How Were Animated Movies Made Before Computers

Many movie makers today use computer animation to create stories and features-length films. But back when feature length animated movies were the norm, there was a way to make them that is quite different than using computers. That method is called cel-animation or drawn animation!

In this article we will take a look at some of the tools used for drawing characters in old anime and manga cartoons and how they are adapted for use in cel-animated films now.

There will be no examples of Flash or HTML animations here, but instead simple drawings done with a regular pencil and paper. By learning these art techniques you can start animating your own short videos or even creating whole projects!

If you’re already familiar with drawing then you can begin trying out your hand at cel-animation right away! Keep reading to learn more about it though so you know what makes up an average cartoon character.

What Is Cel Animation?

Cel-animation is the term given to describe the way early filmmakers made full length feature length animated movies. This includes things like The Lion King or Up!.

These older style filmmakers would draw their storyboards by hand first before moving onto other production stages such as writing scripts, finding voice actors, recording voices, etc.

Use cels

For many years, artists used drawing as their main tool to create animated films. These drawings would be stacked up onto what is called a cel, or individual element. An artist would draw all of these cel images by hand, layer upon layer.

These layers are then cut into small pieces or cels that will make up the film. Some whole cel pictures might even be re-designed so they can be place in different positions to give the scene more depth.

These cels must also be organized and stored properly for when the movie comes back around for filming!

After creating your first few scenes, the next step is taking all of those cels and organizing them on a computer. This way you can do things like resize, rotate, and organize each one separately. You get a lot more flexibility than with drawn cels!

At this stage, there are two main ways to go about animating your film. The most common one is using pre-made animation programs such as Adobe Flash or Toonz (known professionally as Poser).

However, another option is designing your own animations directly on the computer. This is much harder because you have to know how to use Photoshop or other similar software very well, but it allows for much higher quality work.

Transfer images to the computer

For many years, animators had to transfer their pictures or drawings onto your computer using something called a film scanner. A camera that uses light to see things is an optical sensor, and scanners use this same principle to create still photos or videos.

You put objects with bright colors in front of the sensor, and it reproduces the color and shape of those items.

By doing this for lots of different items, the scanner creates a database of all these colors and shapes. Once this has been done, you can take any item you want and add it into the scan! This is how a lot of cartoon logos are made.

There are two types of scanners: hand-held and fixed. Hand-held ones must be recharged after every use, which can get expensive if you’re making a large amount of content. Fixed ones cost more per use but have longer battery life.

It is very important to test out your scanner’s settings before starting production so that you know what changes affect what. Some examples of settings include exposure time, f-stop, and ISO (the sensitivity of the camera).

Model objects in 3D

A long time ago, before there were computers, animators created scenes or shots by using model objects to represent characters, props, and backgrounds. These animators would then pose, position, and/or re-scale these objects until they achieved their goal, which is how we get examples of things like Pixar movies where every frame is totally unique.

In fact, many believe that this was one of the main reasons why animated films have been so successful over the past hundred years - not because of great story lines or clever dialogue, but due to the way each individual scene is put together.

Computer technology has made it possible to create incredible looking animations quickly, but it has also given us the ability to produce repeated footage easily. By replacing human artists with computer programs, we lose some of the qualities that make animation special.

These days, a lot of people assume that all cartoons look the same because almost everyone uses a similar style of drawing or graphics software.

Render images

For many years, animators created stories by drawing pictures of scenes and re-ordering them into time and space. They would then add sound effects and music to make it feel like you were there for the scene!

This process is called “rendering” because it requires generating an image from a set of pre-existing elements (in this case, drawings).

Modern movie making uses computers to do most of the work in regards to rendering, but back when films were still mostly hand drawn, artists had to take their own equipment or use someone else’s.

But even though they didn’t have computer software to help generate those beautiful moving pictures, they were clever enough to create your favorite movies. And some are really incredible at doing so!

We can tell that people paid a lot of attention to detail because sometimes these animated shorts seem too realistic.

Color correct

One of the most important things about animated films is their use of color. A lot of people assume that since cartoons are not live action movies, there is no emphasis on portraying real life colors. This assumption is false!

Just look at some of the greatest classics in the genre- like The Jungle Book or The Lion King! They’re both well known for their lush environments that have never felt computer generated.

That’s because animators pay close attention to all of the little details in order to create believable scenes. For example, if a scene takes place outside, then it will probably contain plants and vegetation just as it would in nature.

These plants and other elements will be painted using natural shades of green, blue, and red. These colors can easily be mixed together and matched depending on what area of the plant they’re being used in.

Furthermore, when drawing animals and humans, artists will match their skin tone with those around them. If someone has darker hair or lighter skin than another person, then they will likely use this information when painting their characters.

Finish animation

One of the biggest barriers to entry for animators is drawing. It’s such a integral part of what they do, but almost no one is gifted with artistic talent that highly. Luckily, there are some pretty easy ways to get your drawing skills up to speed!

In fact, one of the most basic forms of drawing you will ever need in your career can be learned in high school art classes! You know, those lessons where you draw a circle or a square box? Or how about doing a quick portrait?

There are many great resources available free online and through your local community college or university. Once you have drawn enough pictures to make yourself comfortable, then start looking into more advanced courses like digital painting or cartooning!

Another way to learn drawing is by practicing it.

Composite images in post-production

Many of the first animated features were not fully computerized, instead being created through what is known as the composite style. This term comes from filmmaking where artists would take two or more separate pictures and blend them together to make one continuous image.

The people doing this for early cartoons were mostly nature photographers who had to combine several individual shots into one picture. For example, if there was a close up of an animal eating leaves, they would have to find that leaf elsewhere and photograph it separately before combining both photos into one seamless scene.

These natural photographs would then be placed next to each other and mixed together using photoshop or another graphics software package.

This concept was adapted to animation and now can be done virtually any time via computers. However, back when these films were made it was very expensive and time consuming to achieve such results. Therefore, most directors did not have access to it unless paid extra for it.

Make live-action animations using a combination of all of the above

Many movies that feature talking animals, monsters, or other fantastical characters are done completely through the use of animation. These films typically go beyond just having animated scenes, however; they contain some form of special effects as well.

Special effect styles include:

Flashbacks - A scene is made to appear like it takes place in the past by inserting images or videos from earlier times into the movie.

- A scene is made to appear like it takes place in the past by inserting images or videos from earlier times into the movie. Flash forwards - A scene is made to look like it happens in the future by inserting pictures or video clips of what will happen later onto the screen.

- A scene is made to look like it happens in the future by inserting pictures or video clips of what will happen later onto the screen. Time slip - Like flash forwards, only instead of looking ahead, this one looks backwards in time.

- Like flash forwards, only instead of looking forward, this one looks backwards in time. Temporal distortion - This uses technology to simulate how your eye can’t tell the difference between something happening now and something happening long ago.

These types of special effects are not new, but many people don’t know who designed them or how! The person in charge of these designs usually gets credit for their work, though.