A Cel Animation Information Shrine

Here i collected a links(and a bit of information) about cel animation, how it's made, and alternatives to CEL for making a DIY animation. But first, i define the meaning for you to not leave this place to read about it on wikipedia.

The Cel Animation is one of the oldest (but effective) animation methods. Imagine that you have a transparent paper, you can draw an objects on it. People, Anything that can move, and the most important - You can put the transparent paper on transparent paper, and after this awesome technique, you can have a complex multiple layer(or multiplane) animation, or etc. The transparent sheet are called, a Cel.

Basically, you have a Background and a foregrounds(some cel animation have a lot of layers) to operate. For each frame, you need to set correct cel(s), photograph it(for example, an anime was commonly shot on 16mm film), and repeat it for a lot of frames. It's time consuming, but it's actually a way, how animation was made historically.

In modern age, you of course can make everything digital and this is indeed faster than making with Cels, but the Cel's has some unforgettable aesthetics and vibe.

However, it's possible to make a digital animation look like Cel, but not everyone can make the digital look like cel. This is my imho, i am not quite sure how exactly this done.

My IMHO about how to make animation look like old Cel animation

Emulate a Tape:

In the 20th century, the 16mm tape was popular form which was used for video production. My theory, that's the reason why a lot of 20th century animation was looking blurry. Adding a tape filter(or blur) may set the aesthetic to look just like the Cel animation.

Steal a Real Color:

Some artists are trying to make art look like the Cel animation are stealing the color from a real Cel(especially, the ones who trying to make style swaps of a characters stealing the color from show's still images). So, you can mix the real colors, and photograph it to use in digital. I don't know how much ethical is to steal the color from stills from shows, but real colors adds realism anyway.

Don't Forget about shadows!

The light's on cel animation is directly pointed above the cel sheet. Sometimes you can see the shadows of painted cel sheet(Not always, but sometimes you see it). Adding a small silhouette shadow behind it(a bit down and right) helps to feel more authentic.

So, with usage of this two rules, you can make something simillar to old animations.

Useful Links:

Basics for a modern age - andrewdude1's DIY Cel Animation Tutorial (link directly on YT)

Wikipedia Column about Cel Animation!

About Multiplane Cameras (YT too)