Are Animation Frames Really Hand-Painted?
Question: Are Animation Frames Really Hand-Painted?
The entire concept of traditional 2D cel animation revolves around the idea that each frame is meticulously created by hand, from rough pencil sketches through inking, cel transfer, and painting. But are all frames in 2D animations really painted by hand?
Answer:
Once, the easy answer to that would have been "yes." With the exception of animators who choose to capture the process on paper rather than cels, often animating in a deliberately sketchy style with color done in markers or color pencils, all animation that counted as traditional cel animation had the color painted in by hand.
This process involved copying final line art from paper to acetate sheets, then painting in the color on the backs of the sheets using acrylic paint before layering the individual frames against the hand-painted background and capturing them on camera. It's a highly time-consuming and delicate process, especially in more detailed animations that use highlights and shadows rather than plain color bocks.
Now, with more sophisticated methods of animation and animation production, the answer isn't quite so simple. There are numerous methods for applying color to 2D animation. While some studios still use the cel and paint process, others have gone digital. This can involve drawing the animation by hand on paper, then scanning it into the computer, cleaning it up in a graphics program, and painting in the color digitally. This can still be a little time-consuming, mainly when it comes to creating clean line art based on the scanned drawings, and importing and layering those drawings in an animation program prior to individually coloring each one using digital painting tools.
It's still more convenient, especially when it comes to sequencing frames on a timeline and rendering the end result against the background layer without the need for an external camera.
The process can also be entirely digital: creating and rendering the animation from scratch on the computer screen, without it ever seeing paper. This includes the color stage; color is painted in or flood-filled into the appropriate areas, using solids, gradients, or even detailed brush strokes. In the case of animations that use tweens, which allow you to manipulate objects across the timeline without redrawing each frame, animators don't even have to paint each frame. Instead they paint in a single object, and that object moves through the timeline, animated according to the animator's directions, without having to be redrawn or reanimated. This is one reason computer animation is so popular; it saves a great deal of time and duplicated effort.
One method of digital 2D animation requires no frame painting at all - at least, not the way we're accustomed to thinking of painting. 3D animation can be used to simulate 2D animation, using special rendering methods and plugins. These animations use maps, which are a slightly different animal from cell shading bust still involve applying color to your animated shapes. The special rendering process used in these types of animations can create output that's almost indistinguishable from cel-shaded 2D animation, but doesn't involve a drop of paint. These techniques often fall under the spectrum of 2.5D animation, though 2.5D animation can also involve special effects applied to cel-shaded 2D animation to create a 3D effect.
While some studios and traditionalists still hand-paint cels, and there's certainly a beautiful effect that can't quite be duplicated digitally, more and more we're leaving behind what we consider truly "traditional" animation to take up more digital methods. So while hand-painted animation cels may be around for some time longer, they're no longer the default - or even the standard.
The entire concept of traditional 2D cel animation revolves around the idea that each frame is meticulously created by hand, from rough pencil sketches through inking, cel transfer, and painting. But are all frames in 2D animations really painted by hand?
Answer:
Once, the easy answer to that would have been "yes." With the exception of animators who choose to capture the process on paper rather than cels, often animating in a deliberately sketchy style with color done in markers or color pencils, all animation that counted as traditional cel animation had the color painted in by hand.
This process involved copying final line art from paper to acetate sheets, then painting in the color on the backs of the sheets using acrylic paint before layering the individual frames against the hand-painted background and capturing them on camera. It's a highly time-consuming and delicate process, especially in more detailed animations that use highlights and shadows rather than plain color bocks.
Now, with more sophisticated methods of animation and animation production, the answer isn't quite so simple. There are numerous methods for applying color to 2D animation. While some studios still use the cel and paint process, others have gone digital. This can involve drawing the animation by hand on paper, then scanning it into the computer, cleaning it up in a graphics program, and painting in the color digitally. This can still be a little time-consuming, mainly when it comes to creating clean line art based on the scanned drawings, and importing and layering those drawings in an animation program prior to individually coloring each one using digital painting tools.
It's still more convenient, especially when it comes to sequencing frames on a timeline and rendering the end result against the background layer without the need for an external camera.
The process can also be entirely digital: creating and rendering the animation from scratch on the computer screen, without it ever seeing paper. This includes the color stage; color is painted in or flood-filled into the appropriate areas, using solids, gradients, or even detailed brush strokes. In the case of animations that use tweens, which allow you to manipulate objects across the timeline without redrawing each frame, animators don't even have to paint each frame. Instead they paint in a single object, and that object moves through the timeline, animated according to the animator's directions, without having to be redrawn or reanimated. This is one reason computer animation is so popular; it saves a great deal of time and duplicated effort.
One method of digital 2D animation requires no frame painting at all - at least, not the way we're accustomed to thinking of painting. 3D animation can be used to simulate 2D animation, using special rendering methods and plugins. These animations use maps, which are a slightly different animal from cell shading bust still involve applying color to your animated shapes. The special rendering process used in these types of animations can create output that's almost indistinguishable from cel-shaded 2D animation, but doesn't involve a drop of paint. These techniques often fall under the spectrum of 2.5D animation, though 2.5D animation can also involve special effects applied to cel-shaded 2D animation to create a 3D effect.
While some studios and traditionalists still hand-paint cels, and there's certainly a beautiful effect that can't quite be duplicated digitally, more and more we're leaving behind what we consider truly "traditional" animation to take up more digital methods. So while hand-painted animation cels may be around for some time longer, they're no longer the default - or even the standard.
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