Abstract:

With animated children’s shows being one of the primary parts of the visual diet of children from preschool onward, animation as an art form has grown stronger regarding the possibility to enhance education for all ages and backgrounds. Several studies have shown that the use of animation supports the education of younger audiences, resulting in increased grades due to higher levels of understanding and learning. Research puts forth that due to the developments in the gaming industry, children today veer more towards computer games and desire to spend as much time as possible artificially living in virtual worlds where they have some control over their environments. However, parents’ aim to not have their children addicted to the glow of the screen and other potential risks from being online, limits their time spent playing games. Thus, children return to their home world to spend time playing with their toys and watching animated shows, often referred to as “cartoons”. While these shows become increasingly surrealistic in design and fast paced in order to match the stimulus provided by computer games, there still seems to be room for these shows to provide creative and advanced art and design and have more of an educational aspect to them that will benefit the background of the children viewing them, both at home and at school.

Today, there are many animated shows being produced that are aimed at both children and adults separately and together. A large part of these shows make use of computer animation applications such as Adobe After Effects, Adobe Animate (formerly Macromedia Flash) and Toon Boom Harmony amongst others, rather than the traditional method of hand drawn cel (celluloid) animation. For these types of applications to provide the rich effect of traditional animation, they have to be handled with an acute sense for design, painting, and movement. With this kind of attention, these animations may have the power to affect children’s sense of art and design and fill their visual vocabulary with quality samples to be drawn from when they mature into adults. When these types of animation become richer in style, moral messages and the educational value they may have may be much easily digested by children, playing a part in the creation of their characters and beliefs.

This study discusses the similarities and differences between the methods of traditional and contemporary animation used in the creation of animated children’s shows, the changes the messages relayed through said shows have gone over the years, and their effect on the development and education of the adults of tomorrow, namely, children.

Keywords:

Education, animation, children, design, television.