Alan Becker
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Alan Becker (born May 18, 1989) is an American online animator, YouTube personality and artist, best known for creating the Animator vs. Animation web series, its shorts (both Animator vs. Animation Shorts[a] and Actual Shorts) and its spin-offs, these include: Animation vs. Minecraft (and its shorts, Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts[b]), Animation vs. YouTube (featuring many well-known YouTubers as well as early YouTube viral videos), Animation vs. League of Legends, Animation vs. Pokémon, Animation vs. Super Mario Bros and Animation vs. Arcade Games. on both Newgrounds and YouTube.[2]
| Alan Becker | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | May 18, 1989 Dublin, Ohio, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||
| Education | Columbus College of Art and Design | ||||||||||||
| Occupation | |||||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Kaori Becker | ||||||||||||
| Website | alanbecker | ||||||||||||
| YouTube information | |||||||||||||
| Also known as | noogai89, noogai, noogai3 | ||||||||||||
| Channel |
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| Years active | 2006–present | ||||||||||||
| Genre | |||||||||||||
| Subscribers | 20.8 million[1] | ||||||||||||
| Total views | 4.49 billion[1] | ||||||||||||
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Last updated: 10 Dec 2022 | |||||||||||||
Early life and education
Becker was born in Dublin, Ohio. He graduated from Scioto High School in 2007, and attended Columbus College of Art and Design, graduating in 2013.[3]
Career
When he was growing up, Becker's family owned one computer that was shared between him and his siblings. It was through this computer that he began experimenting with pixel art, beginning in 2001. Two of Becker's favorite animated short films were the 1953 Looney Tunes short Duck Amuck and the 1959 adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon, both of which contained animated characters using their surroundings to draw things out, which would become major inspirations for his later works.[4] Eventually becoming homeschooled in 2005, Becker received his first laptop, an Acer TravelMate, which he used to begin animating using Macromedia Flash (later Adobe Flash Professional and currently Adobe Animate); his first official animation, titled Pink Army, was posted on Newgrounds in 2006, where it did well.
On June 3, 2006, at the age of 17, Becker posted the hit animation Animator vs. Animation on Newgrounds, where it quickly went viral and led to it being re-uploaded on various media websites. According to Becker, an unnamed company offered him $75 for "exclusive rights" to "Animator vs Animation", but he decided against it, heeding the advice of Steven Lerner, owner of Albino Blacksheep. Later, he discovered that his animation had been uploaded to the notorious entertainment website eBaum's World without permission (for which the site was infamous of doing to many other video creators). After Steven Lerner used this as evidence in a legal battle against eBaum's World, Becker accepted a $250 payment for use of the animation. However, following a change of heart, he returned the money and had the animation removed.[4]
Atom Films persuaded and funded Becker to create a sequel after the success of his first animation, and so he created Animator vs. Animation II. In 2007, then 14-year-old Charles Yeh offered to create an online game based on the animation, and after looking at his impressive work, Becker agreed to collaborate with him.[5] Soon, after many requests for a third animation, Animator vs. Animation III was finally released in 2011 and Becker intended to make it the last in the series, stating that he "wanted to make sure that no sequel could come out of that" by "ending the video with the Blue Screen of Death as if the computer itself was dead" and the animation series couldn't go any further. Despite this, he has stated that his animation teacher Tom Richner had inspired him to continue on YouTube after his internships to Pixar were turned down two years in a row. His fourth animation, Animator vs. Animation IV, received over $11,000 in crowdfunding on Kickstarter.[6]
Becker has also created works related to the video game Minecraft, such as the video Animation vs. Minecraft[7] and a server based on the Studio Ghibli film My Neighbor Totoro,[8] which was noted by Smithsonian magazine that Becker had paid tribute to Studio Ghibli's vision in another one of its films, Spirited Away, by rebuilding an explorable version of the haunted bathhouse from the movie.[9] Becker also created a series of "how-to" videos regarding animation based on the "12 basic principles of animation" which was uploaded on his secondary YouTube channel "Alan Becker Tutorials".[10]
On November 21, 2017, Becker announced that he was working with Insanity Games to create a card game based on his animations.[11] It was released in May 2018.[12][13]
Starting on November 18, 2017, Becker started making new short Minecraft animations, called the AvM Shorts, due to the fact that Animation vs. Minecraft was starting to receive more attention, beating Animator vs. Animation as the most-viewed video on his channel.[14] On June 30, 2018, at 09:44:52 EST, Animation vs. Minecraft reached 100 million views on YouTube, along with a video showing its spin-off, Animation vs. League of Legends.[15]
On October 29, 2019, Becker joined #TeamTrees and created a fundraising video titled "Blue's New Superpower"; he also donated $5,100 to the organization.[16]
On December 5, 2020, Becker released Animator vs. Animation V, a collection of his Animator vs. Animation Shorts episodes.[17]
On December 11, 2021, Becker joined #TeamSeas, a continuation of #TeamTrees and created a fundraising video titled "Animation vs Trash".
Awards
In 2007, Animator vs. Animation II won a "People's Choice" Webby Award.[18]
Filmography
| Year | Video | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Pink Army | Alan Becker's first published animation to Newgrounds. |
| Animator vs. Animation | ||
| 2007 | Animator vs. Animation II | Won a "People's Choice" Webby Award |
| 2011 | Animator vs. Animation III | |
| 2014 | Animator vs. Animation IV | |
| 2015 | Animation vs. Minecraft | |
| 2017 | Animation vs. YouTube | |
| Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts | Latest Video: The King - Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts Ep 30 | |
| 2018 | Animation vs. League of Legends | |
| 2019 | Animation vs. Pokémon | |
| Animation vs. Super Mario Bros | ||
| 2020 | Animator vs. Animation V | |
| 2021 | Animation vs. Arcade Games | |
| 2022 | Actual Shorts |
Notes
References
- ^ a b "About Alan Becker". YouTube.
- ^ Schechner, Sam (June 22, 2007). "The Joy of Sticks". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
- ^ Noblit, Jenniferddd. "Becker shooting for 4th 'Animator vs. Animation' installment". Dublin Villager.
- ^ a b Becker, Alan (June 3, 2016). "The Story of Animator vs. Animation – 10 Year Anniversary".
- ^ "Animator vs. Animation Game". ALAN BECKER. November 20, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ "This Animated Short Film Makes A Stick Figure Come To Life, And It's Utterly Brilliant". The Huffington Post UK. October 3, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
- ^ Pandher, Gurmeet Singh (December 22, 2015). . www.thebitbag.com. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
- ^ Barder, Ollie (September 12, 2016). "'My Neighbor Totoro' Has Been Recreated In 'Minecraft'". Forbes. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
- ^ Lewis, Danny. "Minecraft Players Are Recreating Scenes From Studio Ghibli Movies". Smithsonian Magazine.
- ^ Allan, Patrick (March 8, 2015). "Learn How to Animate like a Disney Animator with This Video Course". Lifehacker. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
- ^ Alan Becker (November 21, 2017), Animator vs. Animation – The Card Game!!, retrieved February 21, 2018
- ^ "Animator vs Animation, The Official Card Game". Kickstarter. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
- ^ "Participate :: Animator vs Animation, The Official Card Game by iN'Sanity Games?". insanitygames.pledgemanager.com. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Becker, Alan (November 18, 2017). . ALAN BECKER. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Alan Becker (June 30, 2018), 100 MILLION VIEWS, retrieved February 27, 2019
- ^ Alan Becker (October 29, 2019), Blue's New Superpower – #TeamTrees, retrieved November 1, 2019
- ^ "Animator vs. Animation V (official) – YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- ^ "Animator vs Animation II | The Webby Awards". Retrieved February 21, 2018.
External links
- Official website
- Alan Becker at IMDb
- YouTube channel
- Newgrounds account
- Alan Becker's Course (works with Bloop Animation)