Google Pays Tribute to Winsor McCay

I am so happy that Google is paying tribute to one of my favorite artists, Winsor McCay, creator of Little Nemo in Slumberland and Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend.

McCay also invented animation.

He was the one who figured out that if movies were just a series of still pictures, he could draw a series of still pictures and make a movie out of them.  He personally drew thousands of pictures for his first animated movie, about Gertie the Dinosaur.

I was enchanted by the short films inspired by McCay Roger Ebert showed us at Ebertfest this year.  This one is by Thomas Edison, circa 1904.

And I am proud to be a Kickstarter supporter of animator Bill Plympton’s new film about McCay.