Plastic was invented in the late 19th century, but not until after World War II did advances in chemical technology make it malleable and affordable enough to meet the demands of toy manufacturers. The first plastic toys seemed crude—some toy companies combined plastic heads or hands with cloth or wooden bodies, while others made attempts at translating new concepts into tangible plastic toys. Soon plastic toys of all kinds—Mickey Mouse figures, moon men, ray guns, model kits, and Astro Boy […]

Continue Reading about Art + Toys = Art-Toys? Published on:
April 17, 2018

The history of black dolls is complicated. Post-Civil War minstrel shows often influenced the black dolls produced in the late 1800s, such as promotional dolls of Rastus advertising Cream of Wheat or the paper dolls of Aunt Jemima and her family printed inside pancake mix boxes. Many African American families could only afford these stereotypical black dolls. R. H. Boyd imported black porcelain dolls from European dollmakers through his National Negro Doll Company in 1911, but went out of business […]

Continue Reading about Learn, Baby, Learn: Shindana Toys Published on:
February 1, 2018

Historians debate the origins of paper airplanes. Early attempts at constructing flying machines fascinated children and adults alike. The success of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1903 fostered renewed hope of powered flight and no doubt contributed to the purported invention, in 1909, of the paper airplane. More than 100 years later, on November 9, 2017, The Strong announced that the paper airplane, along with the game Clue and the Wiffle Ball, had joined the elite of the […]

Continue Reading about The Paper Airplane Soars into the National Toy Hall of Fame Published on:
December 8, 2017

On November 9, 2017, Wiffle Ball took its place of honor in the National Toy Hall of Fame, joining 64 other classic toys and games. Introduced in 1953, the Wiffle Ball represents the optimism of the postwar era and the romanticism of life in the suburbs. Part of the Wiffle Ball’s charm is that it remains relatively unchanged since its introduction. The orange, black, and white Wiffle Ball box today features nearly the same typeface and instructions on how to […]

Continue Reading about Wiffle Ball Joins the National Toy Hall of Fame Line-up Published on:
November 17, 2017

The introduction of Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI)—the application of computer graphics to create images in media—in the 1990s moved many illustrators away from traditional frame-by-frame, two-dimensional animation techniques. John Lasseter demonstrated the possibilities of CGI when he directed Toy Story, the first feature-length computer-animated film, for Pixar in 1995. Shortly after the release of Toy Story, the medium took off. CGI proved more efficient and created a new aesthetic. In the past few years, however, cel animation or hand-drawn animation techniques […]

Continue Reading about Hand-Drawn Animation: From Cartoons to Video Games Published on:
July 20, 2015

Video game design often involves sophisticated software and complex coding that results in a visual and auditory experience for the user. Several designers today incorporate tactical play into video game design. Plasticine, a non-drying, non-toxic, malleable clay, developed by art teacher William Harbutt in 1897, has become an experimental tool of the trade.

Filmmakers were the first to use plasticine to sculpt and mold objects for their animated films. The style, referred to as claymation, requires the animator to arrange the […]

Continue Reading about Claymation: From the Movie Screen to the Video Game Screen Published on:
April 30, 2015

The limits of computing hardware of the 1980s required game designers to use pixel art, a 2D graphical style that is enjoying a revival today. Games like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, and The Legend of Zelda consisted of 2D images with low resolutions and limited color palettes that many designers and gamers considered pioneering. The introduction of consoles like the Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64 in the 1990s enabled game designers to render 3D images that made earlier […]

Continue Reading about Pixel Art: Nostalgia or Visual Style? Published on:
March 9, 2015

I recently listened to independent researcher Paul J. Hale’s Disney Story Origins podcast. In each episode, Hale seeks to understand the historical facts or origins of folklores, myths, and tales adapted by Disney for the big screen. Hale’s podcast presents amusing factoids and comparisons. In Disney’s Mulan, for example, the heroine has a token sidekick, Mushu, the fiery, feisty dragon. In Chinese folkore, Mulan does not have a sidekick. After her Uncle Mu Shu refuses to go to war, Mulan […]

Continue Reading about Never Alone: Protecting Cultural Heritage through Interactive Play Published on:
January 5, 2015

Homer and Cicero wrote about incidents involving sea robbers that threatened the trading routes of Ancient Greece and Rome more than 2,000 years ago. Since then, each era has encountered new brands of pirates. Popular culture today glorifies the picture of a band of outlaws who are guided by the wind and their own set of rules—consider swashbuckler Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. In recent years, many video game designers adapt tales of the sea to […]

Continue Reading about Pirates Sail on the Video Game Screen Published on:
September 25, 2014