Join this community

A stick figure (also known as a stick man, stick woman, or stick person) is a very simple drawing of a human or other animal, in which the limbs (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (arms and legs) and torso (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) are represented using straight lines. The head (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is most often represented by a circle (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), which can be filled or unfilled. Details such as hands (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), feet (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and a neck (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) may be present or absent, and the head is sometimes embellished with details such as facial features (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) or hair (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Simpler stick figures often display disproportionate physical features and ambiguous emotion.[1] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

The stick figure is a universally recognizable symbol—likely one  of the most well-known in the world. Drawings of stick figures transcend  language, location and demographic, and the stick figure's roots can be  traced back to over 30,000 years ago. Stick figures are often drawn by children (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and their simplicity and versatility have led to their use in infographics (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), signage (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), animations (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), storyboards (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and many other kinds of visual media.

Following the advent of the World Wide Web (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), the stick figure saw prominent use in Flash animation (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

History

The stick figure long predates modern civilisation. Stick figures were a feature of prehistoric art (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and can be found in cave paintings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and petroglyphs (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).  Stick figure depictions of people, animals, and daily life have been  discovered in numerous sites all over the world, such as depictions of Mimi (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Australia (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) or the Indalo (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Spain.

As language began to develop, logographies (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (writing systems that use images to represent words or morphemes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)) came to use stick figures as glyphs.[citation needed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)] In Mandaean (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) manuscripts (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), uthras (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (celestial beings) were illustrated using stick figures.[2] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

In 1925, Austrian sociologist Otto Neurath (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) began work on what would become the International System of Typographic Picture Education (ISOTYPE (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)),  a system of conveying warnings, statistics, and general information  through standardized and easily understandable pictographs. Neurath made  significant use of stick figure designs to represent individuals and  statistics. In 1934, graphic designer Rudolf Modley (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) founded Pictorial Statistics Inc., and brought ISOTYPE to the United States (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in 1972.

The first international use of stick figures[dubious (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) – discuss (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)] dates back to the 1964 Summer Olympics (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Tokyo (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Pictograms created by Japanese designers Masaru Katsumi and Yoshiro Yamashita formed the basis of future pictograms.[vague (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)][3] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[4] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) In 1972, Otto "Otl" Aicher (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) designed round-ended, geometric, grid-based stick figures to be used in the signage (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), printed materials, and television broadcasts for the 1972 Summer Olympics (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Munich (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).[5] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[6] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

In 1974, the U.S. Department of Transportation (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) commissioned the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to develop the DOT pictograms (Öffnet in neuem Fenster),  34 (later 50) symbols for use at transportation hubs, public spaces,  large events, and other contexts in which there may be great linguistic  variation among those required to understand the signage. These  pictograms featured stick figures heavily, drawing on previous designs,  such as those made for the 1972 Summer Olympics. These symbols, or  symbols derived from them, are widely used throughout the world today.

In 2003, SymbolStix (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Symbols released featured Stick figures.

A stick figure at the Leo Petroglyph (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in the United States The AIGA (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) symbol for the drinking fountain A stick figure sign for cycling (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), by Otl Aicher (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), at the 1972 Munich Olympics (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) A video displaying the drawing of a stick man, a stick woman, and a stick dog, respectively Flag of Mali Federation (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (1959–1961) Stick figure in the Internet community[vague (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)] Restroom sign with stick figures

Internet culture

This section needs additional citations for verification (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Please help improve this article (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) by adding citations to reliable sources (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message (Öffnet in neuem Fenster))

This section may contain information not important or relevant (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to the article's subject. Please help improve this section (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). (March 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message (Öffnet in neuem Fenster))

Tom Fulp (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) began to produce 2D stick figure animations on his Amiga (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) computer for entertainment purposes in the early 1990s.[citation needed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)] Fulp began to work with Flash (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), a piece of software used to produce interactive games and animations, soon after its acquisition by Macromedia (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). In 1995, he created the website Newgrounds (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), which he used to host games he had created, such as Pico's School (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (1999).[7] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Prompted by the website's popularity, Fulp introduced a portal through  which users could submit Flash animations and games of their own in  2000.[8] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

"Xiao Xiao"

Main article: Xiao Xiao (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

On April 19, 2001, Chinese animator Zhu Zhiqiang (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) uploaded a 75-second-long video titled "Xiao Xiao (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)" on the newly formed Newgrounds (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) animation portal, inspired by Hong Kong martial arts films (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).[9] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) The series included stick figures fighting each other, and took on a variety of formats, including animation and video games.[10] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Other notable events (2001–2005) January 19, 2001: Animator Rob_D creates the popular series Cyanide & Happiness (Öffnet in neuem Fenster),  the first episode of Joe Zombie's debut with more cinematic, although  still very rudimentary, stickman animation. The original series lasted  three episodes before being rebooted with better graphics in October.[11] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[non-primary source needed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)] September 2005: The webcomic xkcd (Öffnet in neuem Fenster),  which uses stick figures in humorous contexts often relating to  science, philosophy, technology, coding and Internet culture, debuts. It  is written and drawn by Randall Munroe.[12] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[13] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Animator vs. Animation

Main article: Animator vs. Animation (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Created by animator, YouTuber, and artist Alan Becker (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), the first episode of Animator vs. Animation (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) premiered on Newgrounds on June 3, 2006,[14] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) using flash animation (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).  It showed a stick figure fighting to break out of the animation program  it was created in. The video has garnered almost 80 million views since  its publication.[15] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) As of December 2024, the series contains eleven main episodes and a  number of spin-offs, among them include the video "Animation vs. Minecraft (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)", which has gained over 305 million views as of March 2022.[citation needed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)] The Season 3 in the series of episodes features multiple styles of  stick figures, including a cave painting character, a stickman similar  to the one in Stickman vs. Wall, a figure seemingly from Pivot Animator,  and a figure based on those in DOT pictograms (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). In total, all of Alan Becker's animation videos have been watched over four and a half billion times,[citation needed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)] with the vast majority of them being centered around stick figure animation.

Pivot Animator

Main article: Pivot Animator (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Pivot Animator (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (formerly Pivot Stickfigure Animator) was created in 2005 by software  developer Peter Bone. The program was specifically geared towards stick  figure animation. Unlike Adobe Flash, which had grown into a highly  complex 2D animation environment, Pivot Animator, with its simplicity  allowed virtually anyone to create stick figure animations without  requiring any form of expertise. This brought the ability to create and  distribute quality stick animations to a much greater audience than  before, and alongside Flash, Pivot Animator soon became another central  tool for the countless Internet users who were caught up in the trend  after Animator vs. Animation (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)'s success.[citation needed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

This is Bob

At some point between June 2008 and April 2009, an Internet copypasta (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) began to appear featuring a Unicode stick figure named Bob. There was  an initial surge in popularity in April 2009, leading to a hostile  response from the YouTube community wherein the community would flag the  copypasta as spam. This spread of the copypasta would reach its peak in  search interest around June 2010 before declining gradually. However,  on September 24, 2013, YouTube announced that they would be integrating  the YouTube Comments section with Google+.[16] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[better source needed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)] In response, the YouTube community brought back the Bob copypasta in a new form, with Bob "building an army" against Google+.[17] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Other notable events December 24, 2008: Flipnote (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), another competitor to Adobe Flash and Pivot, is released. While not as popular as the aforementioned two,[citation needed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)] Flipnote does serve a role in the productions of stick figure media until the software's termination in 2018.[citation needed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)] November 18, 2010: The first episode of Dick Figures (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), an adult animated web series created by Ed Skudder (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Zack Keller (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), is published on YouTube by Mondo Media (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). The series finished with over 50 episodes and 250 million views.[18] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 2017–2021: The end of Flash

In July 2017, Adobe Systems, which had continued to support and develop both Flash Animator (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Flash Player for the past 12 years, announced that they would  officially end support for the program by the end of the decade.[19] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) This decision had far-reaching consequences as it entailed not only the  end of development on the software but also the official end of sites  that still supported Flash and the deactivation of virtually every  instance of Flash player via a built-in kill switch (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).[20] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) A number of safety issues and more versatile alternatives like HTML5 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) had rendered Flash obsolete.[21] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Unicode

You may need rendering support (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to display the uncommon Unicode (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) characters in this table correctly.

As of Unicode (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) version 13.0, there are five stick figure characters in the Symbols for Legacy Computing (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) block. These are in the codepoints U+1FBC5 to U+1FBC9.[22] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

OpenMoji (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) supports the five characters along with joining character sequences (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to give the other figures a dress.[23] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) For example, the sequence U+1FBC6 🯆 STICK FIGURE WITH ARMS RAISED, U+200D  ZERO WIDTH JOINER (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), U+1F457 👗 DRESS (🯆‍👗).

Unicode stick figure characters   Codepoint Name (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Character Notes   U+1FB (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)C5 STICK FIGURE 🯅  Not to be mistaken with U+1F6B9 🚹 MENS SYMBOL[22] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)   U+1FB (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)C6 STICK FIGURE WITH ARMS RAISED 🯆    U+1FB (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)C7 STICK FIGURE LEANING LEFT 🯇 Mirror images of each other.   U+1FB (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)C8 STICK FIGURE LEANING RIGHT 🯈   U+1FB (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)C9 STICK FIGURE WITH DRESS 🯉  Not to be mistaken with U+1F6BA 🚺 WOMENS SYMBOL[22] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

See also

1903 – In Arthur Conan Doyle (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)'s story The Adventure of the Dancing Men (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Sherlock Holmes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) deciphers messages encoded as sequences of stick figures. 1908 – Emile Cohl (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)'s pioneer animated film Fantasmagorie (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) features a stick figure as its main character. Tidyman (Keep Britain Tidy) (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Tadpole person (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Ampelmännchen (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

References

"Definition of stick figure | Dictionary.com" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). www.dictionary.com. Retrieved 2021-11-27. Nasoraia, Brikha H.S. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (2021). The Mandaean gnostic religion: worship practice and deep thought. New Delhi: Sterling. ISBN (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 978-81-950824-1-4 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). OCLC (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 1272858968 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). "Yoshiro Yamashita" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). luc.devroye.org. Retrieved 2021-11-23. "Visual Design". Official Report of the 1972 Olympic Games, volume 1 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Munich: Pro Sport. 1974. p. 272. OCLC (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 1076250303 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Retrieved June 21, 2020. "Otl Aicher pictograms and the 1972 Olympic Games" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Otl Aicher pictograms. Retrieved June 21, 2020. "Otl Aicher" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Architectuul. Retrieved June 21, 2020. Salter, Anastasia (2014). Flash : building the interactive web (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). John Murray. Cambridge, Massachusetts. ISBN (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 978-0-262-32577-6 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). OCLC (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 890375115 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). "Newgrounds Wiki - History" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). 2021-03-31. Archived from the original (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on 2021-03-31. Retrieved 2021-11-23. "Xiao Xiao" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Newgrounds.com. Retrieved 2021-11-23. "Games time forgot: Xiao Xiao" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Destructoid. 2009-02-25. Retrieved 2024-03-29. "Joe Zombie :: Episode 1" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Newgrounds.com. Retrieved 2024-01-06.

Chivers, Tom (November 6, 2009). "The 10 best webcomics, from Achewood to XKCD" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). The Telegraph (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Archived (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) from the original on November 19, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2022.

(Öffnet in neuem Fenster)