Eli5: how did animation work before computers?

Question

Did people literally just draw thousands of pictures that looked almost identical and then they stitched them together, like a flip book? How did they do it, and how was it even remotely cost-effective and worth the effort?

In: 40

Answer 1

You can literally search YouTube and find many examples of animation before computers! Yes they drew hundreds, if not thousands of scenes….each a little bit different. They were artists – and normally a studio would pay them a weekly salary which was a mere pittance (normally just enough to survive) for the art they produced. All the studios payed nearly the same, so the artists could either “grin and bear it” or change professions.