[greenmode]

hey everyone,

im going to college this year and i noticed a Cel animation class in my schedules(even though im doing photography and film(?)). although i have not much background experience in Cel animation(not including the drawings i used to do in corner of books as a kid) i like to make a good impression the first year.

i want to know if anyone here is familiar to Hayao Miyazaki's work.. he's the creator of some animated cartoons including Mononoke Hime, Porco Rosso, and Kiki's delivery service which i think are brilliant..

now, refering to his work i want to ask some question to anyone who know something about Cel animation:

whats the best way to go about doing this?would i use regular paper or is there a specific one used for these kind of work? is this done also in computer? which is better, digital or just pen and paper?

*how do i mix a still background with an animated Cel character?* whats the FPS(sheets per second) used in most animations?

can you recommend me a web site relating to Cel animation?

[Laemtao]

Best way? Its still all pretty much hand drawn and and then scanned to degital form and then digitally painted.

For film its 24 frames per second. For video its 30 frames per second. Though if u are taking a Cel animation class. that would mean u probably required to do everything by hand. Drawing them all by hand and then traced on to a peace of treated acetate. The Background is painted seperate on canvas or anything u like.. but some teachers say painting on a cold press board is fine since is only a class project/assignment.

I dont think your would have time to do 24 frames per sec kind of animation for a class. Its too laborious and time consuming. It would probably be 12 frames per sec and u expose each frame twice.

Of course if it isnt a class with emphasis on cel animation, you could probably do it with Flash. If u need tips on or advice on Flash.. ask Synj .. he is awesome at it.

Of course there are professinal 2D animation software outthere that the studios use but they are really expensive. Programmes like Softimage Toons, Animo, Tic Tac Toon are some of the ones i have seen demoed.

Though i would believe these programs allow u to draw straight on the digital canvas, but alot of animators still prefer the pen and paper to draw the key frames. Some software offer smart tweening but its still an imperfect science i gather. I think Studios still employ alot of "tweeners" (artists that fill in the gaps of each key frames done by the lead animators.) Ones the animated characters are done they are pretty much scanned and painted digitally.

I've seen some documentary shots of studio ghibli's production. They still use the traditional method to paint. That means cel paints on acetate. Really amazing. And oh.. yah.. My Fav is still "My neighbour Totoro" Miyazaki is a Genius.


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mo

[greenmode]

hey, thanks alot for your help!...