What kind of cel should I use?
animation is painted on acetate, .003" to .005" thick. Actual cel in japan is usually somewhat smaller than cel in the US. in the US,
cell is usually 12 or 16 field, 12 field being 10 ½ X 12 ½ inches. You can buy large sheets and rolls at most art
supply stores, but you will not find punched cel there. punched cell has holes in it for alignment. I find punched cel to be a
basic requirement of producing decent animation. I have standardized on 12 field punched cel. you can buy it online at chromacolour.com.
I have also had some success at painting on poster sized sheets, and Duralar. Some people online have reccomended transparancy
sheets for printers as a low cost cel.
What kind of paint should I use?
Well, this is a tough one. I really havn't found the perfect answer here yet. I have, however, tried a large number of different paints.
Liquitex Med Viscosity Acrylic works OK. It requires a large number of coats (equal to the Opacity Value on the bottle) for opacity,
and requires a long dry time. The colors tend to be muted in hue. The cost is low, relatively speaking. Holbein Artist Gouache works OK. It
dries to a slightly different color than it is when wet, but quickly. It requires fewer coats than the liquitex. Without the addition of the good Doctor
Ph. Martin's FLEX-OPAQUE, it cracks and crawls, but of course, you'd use that! It can be tinted by the addition of regular transparent
watercolors, If you plan to do watercolor backgrounds, as I do, It matches colors quite well. They are expensive as hell. If I didn't already use
them for regular watercolors I'd be hesitant to start. Holbein Acryla Gouche is cheaper, but not quite so intense. It goes on well, without the
use of FLEX-OPAQUE. This is what I'm using now. I intend to try Vinyl Acrylic in the near future, and also to actually buy real cel-paint,
The makeup of which I am ignorant. If someone knows, please email me, eh? One tantalizing thing I've tried is Ink, and this ties into the next section...
What kind of pen should I use for inking?
You must absoloutely pick a good pen for inking. Sharpie will not get you a good result. Some people swear by Staedtler's LUMOCOLOR
pens. (the permanent kind!) These might work OK, but they do not work with Acryla, which is what I am using. These are the pens that
Chromacolour will reccomend. I don't like them. Sakura's MicroPerm pens work well (again, the permanent kind). I like these a lot. However!
What I recommend is getting a KOH-I-NOOR Radiograph, and the 3071-F Ink for Acetate. This kicks ass. One of the things this allows, if
you are insane, is the mixing of inks to make those interior lines that you see on most japanese cels. I don't know how they do it, but it can
be duplicated by mixing inks. For white, KOH-I-NOOR's 3080-F works, as does
Dr Ph Martin's PEN-White (though it does not mix well with others), and the thick FLO-2, which I don't think is an ink at all, but can be mixed well with almost anything, and if thinned enough, used in a
pen. you can also tint this and use it to paint the cel directly, with very nice results. The KOH-I-NOOR 9066D series of inks works well for
colored ink. I've taken to mixing these inks up ahead of time, and loading several pens with the most common colors. Oh god, the expense! These pens cost 20 bucks apiece, and Ive got a dozen of the size I use for inking. Also, If you do this, mastering the art of pen maintenance is more than just a suggested activity. I should mention that I did not have any luck making interior lines with colored markers such as lumocolor's. the colors just don't
match. I've played with photo retouching inks too, and will elaborate at some future date.
What kind of brush should I use?
I have no opinion. OK, that's not true. I thought for sure I'd prefer small sable brushes (and I use them for watercolor)
, which I've seen recommended, but what I actually found working well for me was moderately small nylon brushes.
damned if I know why.