Cel Animation

Cel animation uses cels, or colloids, which are transparent sheets of paper which characters and objects are drawn or painted on. The lead animator would first draw out key frames on scenes and then those scenes are cleaned up by an assistant. It is then these sheets are handed off to an in-betweener who draws the movement for the action in-between to make the look animation look smooth. There often can be multiple cels placed on top of the other so that the whole frame doesn’t have to be redrawn each time, such as the eyes or mouth in order to have a character talk or blink in a scene without redrawing the entire person each time.

After the frames are drawn a pencil test will be done to make sure that the animation looks smooth once that is approved it will be passed off to a cleanup artist that traces sketches and makes sure the lineart is consistence frame to frame.  Afterward it is given to the inker and then it is passed on to the paid department to be colored, if color is used, greyscale animation was also used.

Backgrounds are often done by other artists and because they were often seen over longer periods of time they were often more detailed then the characters themselves.

After the scenes are done they are taken to a camera person who photographs each frame with the matching background in the instructions given to them. It is then sent to a lab to make the film be put onto video. The Processed film, vocal tracks, and music/soundtracks are done at all done at the same time and it is made sure that they are syncrhonized with the film so that nothing looks “off.”