Alan Becker

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.[2]

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.[3] 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. Becker posted his YouTube channel the 24th of July that same year.

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.[2] 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.[3] Later, he discovered that his animation had been uploaded to the notorious entertainment website eBaum's World without permission. 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 claimed to have returned the money and had the animation removed.[3] On July 24, 2006 Alan Becker started publishing videos on YouTube, and in October 2023, his YouTube channel reached 24.7 million subscribers and gained a total of 5.9 billion video views.

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.[4]

Becker continued releasing animations, animation tutorials, and further spin-offs of the Animator vs. Animation series.[2] Becker announced a Kickstarter for a card game based on his animations; it was released in May 2018.[5]

In 2007, Animator vs. Animation II won a "People's Choice" Webby Award.[2][6]

• Official website