2D animation techniques

What is 2d animation?

When movement is created in 2D space it is called 2D Animation. The objects created in a 2D animation only have with and height. This animation is created with the use of characters, special backgrounds, and effects. To create an illusion of animation, individual drawings are joined over time and played at a specific speed.

2D animation is one of the major types of animation and it is widely used in the creation of cartoons, movies, games. In fact, it has been around since the 1800s and is considered to be one of the traditional animation styles. It is also referred to as classical animation, traditional animation, cel animation, hand-drawn animation, or just 2D. This type of animation is now widely used in the scientific and medical industries to project models more clearly on screen. 

2D animation techniques

In the beginning, this style of animation was created by putting multiple frames together that followed each other and differed only slightly in motion from each other. 24 frames were played every second (24 fps). Currently, 2D animation techniques are more focused on image manipulation. In this animation technique, 2D drawings are created on sheets of transparent plastic by hand. These plastic sheets are called cels. Each cel is fashioned after a thorough planning procedure.

Storyboard and script are usually consulted while creating the cels. Cel animators create two different types of drawings on the cel. One side of the cel has an outline of the character and the specific action that’s taking place and the other side is colored by paint (usually acrylic). The colors chosen to fill the drawings are specific to the character and the scene.

2D animation character types

There are a few different kinds of character types in 2D animation. Two of these are the Subtle Character Movements and the Detailed Character Animation. Subtle Character Movements consist of small movements like moving the head or arm to make the character look lifelike. Detailed Character Animation is a specific type of animation where a mixture of techniques is used by the animators to animate full-body complex movements.

2D animated cartoons featured

The famous Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd), Classic Disney (Snow White, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid), TV shows (The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, Rick and Morty) are just some of the examples of cartoons that make use of 2D Animation.