What are Cels?
From EHOL
What are cels? "Cels" is a short form for celluoid, a clear plastic that are used
to paint images that are then used create the animation on the screen, but they
may also use a cel to make promotional items. Nowadays, cels are printed on a plastic
called acetate. The reason behind using the clear plastic is really very simple
- this allows multiple characters to be on the same scene without actually needing
to paint a whole new set of people with every new frame. Some of the earliest cartoons
did have the whole scene redrawn, characters and all. This made the scene look "jittery",
as each frame did not quite look like the last one. A typical episode of any series
would usually take thousands of cels to create all of the animation. In a series,
there are usually twenty-something people who draw this form of art.
Cels usually begin as a pencil sketch of the scene. They do not paint this right
away, as touch-ups are usually needed to make the character look as nice as possible.
While animating, they use peg holes (attached to the top of the cel) to make sure
that the animation does not "move" while the scene is being filmed. Sometimes, the
cel is not completely redrawn - rather the company uses a technique called limited
animation where they take only the essential parts of the animation that need
to be changed and they modify it as such. Some of the limited animation can range
from changing the whole head to just the shape of the mouth. It all depends on the
animation budget. This type of cel used is called multi-layered cels - cels
that overlay previous cels to create the animation.
Types of Drawings
There are several items that are used to create the animation of the cels. With
them, they create the whole scene with the animation.
Genga
Gengas are, as such, storyboards to show how the animation of the character will
play out. Gengas are rarely sold because they usually do not make it out the animation
room. They are guides to the people who are about to draw the Dougas.
Douga
Dougas are the drawings that will be placed onto a cel and then painted on. These
are the animation seen on the cels, though the actual dougas are harder to find
(even harder because AIC decided to not distribute the original drawings with the
cels).
Timecharts
Timecharts are indicators about how the cel(s) are going to be organized in the
scene. They may contain hints on what is changing in the scene, what to replace,
or even who made the cel(s) in the shot.
Key Cels
Key cels are aptly named because they are "important". They are used in the first,
last, and sometimes middle portions of the animation. The cels usually have an indicator
to show what frame they are. Cels usually have a letter and a number representative
to what they are. The letters (A, B, C, etc...) are usually indicative of the cel's
layering in the one particular frame. The numbers (1, 2, 3, etc...) are usually
indicative of the frame the cel represents. Some cels may use multi-layering to
animate the scene. The other frames, which are not done by the Key Animators are
made so that the animation looks smoother.
Multi-Layer Cels
Sometimes, the animators, rather than draw the cel right over again with a slight
modification, take a small portion of the cel and color it in to create the animation.
This type of animation is called limited animation, and it involves multi-layered
cels. These type of cels are little more than slight modifications to the previous
cel. This saves time and money, but if it is not done properly, it can also look
fake as well.
Backgrounds
Backgrounds are, simply, backdrops for the cels. These backgrounds are interesting
for one reason - usually they are not made by the animation team. Backgrounds can
be made from other companies for the animation team to use. The backgrounds are
rarer than cels for one reason - unlike cels, they are not produced in bulk - rather,
the backgrounds are used as needed.
