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Cel animation is the name given to the most well-known of traditional methods. If you’re of a particular age, there’s a good chance you saw a lot of vintage cartoons growing up, but you may have observed that contemporary animated films don’t look like older ones used to.
Although you may put this down to nostalgia, it also has to do with the fact that modern animated films no longer use traditional animation methods. Cel animation has lost popularity despite being a mainstay of the animation industry for many years, however, many people still have a sweet place for this traditional form.
What precisely is cel animation, and how is it different from contemporary filmmaking? And will there ever be a comeback of cel animation? Find out by reading on.
What is Cel animation?
Traditional animation, classical animation, hand-drawn animation, and 2D animation are other names for cel animation. In this method of animation, 2D designs are manually created on sheets of translucent plastic. Cels are the name for these plastic sheets (from the celluloid material they are made of).
Each cel in cel animation is created after a laborious planning process that entails using the storyboard and the original script as guides. On the cel, the animators draw two different kinds of images.
The character’s outline and the exact action are depicted on one side of the cel, and the other side is colored with paint (usually acrylic). The drawings’ fill colors were selected with the character and scene in mind.
The History and Evolution of Cel Animation
It is widely believed that Earl Hurd and John Bray, who patented the technique in 1914, are responsible for the creation of cel animation. Although there were earlier animation processes, they were less reliable and unsuited to larger, more intricate productions.
Cel animation, which was created later, would revolutionize the animated film business and eventually become the norm during the period that came to be known as the Golden Age of Animation. Animation to previously unheard-of heights during this time, both in shorts and features, almost all of which used cel animation.
Despite being widely used, cel animation had its problems. For starters, each film still required hundreds of skilled animators to hand-draw thousands of frames. Additionally, these tens of thousands of frames needed to be stored and kept organized.
Most importantly, the original substance used to make cels was also very combustible, which might be a hazard in a film studio with its intense lighting. Despite the fact that these problems were solvable, there was still much space for development.
Modern computers’ introduction forever altered animation, just like they did so many other industries. Computers not only made 2D animation simpler and more effective, but they also made 3D animation possible in entirely new ways. The days of the outdated method were numbered as computers became more widely available and had obvious advantages over cel animation.
The first totally computer-generated 2D feature films were made in the early 1990s, and Pixar’s immensely successful Toy Story solidified 3D animation as a major rival to traditional animation in 1995. For many years, cel animation coexisted with 3D animation, but over time, it has all but vanished from commercial filmmaking.
Despite this, cel animation is still occasionally used today. One of the reasons why cel animation is still popular today is because it gave rise to some of the most adored and charming cartoon characters ever. Furthermore, it established the foundations of 2D animation, which are still employed today, albeit with digital tools.
With 3D methods like cel-shaded animation and retro animation like those found in works like Cuphead, the traditional appearance of cel animation is still being imitated. Thousands of cels used for animated films have finally become popular collector’s goods.
Fans of classic movies can really purchase a cel from one of their favorite movies today, and these cels have sold for thousands of dollars at auction, demonstrating the enduring popularity of this aesthetic.
Advantages of cel animation
- Rather than using typical 2D animation, mimics hand-drawn characters and environments in a more affordable method.
- An unusual art form that frequently amazes or wows spectators since it appears to be 2D but moves in 3D
- When done effectively, cel shading exhibits the warmth and charm of a hand-crafted and tactile artwork.
How Does Cel Animation Work?
The Cel Animation Process
A big team is required for the labor-intensive, expensive process of cel animation.
A storyboard artist is given a script and told to work their magic. A lead animator will make preliminary sketches of each important posture and record the timing on a dope sheet once the timing of each shot has been finalized. Everyone, from the director to the colorist, needs the dope sheet.
It establishes the time requirements for movements and uniformizes the order of the cels. Junior animators create the in-betweens to ease the transition between poses once the key poses have been sketched out and the dope sheet is finished.
The pencil sketches are given to an inker once every movement in the shot has been given the go-ahead. Black ink is used by the inker to transfer the linework on a clear sheet of thin plastic (a cel).
After the ink has dried, the film is given to a “colorist” who uses cel paint to shade the linework. Each cel has a crisp appearance with precise, even linework because of the application of the color on the opposite side to the ink.
More artists are hard at work constructing the backdrops for each scene as each cel is being inked and colored.
These are frequently more intricate and beautifully colored because they are displayed on the screen for a longer period of time than a single drawing. The background drawing will be large enough to accommodate any character movement inside the scene.
A photography crew receives all the finished cels and backdrops after they are all finished. The group takes a photo of each layered frame after layering the illustrations in accordance with the dope sheet.
The final animation is produced by playing these frames in order.
Materials Used In Cel Animation
The development of plastic and cel animation are closely related. Cel animation is impossible without tiny sheets of malleable, translucent, and colorless plastic.
Cellulose nitrate was the name of the first kind of plastic that was utilized. It was a substance that was far from ideal. It was flammable and susceptible to deterioration with time; after a short time, it would become yellow, wrinkle, and release dangerous vapors.
The transition to cellulose acetate was an attempt by the industry to extend the life of the cels. Much more durable than its predecessor, the acetate gradually deteriorated. It generated a strong vinegar smell because of its chemical makeup, which is known as vinegar syndrome.
The paint, sometimes referred to as “cel paint” by animators, was a thick, opaque acrylic or gauche. The paint deteriorated over time at the same rate as the plastic cellulose.
Nowadays, many cels exhibit “paint lifting,” a condition where the paint begins to peel off the plastic and fracture. Disney has dedicated a staggering amount of time and resources to maintaining its original cels.
They work to stop the deterioration of their original cels by maintaining them in a special facility at the ideal humidity and temperature.
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Cel animation and computer animation
Hand-drawn vs computer designed
These two forms of animation differ mostly in how they are produced. Animated cels are sheets of celluloid that were hand-drawn for cel animation. Software and computers are mostly used to generate digital animation.
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Algorithm vs artistry
The Disney animators that worked on movies like Snow White were mostly painters. Pens, pencils, and watercolors served as their tools. On the other hand, CGI developers use 3D graphics and algorithms. The creativity of CGI artists is enormous, but it’s different from the traditional hand-drawn method, which was more akin to fine art.
Huge teams vs smaller teams
Traditional animation and animated cels require a lot of resources when making a film. Productions would require a large number of animators if each frame were produced by hand. CGI movies might be made by production companies with a lot fewer personnel and in a lot less time.
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The Transition To Digital
Surprisingly, Oliver and Company, a 1988 Disney production, was the last movie to use only traditional cel animation.
A sequence from their following movie, The Little Mermaid (1989), utilized the new CAPS coloring method (Computer Animation Production System). Pixar and Disney formed CAPS as a collaborative venture to digitize cel animation and reduce animation costs without compromising quality. The technology allowed animators’ sketches to be digitally loaded by artists, who then used computers to ink and color the drawings.
CAPS significantly accelerated the animation studios’ workflow, and they persisted in calling for greater technological developments. They even started incorporating 3D animation techniques into their 2D films as time went on.
Today, tools like ToonBoom are used to finish the majority of 2D animation projects. Some companies and animators prefer to hand-draw their sketches, while others have completely abandoned the use of pens and paper.
Cel animation is currently only used prominently by students researching historical methods. You can see a laborious reproduction of a scene from Snow White in this video, which highlights the drawbacks of cel animation and explains why it took so long.
Is 2D On The Way Out?
Disney transitioned to entirely 3D animation for its films after a few 2D feature films received poor reviews. The last 2D picture they made was Winnie the Pooh in 2011 with no intentions to generate any 2D films in the future. Although 2D animation has lost its appeal in Western feature films, Japan continues to produce 2D animated movies that win awards.
Many iconic 2D animated films, including Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, were produced by Studio Ghibli. These movies are becoming more and more well-liked, and they don’t have any intentions to go 3D.
Despite no longer being Disney’s “golden child,” 2D animation is still very much a part of the television and feature picture industries. Many children’s cartoons have a strong 2D animation foundation and have no ambitions to transition to the 3D medium either. Although 2D animation is still prospering, cel animation has faded into obscurity.
Regardless of the techniques employed, artists from all over the world concur that the skill and passion required to create animation will endure forever.
What It Takes To Become A Cel Animator
Similar to animators of today, those working in the cel period were highly experienced artists who frequently through extensive training to produce the best possible work. Of course, having good animation abilities is the first and most crucial requirement for being a cel animator.
Additionally, you must have the ability to precisely duplicate characters hundreds of times in paint. To fully utilize the medium, a cel animator must also have a thorough awareness of its strengths and weaknesses. In a this type of animation, for instance, sceneries and even specific characters could be composed of several layers.
The ability to draw in such a way that everything lines up properly, in the end, is essential for animators.
F.A.Q.s
What was the most recent Disney cel animation?
Winnie the Pooh, which was released in 2011, was Disney’s final hand-drawn this type of animation. The film marked the conclusion of a period in which 2D animation predominated popular culture.
This period began in 1937 with the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The Lion King (1994) and Sleeping Beauty (1959) are two further hand-drawn Disney classics (1994). The Winnie the Pooh stories by AA Milne date back to the very beginning of Disney, which is appropriate.
Do people still utilize cel animation today?
Cel animation, which is most frequently associated with Disney at the time of Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians, is very much a product of 20th-century Hollywood. However, some aficionados continue to employ the methods today, and a generation of animators and movie buffs have come to regard them as legendary. Today’s practitioners of this type of animation frequently combine it with cutting-edge digital techniques.
What is the purpose of cel animation?
The cels are placed on a white background to provide the impression that the character is moving, and the sequence is then captured by experts using an animation camera. To demonstrate movement and create the impression that the characters and scenes are playing out like a movie, these cels are played at a quicker speed.
How much time is required to produce a cel animation?
An animation that lasts 60 to 90 seconds typically takes 8 to 10 weeks to complete. The amount of time required greatly relies on the type of animation you want to utilize; for instance, basic motion graphics animations will go considerably more quickly than complicated frame-by-frame animations.
Conclusion
Cel animation is still practiced by some amateur animators, but major companies are unlikely to pick it back up due to the style’s exorbitant expenses. But who can say? There may still be hope for a revival of this type of animation in a world where vinyl record sales are on the rise and retro-themed video games are all the rage!
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