Max Fleischer

                                                                        Max Fleischer

Max is responsible for many famous cartoons such as Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye and even superman have all been his inventions and he is also responsible for creating Rotoscoping.
He is considered to be a pioneer of American cartoon animation in the 20^th century and it’s easy to see why.
 Rotoscope, created by Max Fleischer and his brother Dave, could project images of a film in an animation table. 
From there, the actions could be transferred frame by frame and incorporated on animation characters.
It was actually meant to enhance already made scenes, in some cases it can even be referred to as sketching since the animator would make the initial scene, clean it up and then just make another one of the same scene but change certain things like the hand could be slightly higher than in the last scene and this turned out to be a great success since he and his brother used it earlier before he ever owned a studio or in 1917 to be specific.

His out of the inkwell series is also quite a notable thing since all of his cartoons apart from superman can be found there, there even coloured versions of them. 

He is also responsible for making several small training films for the US army during WWI.

But he also has several books although they were not made by him they were made by his son who in his fathers memory made them so that people can learn more about his father and his craft:

Almanac of Famous People, 7th ed., Gale Group, 2001.

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Gale Research, 1998.

Links:
http://biography.yourdictionary.com/max-fleischer

Animation and Computers

                         How computers/technology helped animation.

Computers have made animation a bit easier. Computer animation technology can help animators fill in “in-betweens”, create a multiple character scene, develop 3D illusion perfectly, simulate lighting setups, simulate materials, integrate virtual images with live action, combine live performances of an actor with an animated character and so much more. Computer generated animation can be two dimensional as well.

Computers also allowed us to use CGI which is included in practically every film. Computers also made it a hell of a lot more affordable for the artist to make a mistake in case they mess up, so if you do make mistake you won't have to start over completely in a sense. 

Computer animation is essentially a digital successor to the art of stop motion animation of 3D models and frame-by-frame animation of 2D illustrations.

Source links:

computer_animation.htm

http://www.cartoonson.com/how-technology-improved-the-evolution-of-animations.html

Carl Barks

Carl Barks "The Good Duck Artist"

Unlike many other artists working (all anonymously) for the Disney company, Barks did not mindlessly churn out condescending, forgettable stories of a childish nature during his 24-year stint on the Disney Ducks. He consistently produced delightful top-quality material, both in his scripts and in his art as well as in his dialogues, which echoed with deep human resonance.

As the creator of 'Scrooge McDuck', Carl Barks did more than any other comic book artist to widen the popularity of Donald Duck.

Among his many fans were George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg, who were inspired by the adventure comic books.

His stories were constantly reproduced in Disney comics across the globe, after his retirement in 1966.Barks is also in all probability, what with Disney being the world's largest publisher of children's magazines and books.

Barks' approach to creating comics was to never write down to his audience. In the panel above, from 1944's Frozen Gold, 'penicillin' and 'feted' could easily have been 'medicine' and 'honoured,' but Barks didn't feel the need for condescension.

It was Bill Spicer who first discovered that Barks was the "good duck artist" and sent him his first fan letter. He was so used to anonymity, he thought it was a joke. Western had never told him that he regularly got fan mail and that there had even been a reader rebellion in 1950 when his work load forced him to skip several issues of his regular Comics and Stories strips. He never knew he was famous. Anonymous, but famous none the less.

After he was "discovered" in the early 60's, he began to reminisce and socialize with fans. He was awarded the first Shazam in the 'Best Humor Writer in Comic Books' category in 1971. He recreated many of his most famous comic covers in oil for fans in the 1970's until Disney revoked their permission in 1976. He attended a comic convention in Boston in 1976 and was the subject of a major retrospective in the 1977 Comic Book Price Guide.

Barks was an enthusiastic user of Esterbrook pens. He particularly used a Nº 356 model to ink and letter his Donald Duck comic-book pages. 

"... I used a #356 Esterbrook art and drafting pen which could do everything from thin 'fadeaways' to broad accented curve sweeps on foreground circles such as the ducks' forms. The trick of breaking in a new pen, I discovered, is to soak it for several minutes in the ink bottle. Then wipe off the ink and the pen's varnish. For some weird reason most new pens then start out flexible and free-flowing ..."

I grew up watching his cartoons and the art style and the sleek movements and the way the characters acted made them feel like they were alive and that someone made them with a heart and soul in mind.

Source links:
bio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Barks#Professional_artist
barks.htm