Editing Cel (section)

== Technique ==
[[File:File-Inkandpaint.jpg|thumb|Painting with [[acrylic paint]] on the reverse side of an already inked cel.]]
Generally, the characters are drawn and painted on cels and laid over a static background painting or drawing. This reduces the number of times an image has to be redrawn and enables [[studio]]s to split up the production process to different specialised [[team]]s. Using this [[assembly line]] way to animate has made it possible to produce [[film]]s much more cost-effectively. The invention of the [[wikt:technique|technique]] is generally attributed to [[Earl Hurd]], who patented the process in 1914.

The outline of the images are drawn on the front of the cel while colors are painted on the back to eliminate brushstrokes. Traditionally, the outlines were hand-inked, but since the 1960s they are almost exclusively [[xerography|xerographed]] on. Another important breakthrough in cel animation was the development of the [[APT process|Animation Photo Transfer Process]], first seen in ''[[The Black Cauldron (film)|The Black Cauldron]]'', released in 1985.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=McCall|first1=Douglas L.|title=The Black Cauldron|journal=Film Cartoons: A Guide to 20th Century American Animated Features and Shorts|date=1998|page=15|quote=[The Black Cauldron was] The first film to utilize Disney's revolutionary Animation Photo Transfer Process, which transfers drawings to cells with greater speed and resolution than the usual Xeroxing Method;}}</ref>

Typically, an animated feature would require over 100,000 hand-painted cels.<ref name=Magazine2>{{cite journal|last1=Coulson|first1=William R.|title=The Art of Disney and Sotheby's|journal=Animation Magazine|date=January 1995|volume=8|issue=2|page=72|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GTERAQAAMAAJ&q=%22On+Saturday%2C+February+11%2C+1995%2C+Sotheby%E2%80%99s+in+New+York+City%2C+will+continue+what+has+fast+become+an+animation+art+%E2%80%9Ctradition%E2%80%9D+by+holding+an+auction+of+over+250+production+backgrounds+overlaid+with+specially+created+cels%2C+from+Disney%E2%80%99s+most+recent+animation+smash%2C+The+Lion+King.%22|access-date=March 19, 2017|issn=1041-617X|quote=A cel-animated feature requires over 100,000 hand-painted cels, so from Beauty there was obviously far less production artwork.}}</ref>