1. Rankin/Bass – That nostalgic stop-motion look like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Cozy and janky.
2. Don Bluth – Lavish hand-drawn fantasy. Lush lighting, expressive eyes, dramatic weight.
3. Fleischer Studios – 1930s rubber-hose style, like Betty Boop and Popeye. Surreal, bouncy, jazz-age energy.
4. Pixar – Clean, subtle facial animation, warm lighting, and impeccable shot composition.
5. Toei Animation (Classic Era) – Foundation of mainstream anime. Big eyes, clean lines, iconic nostalgia.
6. Cow and Chicken / Cartoon Network Gross-Out – Elastic, grotesque, hyper-exaggerated. Ugly-cute characters, zoom-ins on feet and meat, lowbrow chaos.
7. Max Fleischer’s Superman – Retro-futurist noir from the ’40s, bold shadows and heroic lighting.
8. Sylvain Chomet – French surrealist like The Triplets of Belleville. Slender, elongated, moody weirdness.