- Animation is a series of images shown in quick succession, which we then perceive as moving. It is the creation of a sequence of images. These images can be drawn, painted, or produced by other artistic methods—that change over time to portray the illusion of motion. Before the invention of film, humans depicted motion in static art as far back as the 'Palaeolithic period'. In the 1st century, several devices successfully depicted motion in animated images.