One of the most famous and well respected animators of the time was Norman McLaren. He was a Scottish-born Canadian animator who was known best for his work with the National Film Board of Canada. He was a pioneer in several areas of animation such as pixilation, drawn on film animation, abstract film and visual music. Below is a pixilation animation of his that won an Oscar in 1952.
Hanna-Barbera was another great animation studio that saw its first success in the 1940s with Tom and Jerry. Hanna-Barbera founders William Hanna and Joseph Barbera first met whilst working for MGM's animation studio in the late 1930s where they developed the idea for Tom and Jerry. They wrote, produced and directed 114 Tom and Jerry shorts between 1940 and 1957, when MGM shut down its animation studio. They then saw great success throughout the mid to late 20th century with cell based animation and became a household name producing cartoons such as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and Top Cat. Below is the Tom and Jerry cartoon "Tennis Chumps" from 1949.
Walt Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, animator, voice actor, philanthropist, entrepreneur, entertainer, and was an international icon, famous for his cartoons such as the much-loved Mickey Mouse, which was based on a mouse he had adopted as a pet whilst working in his Laugh-O-Gram studio in Kansas City. He developed the character after losing the rights to Oswald the Rabbit. Below is Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie," a cell based animation which is considered to be the first cartoon to feature Mickey Mouse.
An early prominent competitor of Walt Disney were the Fleischer Brothers. Fleischer Studios is most notable for cartoons such as Betty Boop, Koko the Clown and Popeye the Sailor - cell based animations. The brothers also pioneered sound synchronization in cartoons, but this was overlooked as other cartoons, such as Steamboat Willie, were more popular. Below is Betty Boop's debut in an animation called "Dizzy Dishes."
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