10 Essential Art Supplies for the Traditional Animator Menu Lifewire Tech for Humans Newsletter! Search Close GO Software & Apps > Design 104 104 people found this article helpful
10 Essential Art Supplies for the Traditional Animator
Traditional animators require low-tech tools
By Adrien-Luc Sanders Adrien-Luc Sanders Writer University of Alabama Art Institute of Houston Adrien-Luc Sanders is a former writer for Lifewire, animator, web designer, and graphic designer with a background in computerized design and animation lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on March 19, 2020 Tweet Share Email Disney, inc. Tweet Share Email Design Animation & Video 3D Design Graphic Design Although digital animation is all the rage, there's still a market for traditional, hand-drawn animation. If you're planning to work on cel-painted animation, you need a few basic supplies in your office or home. The basics cover you from your original sketches to the painted cells needed to bring the animation to life. Non-Photo Blue Pencils
Photo from Amazon Non-photo blue pencils are useful for doing initial sketches because they're a shade of pale blue that doesn't to show up on copies when you transfer your work from paper to clear cels. Drawing Pencil Sets
Photo from Amazon A set of drawing pencils is essential. Usually, a regular wooden pencil works best. Eberhard Faber and Sanford and Tombow make high-quality collections of drawing pencils with various lead hardnesses. When you're retracing animation, 2B pencils are good choices. They are soft enough to give for a varied line but hard enough to make dark clean lines. 3-Hole Punched Paper
Photo from Amazon You need something to draw on with your pencil sets. Your best bet is to buy copy paper with three holes punched down the side by the ream or by the case. One second of animation takes anywhere from 30 to 100 sheets of paper, allowing for duplicates for retracing and for mistakes, so you need a lot of paper. And 20 lb. copy paper is heavy enough to make a good copy and light enough that you can see through several layers of it when it is on a light table. Three-hole-punched paper attaches to a small peg bar taped on your light table to hold the paper in place. Buying the paper already punched saves you the trouble of punching it manually or taping it on the table, and makes it easier to align pages. Light Table Light Desk
Photo from Amazon A light table or light desk is a critically important addition to your animation supplies list. The light table has two primary purposes. Use it to retrace your sketched frames and to sketch new frames as in-betweens. A light table illuminates your artwork from beneath to make it transparent enough to see through for reference. Some light tables are expensive; professional glass-top rotating tables can cost thousands, or you can find a large desktop box for just under $100. A small light tracer box with a 10-inch-by-12-inch slanted drawing surface works for the budget-minded animator. Peg Bar
Photo from Amazon A peg bar is a small plastic strip the length of an 8.5-inch-by-11-inch piece of paper with three small pegs on it spaced at the same intervals as the holes in the paper. You can tape or glue the peg bar to the top of the light table and lay the copy paper over it to hold it securely in place. When you're working on character animation, sometimes it's hard to get your paper to line up again after you remove it from the light table, so having a peg bar returns everything to its proper place. Check your local arts and crafts store to find one. ArtGum Eraser
Photo from Amazon You're going to make mistakes while drawing animation, and for those times, you need an eraser. ArtGum erasers are far superior to standard erasers because they rub out lead cleanly without eroding the paper surface or leaving behind smudges from either past lead rub-offs or the eraser itself. Cels Transparencies
Photo from Amazon After your drawings are complete, you transfer your artwork from plain paper onto cells, so they can be painted and then placed against a separately drawn background. It's difficult to find anything packaged as "cels." What you need are copy-safe transparency films. This type of transparency film used on overhead projectors, but you have to make sure to buy the kind that is heat safe and copy safe. The easiest way to transfer from paper to transparency is using a copier, but you have to use the right kind of transparency, or it'll melt in the copier and ruin it. Paints
Photo from Amazon When the cels are done, you need paints. Painting on slick cels is difficult and requires a thick paint. Most people use acrylics. The trick is to paint on the backside of the transparency, the opposite side from the side that the copier toner is on. That way, there's no chance that the wet paint will smudge the copied lines. Brushes
Yagi Studio / Getty Images You need a set of paintbrushes that range from midsize to a fine hairline. When you work on letter-size transparencies, you won't have much need for a large brush to fill in enormous areas, but you do need fine brushes for getting smaller details just right. Colored Pencils Watercolors Markers and Pastels
Alice Day / EyeEm / Getty Images Colored pencils, pastels, watercolors, and markers are used on backgrounds, which are drawn on the same size paper as the animation. Static backgrounds for a single motion sequence only have to be drawn once. Although you can use watercolors and pastels, most traditional animators use colored Prismacolor markers with a clear blender to run the shades together to deliver a watercolor look with control. Occasionally, Prismacolor colored pencils do the job for backgrounds. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Insert and Paint 3D Models in Paint 3D What to Consider Before Buying a New Printer The 13 Best iPad Drawing Apps of 2022 The 9 Best Digital Art Software of 2022 Do I Need to Know How to Draw for 3D Modeling? How to Use the Animation Painter in PowerPoint How to Make Paper in Minecraft How to Turn a 2D Drawing Into 3D Art in Paint 3D How to Create an Animation Flip Book Cutouts are Commonly Used in Animation What Is Drawn-on-Film Animation? How to Make an Image Background Transparent in PowerPoint How to Add Text to Photos on Phones and Computers 5 Ways to Create 3D Art Using the Paint 3D Toolbar Getting Started in Animation From the Comfort of Your Home What Is Microsoft Paint 3D? Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies