Classical Animation

Classical (or traditional animation) typically represents animation that starts out by being hand-drawn on paper. Throughout the 20th century, classical animation was the driving force used to create cartoons — with traditional Disney cartoons and animated movies being a prime example. It is a very time-consuming task to create traditional animation due to the accuracy that’s required. An animator draws various characters, layouts, and backgrounds on paper. Each illustration in the animation is somewhat different than the previous one and the one following it, which creates an illusion of movement when the whole story was put onto film. Since all the animation has been presented and made on paper, it was then duplicated (or retraced) onto translucent acetate sheets called cels. They were extremely important to classical animation as it allowed an animator to draw each and every element in the film on several layers of paper at once. This allowed every element to have its individual layer and could be animated independently. This method of animation allowed it to be combined with live-action video by inserting the cels on top of the film.

WHY CLASSICAL ANIMATION WORK

As you may be aware, classical animation involved no digital instruments at all. Modern technology has changed this process greatly, as it has become fully digital. Traditional cel animation technique became out-of-date but is used on rare occasions. Today, classical animation works in other techniques: if the animation is hand-drawn, then it is scanned and colored digitally via computer software like Harmony. Contemporary animation has become a delicate mixture of traditional and digital techniques. But even today, animation has a lot of features taken from its 20th century roots. In 1906, a series of humorous faces started and marked the first completely animated film, which was made with the use of stop-motion photography to create action. So, if you want to create an authentic and original animated movie, you should look at classical animation and use it to your own advantage.

Explainer Animation Production for Design Agency

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