CLASSICAL ANIMATION

As long as anyone can remember, people have been fascinated by pictures that move. Classical Animation, also known as traditional animation evolved from the comic strip. Many comic strip cartoonist transitioned from this still art form into the new popular art form of animation. This new medium progressed by the 1920's with the dedication and spirit of early animator's.

How is it done? - A lot of the animation you see Saturday mornings, even some of the weekday syndicated animation, is done in very few frames, meaning there might only be 10 pictures for each second of animation. Many animation studios now use from 12 to 15 pictures for each second of animation. There are 24 frames to every second of film. Therefore, the smoothest animation is drawn on 'ones' meaning every single frame has a different drawing of the character in a different position. With additional drawings done by assistant animators, finished animation flows together. The way animators run preliminary tests on the character's motion is by flipping the pages through their fingers. This is called a "Pencil Test." Once the rough animation is done on paper, animators do this pencil test. This pinpoints what areas in the film are working and what areas may need some new animation. This is very helpful in maintaining quality control. Next, all those animation drawings get traced onto clear plastic sheets called cels and are then ready for painting. Each frame, or individual picture in a finished cartoon, is made up of several layers of characters and various other moving elements that are photographed in front of a background. All the final drawings and paintings of these moving elements have to be done on cels, clear plastic sheets, so that we can see through all the layers to the background. More and more animation studios are using broader palettes allowing many more colors to be used which makes the final product more lifelike.