Welcome to the Early Animation Wiki! We are a collaborative place to share information on the early days of animation.
Find biographical information on animators, directors, background artists, composers voice actors, and more. Pictured: Tex Avery.
Watch examples of early animation, complete with links to information about the cartoons, their makers, and their studios.
Histories of the studios responsible for producing and distributing early animation.
Find information on early animators, animation studios, artistic movements, influences, and more in books, journal and magazine articles, and links to websites, blogs, and collections.
Kick off Len Lye’s birth month by experiencing one of his first direct animations, selected by Alla Gadassik.
(Digital image from material preserved by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision).
Learn more about the pioneer of direct animation.
Explore the current exhibition at the Len Lye Centre, Direct Body Empathy—Sensing Sound. Organized to coincide with the gallery’s ten-year anniversary (July 25th, 2025), the exhibition includes a newly commissioned work by artist Mia Salcedo, A Score of the Len Lye Centre—a sonic composition informed by the architecture of the building and Len Lye’s work.
Explore Zelluloid—a catalogue for an exhibition on cameraless film, including a section on Len Lye’s pioneering direct animation filmmaking. The bilingual catalogue is in German and English.