Which animator is linked with introducing cel animation as a major change in the animation process?

• A. Walt Disney
• B. Earl Hurd
• C. Ub Iwerks
• D. Winsor McCay

Answer: (B)

Cel animation introduces a new workflow by painting moving parts on transparent sheets that sit over a static background. This lets you redraw only the foreground elements for each frame while reusing the background, making production faster and more consistent. Earl Hurd, working with the Bray Studio in the 1910s, is linked to introducing this method and helping it become a standard practice in the industry. His adoption of the cel system transformed how animations were made, moving away from fully painting each frame on paper. Disney later popularized and refined cel animation with more complex production techniques, but the major change in the process itself came from Hurd’s introduction of the cel approach. Ub Iwerks and Winsor McCay were influential in other areas of early animation—speed, design, and storytelling—but they did not introduce this workflow.