What is Claymation? A Closer Look at the Art of Stop-Motion Clay Animation In an era of lightning–fast CGI and hyper-realistic animation, there is something strangely endearing  about Claymation. From its imperfect motion to its hand-built characters, this stop motion animation method of storytelling brings a sense of nostalgia and a deeply artistic feel to the animation. But just what is Claymation, how does it work, and why does it still beguile audiences particularly  children’s movies and cartoons? Let‘s go on a friendly in-depth exploration of this wonderful and detail-oriented type of animation. In contrast to computerortraditional 2D animation Claymation is completely manual. Artists create each character by  hand and manipulate them from frame to frame, which makes it perhaps the most time consuming yet gratifying form of animation. A Brief History of Claymation  The history of Claymation begins in the early 20th century, with initial clay animations dating back as  far as the 1900s. The technique, however, came into widespread use between the 1970s and 1990s, with its application in television series, advertisements, and children’s films. Some of the most famous works in Claymation are: “Wallace & Gromit“ by Aardman Animations “Chicken Run“ “The Nightmare Before Christmas“ (while not strictly clay, utilized similar stop-motion methods) “ParaNorman“ and “Coraline“ by LAIKA…