Art supply/medium question

Whatever...

Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger

Post Reply
User avatar
kdiddy13
Posts: 381
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2004 10:26 pm
Location: New Zealand
Contact:

Art supply/medium question

Post by kdiddy13 »

I'd like to expirement with doing an animation with chalk/pastels on a colored background. I've decided that doing it on a cell/acetate material and then overlaying it on a colored background would probably be the best way for me to work. Drawing directly on construction paper, although would look very nice, would be very difficult to animate since it would render the light table useless (I'm open to suggestions though).

My question:

Basically, I need a transparent cel that can hold a chalk or pastel. What sort of acetate/cell solutions are available for this sort of work? Do normal cels have enough tooth to hold a chalk? Will frosted cells wash out the color of the background? What other options are there? Do you know of good supply places (online or local) to purchase this sort of thing?

Being punched and ready for Acme or Oxberry stands is unnecessary since I have a "unique" setup.

Thanks.

Kurt
Last edited by kdiddy13 on Mon Mar 07, 2011 4:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
cribble
Posts: 899
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2004 12:42 pm
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Post by cribble »

Just thought i'd let you know, its going to be expenisve, especially if its a personally project. Errm best bets is cartoon supplies
--Scott
cribble.net
User avatar
7feet
Posts: 840
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:45 am
Location: L.I., New Yawk.
Contact:

Post by 7feet »

Another option would be to do it on a paper of your choice with a color that isn't used in the drawing, and then try using some video compositing software to pull out the drawing. Certainly can't guarantee it to be perfect, but it could possibly quite good. It would certainly be worth a shot, against the expense of acetate. I don't believe a standard cel would take to chalk at all, not really sure about pastels. Oil pastels might work. Also, this is pretty much a shot in the dark, but if you used matt acetate, I would imagine you would get better results drawing the image reversed and then placing it on the background matted side down. Another thought would be to hit a clear cel with a bit of workable fixative. That might give it enough tooth to get the job done. I would still certainly experiment with the compositing, though.

--Brian
User avatar
DK
Posts: 2849
Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2004 6:06 am
Location: Australia

Post by DK »

What about...could you possibly draw white chalk drawings on black card/paper...scan in each drawing ...reduce each drawing to two colours and use the sequences as a colour mask?

D.K
User avatar
kdiddy13
Posts: 381
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2004 10:26 pm
Location: New Zealand
Contact:

Post by kdiddy13 »

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

After a bit of research I've found:

Frosted animation cels are 1) very difficult to find, most supply houses barely supply acetate cels anymore because of computer use in animation 2) The one or two that I could find that do supply them are very expensive ($90 for 100)

I have found that frosted (matte) acetate is much cheaper by the box, typically sold to offices for overheads and such. Closer to $20 for 100 sheets. Not cheap but closer to reasonable. And since I have a homemade animation stand (ie. non standard pegs) I'd rather punch the holes myself anyway.

One of my co-workers suggested a technique they used to use when animating with colored pencils or chalk pastels. They would use frosted cels, front light the cels, and back light the colored backgrounds. This would help make the color pop a bit more and offset the frosted cel (which typically washes out about 40% color underneath).

Well, I think it's going to be a long term project (more than a year), but I'll keep you all posted as I continue on.
Last edited by kdiddy13 on Mon Mar 07, 2011 4:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
7feet
Posts: 840
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:45 am
Location: L.I., New Yawk.
Contact:

Post by 7feet »

One other suggestion, expense-wise. If you are punching you're omn holes and such, why not get a roll of frosted acetate and cut them yourself. Even if they aren't all exactly the same size, once they have registration holes it doesn't matter much, and it's bound to be far cheaper. Just a thought.

--Brian
User avatar
kdiddy13
Posts: 381
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2004 10:26 pm
Location: New Zealand
Contact:

Post by kdiddy13 »

One other suggestion, expense-wise. If you are punching you're omn holes and such, why not get a roll of frosted acetate and cut them yourself. Even if they aren't all exactly the same size, once they have registration holes it doesn't matter much, and it's bound to be far cheaper.
That's actually a very good idea. I had been thinking too linearly and worried about cutting the same size cells and everything, and totally didn't take into account punching my own holes and you never seeing the edges anyway.

Thanks!

-Kurt
Post Reply