Zenas Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip Little Nemo (1905–14; 1924–26) and the animated film Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). For contractual reasons, he worked under the pen name Silas on the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend.
His signature strip Little Nemo in Slumberland is a fantasy strip in an Art Nouveau style about a young boy and his adventurous dreams. The strip demonstrated McCay's strong graphic sense and mastery of color and linear perspective, particularly in detailed architecture and cityscapes. He textured his editorial cartoons with copious fine hatching, and made color a central element.
McCay was also an early animation pioneer; between 1911 and 1921 he self-financed and animated ten films, some of which survive only as fragments. He created the episode How a Mosquito Operates in 1912. Gertie the Dinosaur debuted in 1914 and was an interactive routine in which McCay appeared to give orders to a trained dinosaur.
McCay's original artwork has been poorly preserved. A large collection that survived him was destroyed in a fire in the late 1930s and the family sold off some of the artwork when they were in need of cash. Disney paid tribute to McCay in 1955 on an episode of "The Story of Animated Drawing".
(source: wikipedia)