Drawn-on-film animation

The first and best known practitioners of drawn-on-film animation include Len Lye, Norman McLaren, Stan Brakhage, then later artists including Steven Woloshen, Richard R. Reeves, Scott Fitzpatrick and Baerbel Neubauer, who produced numerous animated films using these methods.

Norman McLaren wrote a short illustrated introduction "How to make animated movies without a camera" which was originally published by UNESCO in 1949.

Helen Hill published a collection called Recipes for Disaster that includes a wide range of approaches to creating images directly on film.

The frame borders may be observed or completely ignored, found footage may be included, any existing image might be distorted by mechanical or chemical means.

The artists places objects onto the fresh stock and then uses a small light beam to create the images.