Glossary of Terms

Animation Art Terms

Acetate
The clear sheet used to create animation cels, more stable than nitrate.

Animation Art Cel
A sheet of clear acetate or nitrate which is hand-painted and then placed over a background and photographed. The outline of the character (hand-painted or xeroxed) is applied to the front of the animation cel. The colours are hand-painted onto the back of the cel.

Animation Art Drawing
Refers to an original, one-of-a-kind animation production drawing created by an animator from which the animation cels are later created.

Animation Background Drawing or Setup
A sketch used as the basis for a background painting with the placement and action of the characters in that scene, occasionally with color highlights.

Animation Cel Setup
An animation cel or group of cels usually combined with a production background. A cel setup may have one or more levels of cels overlaid on the animation background.

Clean Up Drawing
An Animation drawing done by referring to the rough animation drawing. From these drawings, the cels are then created.

Color Model Cel
An animation cel created by the Ink and Paint department for accurate colour-referencing during animation production. Colour test cels have colours different from the final characters. Also referred to as a Color Test.

Courvoisier Background
Background art created for Disney animation cel scene set-ups and sold by the Courvoisier Galleries in the late 1930's and early 1940's.

Custom Background
A newer background created by an artist for the specific purpose of enhancing an animation cel.

Hand-Prepared Background
A non-production background prepared by a studio artist to enhance or complete an animation cel setup.

Key Master Setup
An animation cel or cels paired with their original matching background as they appeared at the same moment in the actual animation film.

Layout Drawing
Very detailed animation drawings depicting the master backgrounds, or showing camera movements with sketchy indications of the placement of the characters.

Limited Edition Hand Painted Cel
A type of animation cel that is created in very limited numbers using the same hand-painting technique as an animation production cel. It may be derived from actual artwork used in the film or from a particular moment in a cartoon.

Master Set up
A cel or cels are paired with an animation background from the same film, but they do not appear together in the film at the same moment.

Nitrate Cel
Older animation cels used up until the 1950's (1940's for Disney). They often show signs of aging such as rippling or yellowing.

One of One
This is a premium animation production drawing, usually framed side by side with a matching hand-painted animation cel, one-of-a-kind limited edition cel created from the that drawing.

Pan Cel
An animation cel, drawing or background up to 12" x 30". Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty used this type of artwork, referred to as Cinemascope.

Pencil Model Sheet
A group of original animation pencil drawings on one sheet that illustrate an animated character in a variety of poses and expressions.

Production Cel
Any animation cel or drawing created for the production of an animated film. This does not necessarily mean that the piece appears in the film. Edited, colour model, and preliminary art are all production animation artwork.

Production Background
An original animation background painting used in the final version of an animated film or short. The background establishes the location and overall mood of the scene.

Production Cel
The final result of creating animation films using traditional ink and paint techniques. This is the art which we see on the movie screen.

Production Drawing
An animation production drawing describes the animator's drawings which are used as the basis for creating animation cels.

Publicity (Promotional)
A non-production animation cel created for promotional purposes. Characters are usually depicted in an "ideal" pose.

Rough Drawing
An animation drawing done by an animator to indicate the position and pose of the character.

Sericel
Serigraphy, the printing term for the silk-screen process, is a fine art process in which limited editions are created by meticulously screening the colors of an image onto the back of an acetate animation cel or the surface of fine art paper or canvas - one color at a time.

Storyboard Drawing
Any animation art drawing or sequence of animation art drawings used to describe the plot of a film visually. Typically, these rough animation drawings depict the overall theme or scenario of a brief moment in the film.

Studio Background
A non-production animation background prepared by the animation studio for publicity or presentation purposes.

12-Field Cel or Drawing
An animation cel or drawing measuring 10" x 12"

16-Field Cel or Drawing
An animation cel or drawing measuring 12" x 16".