''Gumbasia'' is a 3-minute animated short film released on September 2, 1953, the first

clay animation Claymation, sometimes called clay animation or plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine cl ...

produced by Art Clokey. He used the same technique to create the classic characters ''

Gumby Gumby and Pokey figures ''Gumby'' is an American cartoon character and associated media franchise created by Art Clokey. He is a blocky green humanoid made of clay. Gumby stars in two television series, '' Gumby: The Movie'', and other medi ...

'' and '' Davey and Goliath''.

Production

Clokey created ''Gumbasia'' while a student at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

under the direction of Slavko Vorkapić. In his father's garage, he worked the clay on a ping-pong table. The film is a surreal short of pulsating shapes and lumps of clay set to jazz music in a homage of

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

's '' Fantasia''. ''Gumbasia'' was created in a style Vorkapić taught, called Kinesthetic Film Principles and described as "massaging of the eye cells". Based on camera movements and stop-motion editing, this provides much of the look and feel of ''Gumby'' films.

References

External links

* *
Article at Gumbyworld.com

ArtClokey: the First 50 Years
{{Disney's Fantasia Claymation films Articles containing video clips 1953 animated short films Abstract animation Animated films without speech American animated short films 1950s stop-motion animated films 1950s American films 1950s American animated films Disney parodies