylor5290]

4000 / 31 = ~129

[@kubricklynch]

Very cool, thanks for uploading!

[@_rmaze_quiambao5215]

this is 106 yrs old. crazy

[@frankstrawnation]

112 now

[@andymassingham]

John Bunny, cinemas first comic star in the intro and brief bit in the studio. He was gone by 1915.

[@Khultan]

Forget Disney and any animator after *Windsor McCay*

[@sgste]

I knew it... Nicholas Cage is immortal! That's him, turning around from the table at the back at 0:16 !!!

[@yelloweyeball]

🤣

[@RettroixTwo2]

1911??? This is ahead of it's time!

[@jesusenriquerosasvillaverd.618]

Genio portentoso inmortal de la imaginación sin límites...

[@midge7451]

I love how the ink is in barrels

[@fakeguest917]

This art looks especially modern for being 111 years old

[@ibrahimdwedar7866]

he was making history there :)

[@kittymervine6115]

Hello John Bunny!! Early film comedian!

[@Hubert99999]

Apart from the oldness this video feels so much like a kids school presentation or film

[@BrazilianDaftPunkFan]

Finally an animator that doesn't cringe

[@aymuammosmiom4091]

Amazing... Even though he was an Esau, Windsor is amazing...

[@BelaCurcio]

I love the drama they present this whole situation with hahaha

[@goldenager59]

It's almost beyond believing. Now, if he could have had access to a proper animation studio, with a team of helpers like Disney's "Nine Old Men"... Ohhh, BOY! 🤩 (But then, perhaps it would not have been as much fun for him...) 😕

[@DawepMe]

The man was a genius

[@Nickean-ox6ls]

This was not only the first color cartoon but also the first American cartoon. The first cartoon “Fantasmagorie”, was French

[@flaccidusminimus2170]

0:19 - the gent standing on the right looks like a young Jason Robards.

[@404UsernameNotFoundX]

starts at 9:09

[@Aqua.man045]

???

[@rosepetunia1829]

+ Aqua Man He/She means that the cartoon starts at 9:09.

[@hermitabroad]

exquisite draughtsmanship - fabulous animation - cut out the first 8 minutes or so if you wish to get to the animation proper...

[@macvoutie]

The portly guy with the flushed face sitting at the table is John Bunny.

[@goldenager59]

He does look a jolly sort, doesn't he? (John Goodman is rather remindful of him.) He was Hollywood's first true comedy superstar, coming along after a successful life in vaudeville. His screen career wasn't a long one, but I hear tell there were couples who named their little boys for him. He was perhaps fortunate to die in 1915 - the same year Chaplin released his first movie all about the Little Tramp - so that there was never any troublesome issues of envious competition between the two. 🎭 🙂

[@harisbegovic]

9:46 It looks like there doing the Happy Happy Joy Joy song!

[@armyshope]

10:37 this is so cute

[@terrancebigham6765]

The Fleischers obviously got inspiration for their crazy cartoon metamorphoses from McCay, Cohn and the early animators!

[@raphaelmedeiros2026]

Wow, thats amazing

[@Munahlisa1]

AMAZING

[@doublepinger]

The absolute madlad

[@Asabatoto_XD__]

Hermoso Una de las primeras animaciones 😍

[@Thompson001]

Now

[@EugeneTan233]

brilliant!!

[@VOMITQUEEN]

Amazing!!

[@orangebubblecake]

What’s the piano piece used in the film called?

[@animateangus]

Amazing!

[@ianbuchanan3839]

Pretty sure we just found the aesthetic inspiration for Pennywise here at 1:00

[@kiwiabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw]

Yep

[@horridgoober6386]

Whenever i see a clown in a video people are just like “pennywise!!??” Like just shut up

[@icebird8575]

@@horridgoober6386 no, you shut up, take a joke bastard

[@dsnyguy1]

amazing!

[@Miss_Rosee3]

Kids today be like “ mommy mommy what is the first cartoon “ his mom be like “idk what was the first cartoon timmy”

[@regis_c]

This is where I got the "Moving Comics" part of my user name.

[@francescoborghini7669]

Di un'abilità incredibile!!

[@cynthiacupler8005]

Mr.McKay, you are just too, Daddy Cool.🤗

[@Chatarra000]

How is it that this cartoon has color if it is supposed to have been made in 1911?

[@madanlal-to1mn]

In April, to world's oldest and used to top cartoon 😚🤗

[@ikhsanali2356]

Masterpiece

[@cynthiacupler8005]

Daddy Cool, I love His drawings, I draw tiny doodles, with things in them, like faces ,and all kinds of cool things.❤️

[@Thompson001]

How could he draw 40 thousand drawings. This is unreal

[@cristaki]

I think it’s very special

[@pablom.g-m]

10:26 *draws waifu*

[@flyingwolfwithlasers]

what is the machine called at 5:43

[@rareblues78daddy]

flyingwolfwithlasers Wikipedia refers to it as a "Mutoscope-like machine" used to test fluidity in the animation.

[@flyingwolfwithlasers]

rareblues78daddy thank you.

[@goldenager59]

Why not call it a Mutopraxinoptical Kinetophenograph? 😂

[@ricardoperez9357]

the part that he did all that with a sharpie is some skills

[@OofusTwillip]

Not with a Sharpie. Felt-tip pens wouldn't be invented until many years later. He used a dip-pen: a steel nib in a wooden holder, that had to be dipped in ink every few strokes. If you've never tried using a dip-pen, it's a very interesting and tricky process. But once you're used to it, you'll be amazed at what it can do. A flexible nib can produce very thin lines and very thick lines. It's great for drawing and calligraphy.

[@racerx4152]

do all those 4,000 drawing's still exist?

[@ninjapirate123]

This is history

[@robinceuleers]

the First Little Nemo movie ever before the 1989/1992 version

[@michellealondra7128]

esto es increíble

[@Aqua.man045]

10:53 birth of 2.5D

[@springjava2636]

Who else wound up here from the tom petty music video?

[@yzyzhukiupenitrio3835]

McCay The Real Father of The Fantasy Cartoon ... Invented The Beautiful World Cartoon animated. 👏👏👏

[@cmvogt5951]

And they inventing Cartoons/Moving Pictures.

[@haileyshannon7548]

9:09 Uh... that's we came here

[@lisaszulerecka2100]

This looks a lil bit like the characters from the Simpsons

[@nancyguzman4509]

Can this be considered as the first color cartoon?

[@SonicSpyroHeeler]

1911 meaning This was 110 year ago.

[@goldenager59]

Aren't the older days fascinating? 😁

[@BlinkyFn]

Whats the music that played

[@goldenager59]

I believe it was especially composed in recent years to accompany this feature; Robert Israel, at a guess. 🤔

[@Khultan]

And no rotoscoping!!!!

[@DJNurseAnnabella]

Still way more impressive than alot of stuff today. I'll take this over any Pixar anyday.

[@rootpaste]

10:07

[@intel386DX]

Fantasctic but how the color was recrded?

[@louismendes4743]

the color was painted onto the slides one by one

[@PkmariO64]

Each frame of film had colour painted onto it by hand

[@intel386DX]

@@PkmariO64 wow!

[@ifarted7633]

2019?

[@atomiswave2]

Why is it suddenly in color

[@mcanguish1977]

Winsor McCay hand-coloured one copy of the film-he actually painted the colour onto the film itself. The version most people would have seen would have been in black-and-white.

[@강현모-r6x]

와 그림잘그린다.

[@DaisyFan2005]

9:20

[@electroskates2434]

weird to think that those men in the video are dead now and have been for decades

[@goldenager59]

Golden lads and girls all must, As (do) chimney sweepers, come to dust. - Shakespeare, *Cymbeline* 😓

[@clorofolle]

this is dope as fuck

[@MattQuicktimer]

10:38 people

[@iwonder7517]

The world where the cartoon lives in resembles that of a Mario Bros game. Makes absolutely no sense. But I do admire the work behind it.

[@yelloweyeball]

True. The continuity in Little Nemo comic strips makes no sense.

[@xALK1984x]

wow

[@gwfuad1801]

Who came from google

[@TheCutePyro]

Who's here from Mr. Enter?

[@usermcskull4713]

TheCutePyro all of us

[@marinsoletti6586]

The animation is amazing especially considering the time period.... Yet I kinda feel uncomfortable watching the black colonialist caricaturing in 2021.

[@goldenager59]

Yes, I know. Sometimes it really stinks, being a grown-up and knowing about grown-up things like stereotypes and subtexts, and to no longer be able to see simply funny fellows moving on a screen. 😒 😕

[@extradeluxe141]

I find it sad that people like Jaiden gets millions of views for what she calls "animations" when the real stuff, like this, gets unnoticed.

[@KawaiiBootyBoy9000]

Can we like things without putting other people down?

[@ultra-Snedronning]

Who's Jaiden?