Everyone has played with an Etch a Sketch at some point in their lives. If you have, you'll know it's pretty hard to draw on one. This clever animation here though tells a fascinating story of its inventor - André Cassagnes.

The animation was put together by Christoph Niemann, and it tells the tale of how Cassagnes came up with the toy while he was working as an electrician and randomly became the most famous kite maker in France before he passed away back in January this year.

Check it out after the jump. [NYT]