Coach Ben
Coach Ben
Saturday, November 3, 2012
The History of Cel Animation
In the old way of making animation, cels were the acetate sheets onto which drawings were inked and painted, before they were photographed. Computer-produced animation has made cels obsolete and unnecessary, but it's still fun to go back and take a look at the way things used to be done!
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Animan, thanks for posting this informative clip showing how "Old School" anime was done. When animation cells were drawn on acetate, what type of paint was used to color in the cells? Acetate being so slippery and sleek, did they use a chalky tempera or something?
ReplyDeleteWonderful question! I'm not sure what the first studios working in black and white did, but I know that they traced the characters onto cels with black india ink, so it's safe to assume that ink stuck to the cels. To get a number of grey tones, they may have mixed black and white inks, and may have used these to paint the backs of the cels.
DeleteWhen Disney first made "Flowers and Trees", it was the first cartoon in Technicolor. The first colored paints tried by Disney on that film caused problems. After the paint dried, it would tend to chip or flake off, or cause the cels to shrivel! I read that they mixed arabic gum into the paint to make it adhere to the cels.
A few Disney cels used in the old feature films can sometimes be found on Ebay. Oftentimes, they are in need of repair, because the paint has started to flake off.
Nowadays, some independent cartoonists draw their own cels and to paint them, they use acrylics. The problem with acrylics is that some colors aren't very opaque. Yellow is the worst--you have to give the yellow areas three coats with acrylics, otherwise, the background will show through.
I once experimented, to see if I could come up with a good cel paint formula. The conditions were:
1) Tempera (poster paint) is good, because it's opaque. But it tends to "bead up" when painted on acetate, and it has low chroma, and under many cel layers, the color really greys down. Tempera also flakes or pops off cels when it's dry.
2) Acrylic is pretty much the opposite. Some colors have low opacity, but the chroma is relatively high. It sticks to the cel, pretty permanently.
So, I mixed the two together, 1:1. It worked just fine!
My advice? The most economical thing to do is to mix tempera with acrylic--it's the closest thing to professional animation paint I know of.
There are places that still sell professional animation paints.
Here's one:
http://www.cartooncolor.com/cel-vinyl-paints/
Many thanks, Animan for the excellent tips. For fun, I want to try your paint formula on some cels. Toon Boom is very enjoyable to me, but old cel animation captivates me for some reason, as well.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I bought a kids' projector (made in the 1960's, I think) at a yard sale. Included in the set were some cartoon films, like 'George of the Jungle', 'Flintstones', etc. Holding the actual film, and loading it in the tiny projector is so tactile to me. Almost, like an art history class, maybe?
Cel drawing might give me some new insights into how to mesh new modern art direction with a retro technique. What would be the most affordable camera I could use to shoot the cels with?
That fascination you're feeling about the mechanical aspects of making animation is a feeling I know well! It's something all us guys feel, and is probably why men have always been more into cartoons than women.
DeleteI know the fascination of touching and working with cels and film, and that it's irresistible!
I think super 8 is the best size of film to work with. With 16mm, you get a large picture area, but you also have to hassle with negatives, etc. The old old 8mm had a small picture area, but that format is all but dead and buried by now.
With so many people making the switch from film to video or computers, there should be a lot of good, used cameras and projectors out there. Obviously, if you're going to photograph animation, your camera will need the ability to photograph single frames. Not all cameras have this feature, so it's good to make sure before buying.
If you're also getting a Super 8 movie projector, you might want a variable speed control. If you plan to use a video camera to record the finished film, a variable speed feature on the projector can help you find a speed where the picture doesn't flicker.
Thank you, thank you, Animan! I will set off on my search for a super 8 camera with those features. I'll try eBay, first. Another question I have is about voice actors. Is it possible to post an ad in an actors' magazine like Variety or online to a site actors frequent, and find voice actors who will read my lines into an mp3 file?
ReplyDeleteOr is there a soundtrack/sound effect website where I can piece together vocal expressions, etc.? My problem is that my own voice does not have a the range I might need for character voices.
Gee, I have no idea about where to find voice actors, sorry. Of course, you could always put an ad for voice actors in the comments section of Animan's World, and see what happens. It would be good if you made a special e-mail address that I can post, so that these people can find you :-)
DeleteThat's sounds like a cool idea. When I get to the point of laying voice tracks, I will definitely get together with you about posting on your blog for actors. The recent tips you gave me helped me a great deal. I want you to know how much I appreciate you and your work.
DeleteI'm happy I can be of service :-)
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