Cels vs. Digital Animation

[HourglassIndigo]

This a topic I've seen lots of people discussing on various different threads. I thought it'd be cool if there was one thread based on that topic. What do you guys think? Cels or Digital Animation? As much as I love the cels, Digital Animation is more efficent and has a lot more potential. Plus there aren't many animated series using cels anymore, because digital animation is more convenient and cels are extremley tedious.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Personally, so long as it's traditional 2D animation, I'm still more fond of that than I am most fully CG things. CG has become too much of a crutch in some ways for both animation and live action endeavors - for live action, too many things are being done that way when, if they'd just do something practical, it'd look much better; and for animation it's just an over-saturation of too many CG shows compared to the older style nowadays, at least for me.

As far as cels versus digital specifically though, I'm not entirely sure I have a preference at the end of the day. I do miss cel animation, and whenever I watch something that's old enough to have used it, it tends to look beautiful to me - but I understand what a painstaking process it was to get something that way. And in the current entertainment culture of 'gimme gimme more now faster gimme', it's little wonder they had to come up with faster ways of getting things done. So while I'd love to see newer cel stuff, I'm more or less fine just popping in older stuff whenever I want that kind of fix.

If anything, it saddens me when a lot of younger people will dismiss something just because it looks old. I mean, I'm guilty of that to a certain degree - there are few live action older films that I can deal with, mostly because of the acting styles of the time - but just because something is old doesn't mean it can't still be entertaining too.

[Wezenheim]

As much as I love and miss cels, there are many digitally animated anime that look spectacular and it all boils down to the staff and their talent/dedication. Super could look much better than it does with the right planning and staff. I'm just glad that we aren't going full CG (looking at you, Berserk...)

To answer the question, I dont have a preference. Both have strengths and weaknesses.

[Ddd]

Cel animation from who? From uchiyama or from ebisawa or maybe I don't know nakatsuru. One isn't inherently Better than the other and it depends on who's doing it, There's bad cel animation and good cel animation as well as good digital animation and horrible digital animation.

[LuckyCat]

I'm pretty sure digital animation is based on hand-drawn characters and storyboards like traditional animation, making it almost as tedious. If the studio makes a conscious effort, it can certainly emulate the feel of older shows. If the question is whether we miss the old watercolor or oil paints you'll find in classic Disney films, yes! However, part of what makes traditional animation great is that it's a product of its time, which is not something you can create without time passing.

[Ajay]

Don't really care as long as it's good animation.

Though someone like Makoto Shinkai, who's a pioneer of digital animation, is certainly capable of pushing me towards digital. But again, the same could be said of Isao Takahata and traditional animation.

Really doesn't matter. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, really. ^{Fuck CGI anime, though.}

[ekrolo2]

Same answer for any time I get asked do I prefer practical effects or CGI for movies, I don't care. If someone wants to make an anime on a quantum super computer with digital animation, fine. If they want to scribble it on a dirty napkin with a pen planted firmly up the artists ass, fine. As long as the end result looks visually good, I won't care about the means by which it got like that.

[LordCrumb]

Attack on Titan had some glorious digital animation, which is why I can't say digital animation is horrible all the time... but it is horrible if done without any care or attention. It can be so distractedly bad some times I usually try and avoid it if I can.

traditional animation is my preferred style, which is why I tend to lean towards 80s/90s animation series rather than this modern stuff. When it comes to Dragon Ball Super, about 80% of it has looked like crap, and that is because its done digitally, no doubt about it. It has such lazy work done on it and it really shows.

[Lord Beerus]

Don't really care as long as it's good animation.

A thousand times yes to this. I could care less if it's Cel animation or Digital animation, I just want it look aesthetically appealing. That's all it really boils down to.

[DragonBalllKaiHD]

Both have pros and cons, but with today's technology they could animate what they couldn't 20 years ago. Digital animation isn't bad, if they get it down right. The biggest problem is their production is terrible these days. The animation would look attractive if they had planned ahead of time, as well as less TV series produced at once. Less shows means more talented animators employed. They all had that back then. The digital animation has nothing to do with bad animation. Look at Naruto Shippuden.

In other words, planning + timing + less shows + scheduling = good animation.

[FlorianGran]

To me seems like the Cels allow for better artwork but slower animation (exceptions for the really talented of course) and digital allows for not as great artwork but more movement (again, exceptions exist)

[JulieYBM]

Oohira Shinya (or was it Inoue Toshiyuki?) once turned in animation that could not be filmed. It simply had too many layers for cels. Cels certainly have their limitations.

Digital animation is currently seeing an era with a large number of stand-out animators as well as veterans re-inventing themselves, like Nakamura Yutaka. It's important to keep in mind that there are two different aspects to digital animation: animation still drawn with pencil on paper (the vast majority of all animation in Japan) and animation drawn on tablets. Dragon Ball has yet to have any of these new pioneers work on it, however. Dragon Ball could use some web gen animators to freshen up it's battles and character acting.

[Captain-Sora]

When it comes to Dragon Ball Super, about 80% of it has looked like crap, and that is because its done digitally, no doubt about it. It has such lazy work done on it and it really shows.

Absolutely none of it has anything to do with it being digital. It has to do with their artists being poor at what they do. Had it been done with more tradition methods, it'd look just as terrible. A bad drawing is a bad drawing.

[DragonbaIlZ]

Cel animation all the way, for anything Dragon Ball related at least. Digital animation has its positives but I'll always prefer cel animation simply because that's how I grew up viewing Dragon Ball and I'm so used to it that I can notice any differences between the two, good or bad which I've slightly had to adjust to over recent releases. It's not hard that hard of an adjustment though, because like others say, as long as the drawings in general are good, that's all that really matters.

[Vijay]

Cel animation any day.

Especially those frm Tadayoshi Yammamuro, Keisugi Masunaga, Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru & Hizada Kazuya. Their works in DB/Z/GT rank as "gems"

Even digital animation frm top-notch studios (MadHouse, Sunrise & BONES) at "times" offer bland, slightly off-model output in relatively light episode, after heavy & CGI-abundant episode

Not against it or anythin. They dont have the same "organic" feel as 80's/90's anime. Only glitz & shiny, polished look

Yeah. I prefer cel animation

[ParkerAL]

Absolutely none of it has anything to do with it being digital. It has to do with their artists being poor at what they do. Had it been done with more tradition methods, it'd look just as terrible. A bad drawing is a bad drawing.

Nope. It has to do with a rushed production schedule and a shortage of available staff. The artists could draw the show fine if the production committee had planned for a preproduction phase instead of pushing the show out the door as quickly as possible.

Anyway, whether people prefer cel animation or not, it's not coming back.

[LSSJGODSSJ4Gogeta]

I don't think digital has more potential. It doesn't. If someone thinks so I say prove me wrong and I'll admit when I'm wrong, but you can't replicate Cel quality with digital animation.

Digital colors are just to bright and slimmy and clean to look as good as cel art.

The fact is Dragonball looked better in the 90's when it had cel animation.....so most people prefer cel animation, however companies prefer digital because it's quicker and cheaper..... you lose quality because you don't put in as much money ...it's logical it'd look inferior.....however....bleh it's just to slimmy and bright at times. Goku looks like he's covered in cum in battle of gods with the colors mixed with the white triangles on his body. Sadly Z had those too. Gotta be fair and admit that, but those were used MUCH less. Also in cel animation it didn't look like cum, just like they were sweaty.....which was still weird. Why is trunks sweating if he's not afraid of frieza? What's the point of sweat drops then?! It's stupid to do the white triangle on people in anime. That's not just a digital thing but it's MUCH worse in digital animation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


If you truly believe digital animation is better, then may I politely suggest trying to replicate this image-



idk if the IMG thing works for my account. Maybe I mess it up sos sorry if it didn't work. Normal link-


http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=dra ... ajaxhist=0



Digital colors can't replicate that. I've NEVER seen that before but I'd LOVE to be proved wrong. If I come off condescending plz don't take me that way. I mean this genuinely. Some people mis read my posts constantly oddly enough.... also that link is with safe search OFF. IDK if you get a different link with bing if it's turned to moderate or strict. So you might need to change it first.

But yeah you can't replicate that picture in digital art. It's a certain quality in the colors. Sure you can get BLUE and RED..but you can't get them to look so good. They'd be shiny and not as pleasant on the eyes. Sad but true.

[Lord Beerus]

I don't think digital has more potential. It doesn't.

That is hardly the case.

[LSSJGODSSJ4Gogeta]

I don't think digital has more potential. It doesn't.

That is hardly the case.

Can you post a picture of what you linked? I can't click it. :/

[Lord Beerus]

I don't think digital has more potential. It doesn't.

That is hardly the case.

Can you post a picture of what you linked? I can't click it. :/

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/featur ... 015/.96584

The link basically takes you to a article which highlights some of the very best animation 2015 had offered, in the opinion of the author of the article. And all of the animation is made digitally. Here were some the examples provided in the article:

Spoiler: