Animation Archives


	12-field	An industry standard cel (and drawing paper) size approximately 10" x 12", depending on the studio and the year.

	16-field	An industry standard cel (and drawing paper) size approximately 12" x 16", depending on the studio and the year.

	Acetate	Cellulose acetate; more stable than cellulose nitrate.

	Acrylic/Vinyl Paint	A nonrewetable watercolor more durable than gum-based; currently the industry standard.

	Animation Drawing	The original production drawings by the animators from which cels are traced or Xeroxed.

	Animator	An artist who draws characters in motion.

	Art Props/Studio	Denotes a studio-prepared background, either hand-painted or other, created specifically for enhancement of an individual cel for marketing or promotional purposes.

	Assistant Animator	An artist who works in direct contact with the animator.

	Background	A painting or other artwork, usually in watercolor, acrylic, oil, sometimes in airbrush or tempura on paper, over which a series of cels is photographed to make up a scene in an animated film.

	Background Sketch	A pencil sketch from which the background is made.

	Balance	Proper distribution of weight in a drawn figure or object.

	Book Illustration	Original art created for reproduction in a book.

	Breakdown Artist	An artist who breaks down the action of a scene and follows the assistant animator.

	Bridge Animation	Animation used to bridge ot to tie together shorter segments into a longer film.

	Callouts	Color notes found on animation drawings as guidelines for the Ink and Paint Department.

	Cel	Short for "celluloid"; a small sheet of clear plastic containing the images that are placed over a background to be photographed in succession to form the action of a completed film.

	Cel Setup	A combination of two or more cel levels or a cel with background or other elements, whether matching or nonmatching.

	Character Design	Preproduction sketches, drawings, and cels depicting preliminary character studies.

	Cinemascope	A widescreen film format.

	Clean-up Drawing	Clean-ups or finished drawings are necessary for tracing onto the cels and are usually done by the assistant animator.

	Color Model	A cel created by the Ink and Paint Department for accurate color-referencing during production.

	Concept Art	Includes all preproduction artwork created before actual animation is begun.

	Courvoisier	A cel setuo marketed by Courvoisier's original galleries from 1937 to 1946.

	Courvoisier Label	1" x 2" labels with the handwritten name of the film, or copyright and framing information, and later the common 3" x 5" Courvoisier label which includes the handwritten name of the film.

	Courvoisier Presentation	The presentation backgrounds were of many different types, including simple airbrushed settings, elabprate watercolor paintings, paper withpolka dots or stars, and wood veneer with shadow effects.

	Cracking	Appears as a single line or series of lines or tears in the paint, generally accompanied by a degree of separation.

	Custom-prepared	Denotes a custom background created by a private individual to enhance a particular cel.

	Cut-out	The character has been cut from the cel, often around the outline of the image, then usually attached to a backing cel or directly to a background.

	Director	Supervisor of timing, animation, sound, music, and general processing of a picture.

	Disneyland Art Corner	Cels and cel setups sold at the Disneyland Art Corner Store or other Disneyland locations from 1955 to the early 1970s.

	Disney Gold Art Corner Label	Refers to cels sold at Disneyland from 1955 to the earky 1970s, which included a gold foil sticker approximately 2.5" x 4.25" on the back of the mat.

	Disneyland Lithographic	A color reproduction of procuction backgrounds from several Disney films of the period used to enhance the cel image in a Disneyland Art Corner setup.

Dye Transfer	High-quality photographic reproduction of key scenes from Disney movies,

Effects Drawing	Any drawing in a scene that is animated by the Effects Department.

Exposure Sheet	A form used as a guide by the animators, assistants, inkers, and cameramen to establish the proper relationship of one drawing to another.

Extreme Drawing	A drawing indicating the beginning and end extreme points of a character's motion.

Field	The area photographed by the camera.

Frame	An individual picture on the film.

Full Animation	A type of animation using one cel for every one or two frames of film.

Gouache	Refers to either a style of painting or a different type of opaque watercolor not usable on acetate.

Gum-based Paint	A rewetable watercolor that consisted of three main components: filler, pigment, and binder.

Hand-inked	Prior to the late 1950s, animation drawings were traced onto cels by hand with quill pen or brush using ink of one or more colors.

Held Cel	An inked and painted celluloid which is used when animation ceases motion.

Hold	A stop of action four or more times in length.

Hookup	A drawing between two different form of animation procedures, such as the last drawing between action and a cutout or held image, or the drawing or drawings connectingaction on one cel to the action on two cels.

Inbetweener	The artist who finishes the needed number of drawings in between those created by the assistant animator and breakdown man.

Inker	Person who traces with different colored inks the outlines from draings to blank cels.

Ink Wear	Refers to missing, broken, or smeared ink lines, generally only applicable to hand-inking.

Inspirational/Concept Sketch	Created by different artists in a wide variety of media to suggest the mood, look, color styling, or overall atmosphere of a film.

Lamination	Sandwiching a cel between two sheets of plastic as an effort toward preservation.

Layout Drawing	Refers either to a detailed pencil drawing used as a reference for the background painter or a rough pencil drawing showing camera moves and positions of characters.

Limited Animation	A shortcut from full animation which reduces the amount of drawings and cels needed to give an illustration of movement.

Limited Edition	A nonproduction cel created specifically for the collector market, produced in fixed, limited quantities, with each cel in the dition numbered and typically featuring a Studio seal and set against a color print backgound.

Line Overlay	A painting technique for creating backgrounds where general shapes and shading are painted in flat colors on the production background and defined by a detail line drawing done directly onto an overlay cel.

Line Test	A packaging term used by Disney to denote a Xerographic reproduction on acetate of a layout, or background line overlay.

Matching Production Background	Applicable only to a cel setup; signifying that the background corresponds the cel as it appears in the film.

Matching Production Cel	Two or more matching cel levels, or cel with a background that corresponds to the cel image as it appears in the film.

Model	Drawing made as a guide forthe establishment of color and form and detail of a character.

Model Sheets	A grouping of characters or a single character in a variety of poses and expressions used as a reference guide for animators to ensure consistency of a drawing during a production.

Model Statue or Maquette	A three-dimensional statue or figurine, produced in the studio in very limited numbers as a reference to assist the animators in visualizing what a character will look like form varying perspectives.

Nitrate	Cellulose nitrate; used during 1920 - 1960.

Object Size	Height by width dimensions of the object if painting, drawing, or cel, the size of the paper or cel stock.

Original Mockup	Consists of a large posterboard with the original model drawings cutted out and pasted on, plus production numbers and notes.

Overlay	An inanimate prop used as a foreground element of action in a scene.

Paint Loss	A portion of paint, from a chip to entire sections, has cracked and separatedfrom the cel and is completely missing.

Paint Mottling	A portion or area of paint that appears to exhibit a color shift from the original color.

Painter	A person who paints the opaque color on the cels.

Pan	Short for "panoramic" and refers to a wide sweeping camera shot accomplished by moving art material under the camera to give the effect of the camera following alongside the action.

Peg Holes	The system of registration points found on animation drawings, cels, backgrounds, and other materials that fit over the pegs.

Pegs	The registration points upon which drawings, cels, backgrounds, and other materials are held in proper position on the drawing boards and on the camera.

Pencil Test	A test film made from drawings rather than cels, affording an opportunity to view how a film or scene is turning out.

Photostats/Prints	Copies of the original mockup on 11" x 14" photographic paper or paper prints, made for distribution to the animators.

Preliminary	A background created during production, but not actually used in the final version of the film.

Production Background	Any background created for the production of an animated film.

Production Cel	Any cel (or other artwork) created for the production of a film.

Publication	A background taken from a book or other publication and used like a hand background to enhance a cel.

Publicity/Promotional	A nonproduction cel used for promotional purposes.

Registered	Refers to a portion of a character on a cel that appears to have been cut off because it has been drawn to align with a background, another character, effects, or other elements.

Reproduction	A color or black and white copy of a production, custom, or patterned background printed by means of photograph, Xerox, and lithograph.

Rotoscoping	A method for the animation of live action by tracing actual film onto drawing paper on a frame by frame basis.

Rough Drawing	Drawing made with only that detail which is essential to the presentation of the action.

Scene	A portion of a picture depicting one action or a series of action using one background.

Sealant	Lacquer, nail polish, or similar material applied to the back of the cel, intended to prevent paint from cracking, or to hold already cracked, loose paint in place.

Separation	Refers to separation of paint from the back of a cel, with or without cracking.

Sequence	A series of scenes depicting the continuation of one action or series of actions with the same character or characters.

Sequence Director	A member on the staff of directors who handles an episode or episodes of an animated film.

Serigraph or Sericel	A printing process made by silkscreening an image onto acetate material.

Sliding Cel/Sliding Cel Paper	Long celluloid or paper with two or more sets of peg holes.

Stick-ons	Gummed reinforcements for worn peg holes.

Story/Storyboard	Drawings created in a series and used to describe the story and action, or other conceptual aspect of an animated film during the developmental stage.

Studio Setup	Cel and background, matching or nonmatching setup at the studio.

Timing	The time used to present an action in terms of feet and frames, or the spacing from one drawing to another in actual distance.

Timer's Chart	An animator's scale indicating the rate of movementfor the sequence.

Title Card	The held image at the beginning of a cartoon depicting the title of the production, often with a character in full color or silhouette.

Underlay	An inanimate prop used as a lower cel element of action in a scene.

WDP Label and Seal	Refers to cels marketed by Disney beginning in 1973 in a new format where the full cels were laminated in the hopes of preserving the paint and the top cel is embossed with a 1.5" diameter seal stating "Original Hand-Painted Movie Film Cel - Walt Disney Productions (or WDC)", now under the Walt Disney Company name.

Xerographic-line	In the late 1950s, Disney Studios developed a Xerography process to transfer the animator's drawings directly onto the cel and for this reason, they appear "sketchier" than hand-inked cels.

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