A History of Animation

2010 – 2019 · 12 events

The 2010s

After twenty years of convergence on a single polished look, animation deliberately made itself strange again — and the distribution model changed underneath it.

What changed in this period

Photorealistic capability became a baseline rather than a goal, and the interesting question shifted from what could be rendered to what should be. Studios built rendering systems that imitated drawn line, painted texture, printing artifacts and deliberately reduced frame rates, reintroducing the handmade into an entirely digital pipeline.

Simulation research delivered results that were visible to general audiences: convincing snow, water, hair and cloth, and character rigs expressive enough for subtle performance.

Distribution changed more than technique. Subscription services commissioned original animated features and series, funded work that theatrical economics would not support, and made international animation immediately available to audiences that had previously depended on festivals and imports.

Feature animation from Japan reached record domestic audiences, European and Irish studios earned repeated Academy recognition for hand-drawn work, and a 2018 American feature demonstrated that a mainstream blockbuster could look like nothing else on screen.

The record

Every documented event, 2010 – 2019

Listed in order, with context, technique, sources and related events shown in full.

  • 2010 March 7, 2010

    An animated feature is again nominated for Best Picture

    For the first time since 1992, an animated feature was nominated for Best Picture, following an expansion of the category to ten nominees.

    United States 3D computer animation Award and recognition
    Artist or studio
    Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
    Country or region
    United States

    Historical context

    The film in question opened with a wordless montage covering a marriage from courtship to bereavement, widely cited as evidence of the medium's emotional range.

    Why it mattered

    It confirmed that animated features could compete for the industry's top honor, and that the separate animation category had not become a ceiling.

    What followed

    Animated features have continued to receive nominations in screenplay, score and international categories, and the debate over the separate category continues.

    Sources consulted

    Related events

  • 2012 November 2, 2012

    Paperman renders a drawn line in three dimensions

    Software developed for the short allowed artists to draw strokes over computer-animated characters, with the lines following the underlying three-dimensional surfaces through motion.

    United States Hybrid live action Short film
    Artist or studio
    John Kahrs, Walt Disney Animation Studios
    Country or region
    United States

    Historical context

    The project was undertaken to test whether the expressiveness of hand drawing could be combined with the spatial control of computer animation.

    Why it mattered

    It reopened the question the industry had considered settled in 2004, showing that drawn and computed animation were complementary rather than competing methods.

    What followed

    Line-based and painterly rendering entered mainstream feature production, and the short won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

    Sources consulted

    Related events

  • 2013 November 27, 2013

    Frozen and the simulation of snow

    A physically based snow solver developed with academic collaborators simulated packing, powder and fracture, allowing snow to behave as a material rather than as an effect.

    United States 3D computer animation Feature film
    Artist or studio
    Walt Disney Animation Studios
    Country or region
    United States

    Historical context

    Snow is difficult to simulate because it behaves as a solid, a granular material and a fluid depending on force and temperature.

    Why it mattered

    It is a clear example of animation driving fundamental research: the solver was published as academic work and adopted well beyond the film industry.

    What followed

    The film became one of the highest-grossing animated releases ever made, and its simulation research received Academy scientific and technical recognition.

    Sources consulted

    Related events

  • 2014 September 2014

    Song of the Sea sustains European hand-drawn features

    A hand-drawn feature built on flat, ornamental design drawn from Irish manuscript art and folklore received an Academy Award nomination, the studio's second.

    Ireland Digital ink and paint Feature film
    Artist or studio
    Tomm Moore, Cartoon Saloon
    Country or region
    Ireland

    Historical context

    European co-production funding and public film bodies made feature-length drawn animation viable at budgets far below American norms.

    Why it mattered

    It demonstrated that hand-drawn features remained artistically and commercially viable outside the American studio system, with a deliberately non-illusionistic visual language.

    What followed

    European studios have received repeated Academy recognition since, and the co-production model has become a reliable route to feature-length drawn animation.

    Sources consulted

    Related events

  • 2016 August 19, 2016

    Kubo and the Two Strings scales printed stop-motion performance

    Tens of thousands of printed face components, oversized practical puppets and extensive digital set extension produced a stop-motion feature of unusual scale and fluidity.

    United States Stop motion Feature film
    Artist or studio
    Travis Knight, Laika
    Country or region
    United States

    Historical context

    The studio had spent a decade refining printed replacement animation, colour-accurate printing and invisible seam removal.

    Why it mattered

    It represents the fullest integration of digital fabrication with handmade animation, and earned nominations in both animated feature and visual effects categories.

    What followed

    The methods established stop motion as a technically current form rather than a preserved craft, supporting the feature-scale work that followed.

    Sources consulted

    Related events

  • 2016 August 26, 2016

    Your Name reaches a record audience for a Japanese feature

    A body-swap romance structured around a natural disaster combined drawn characters with meticulously rendered digital backgrounds and became an exceptional international commercial success.

    Japan Digital ink and paint Feature film
    Artist or studio
    Makoto Shinkai, CoMix Wave Films
    Country or region
    Japan

    Historical context

    The director had built a following through independently produced short and feature work before reaching this scale of production.

    Why it mattered

    It showed that Japanese features outside the established studio brands could achieve worldwide theatrical success, particularly across Asia.

    What followed

    International distributors expanded their acquisition of Japanese features, and theatrical anime releases became routine in markets that had previously relied on home video.

    Sources consulted

    Related events

  • 2017 June 2017

    Loving Vincent animates in oil paint on canvas

    More than a hundred painters produced roughly sixty-five thousand oil paintings, each photographed as a single frame, to make a feature in the visual language of a specific painter.

    United Kingdom Multiple techniques Feature film
    Artist or studio
    Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, BreakThru Films and Trademark Films
    Country or region
    United Kingdom

    Historical context

    Live-action performances were filmed first and used as reference for the painted frames, which were produced in dedicated studios in Poland and Greece.

    Why it mattered

    It is the most ambitious attempt to use physical painting as a frame-by-frame animation medium at feature length, and it received an Academy Award nomination.

    What followed

    It renewed interest in painted and material-based animation, and demonstrated that distributed craft production could reach feature scale.

    Sources consulted

    Related events

  • 2017 2017 onward

    Subscription services begin commissioning animation directly

    Streaming platforms moved from licensing existing catalogs to commissioning original animated series and features, including substantial investment in Japanese production.

    International Multiple techniques Distribution and streaming
    Artist or studio
    Global subscription streaming services
    Country or region
    International

    Historical context

    Subscriber growth depended on exclusive content, and animation offered internationally portable programming with predictable production schedules.

    Why it mattered

    It created a second major source of financing for animation, funding adult series, international features and projects theatrical economics would not support.

    What followed

    Production capacity expanded worldwide, international animation reached audiences immediately rather than through festival and import cycles, and commissioning volatility became a new industry risk.

    Sources consulted

    Related events

  • 2018 December 14, 2018 Full record

    Into the Spider-Verse rebuilds the look of computer animation

    Hand-drawn line work over three-dimensional characters, printing artifacts such as halftone dots and misregistered color, deliberate chromatic aberration and characters animated on twos produced a feature that looked like a printed comic in motion.

    United States 3D computer animation Feature film
    Artist or studio
    Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks
    Country or region
    United States

    Historical context

    The production developed custom tools so that drawn marks could be applied per shot and would follow animated surfaces, and it staffed a large team of artists specifically for that work.

    Why it mattered

    It broke a two-decade convergence on a single smooth, photorealistic house style and proved that a blockbuster could be radically stylized without losing a mass audience.

    What followed

    Non-photorealistic rendering became a mainstream ambition, variable frame rates entered general practice, and subsequent studio features across several companies adopted deliberately graphic visual identities.

    Sources consulted

    Related events

  • 2019

    Real-time engines enter animation production

    Game engines and virtual reality tools allowed directors and cinematographers to scout, block and light entirely digital environments interactively rather than waiting hours for rendered frames.

    United States 3D computer animation Technique and tools
    Artist or studio
    Visual effects and animation studios using interactive rendering engines
    Country or region
    United States

    Historical context

    Rendering had always been an overnight process, separating creative decisions from their results by a full working day.

    Why it mattered

    Interactive rendering collapsed that feedback loop, changing how animated films are directed and blurring the boundary between animation and live-action production.

    What followed

    Virtual production stages, real-time previsualization and engine-rendered animated series have since become established parts of the industry.

    Sources consulted

    Related events

  • 2019 November 12, 2019

    Studio catalogs move to direct subscription

    Studios began withdrawing their animation catalogs from third-party licensing and placing them on services they owned, alongside newly commissioned original productions.

    United States Multiple techniques Distribution and streaming
    Artist or studio
    Major film studios launching subscription services
    Country or region
    United States

    Historical context

    Library animation retains value over decades, making it the most durable asset a subscription service can offer.

    Why it mattered

    It changed how audiences reach animation history: catalog titles became continuously available, while others disappeared from circulation when licenses ended.

    What followed

    Archival access, preservation and the long-term availability of animated works are now shaped by commercial platform decisions rather than by broadcast or physical distribution.

    Sources consulted

    Related events

  • 2019 November 15, 2019

    Klaus applies volumetric lighting to hand-drawn characters

    Custom software applied directional light, shadow and volume to two-dimensional drawings, giving hand-drawn characters a dimensional quality without converting them to three-dimensional models.

    Spain Digital ink and paint Feature film
    Artist or studio
    Sergio Pablos, SPA Studios, released by Netflix
    Country or region
    Spain

    Historical context

    The feature was financed and released by a streaming service, an arrangement that made a hand-drawn feature of this scale possible outside the theatrical market.

    Why it mattered

    It demonstrated that drawn animation could adopt the lighting sophistication of computer animation while retaining the drawn line, and it received an Academy Award nomination.

    What followed

    Lighting tools for two-dimensional animation entered wider use, and streaming commissioning became an established route for hand-drawn features.

    Sources consulted

    Related events

Open this period in the interactive timeline