Topics
Guide topics
The guide is divided into four topics, based on the questions families most often have when cartoons come up. Each section brings together different kinds of material: a step-by-step article, short answers, collections and terms. If you are not sure where to start, pick the topic that interests you or your child right now: some want to understand how it is done, others want to try filming themselves.
Animation is a craft, a history and a family pastime all at once. It is easier to understand if you look at each side in turn.
Selection criteria: the question comes up in ordinary families, not only among professional animators; it can be answered without retelling specific films, giving scores or rankings; facts and dates come from the law and verified sources, and where exact data is lacking we speak in general terms and invent nothing.
Animation techniques
How hand-drawn animation differs from puppet, clay and cut-out animation, how computer 2D and 3D work, and why movement on screen looks smooth.
- Glossary of techniques
Hand-drawn, puppet, clay, cut-out, computer 2D and 3D: short definitions.
- Answers on animation technique
Why pictures move, how many frames there are per second and what animating "on twos" means.
- A first look at animation
A reading path for those just getting started.
Animation at home
How to make a simple stop-motion film on a phone: modelling clay, light, a makeshift tripod, an app and patience.
- A clay cartoon on a phone
A step-by-step article with hypothetical examples, common mistakes and a checklist.
- Answers on homemade cartoons
How many shots you need, what phone you need, how not to move the camera and what to do about sound.
- Make your own cartoon
A collection of materials for a weekend family project.
Children and screens
How to read age labels, choose a cartoon by length and theme, watch together and talk about what you saw.
- Five steps to choosing a cartoon
A short sequence on the home page: label, length, story, watching together, talking afterwards.
- Answers on children and cartoons
What the Russian 0+ and 6+ labels mean, how to handle scary scenes and where to find legal sources.
- Watching together with your child
A collection on watching together and talking it over.
History and professions
How animation began, the stages it went through and who works on a cartoon, from the screenwriter to the editor.
- Jobs in animation
Director, production designer, animator, inbetweener, sound designer: who does what.
- New publications
A feed of the guide's materials with preparation dates.
- Archive
All the guide's materials by date and topic.
Related sections
Sources
- Federal Law No. 436-FZ “On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development”
- Encyclopaedic sources on the history of animation
- ASIFA — International Animated Film Association
Information is current as of the date it was prepared. Age rating rules, platform terms and app features change, so check the latest details in the primary sources: the text of the law, the platform itself and the description of the specific film.