Gengas/dougas in recent productions ?

[Thanatos]

Hello.

I've recently bought a set of Bleach sketches which has arrived today.
In this set, for each cut, I noticed two types of sketches:
- the first are, I guess, the definitive sketches. There are very well drawn and with much colors as green, pink, orange... Also, the number of the sketch is written near the middle of the sheet.
- the second type are, I suppose, the what comes before the sketches I mentionned before. They are drawn only with black and blue, and some of the character parts (feets, clothes) are drawn separately. The number is small and written in the top-left of the sheet.

Can someone please tell me more about these two kinds of sketches (names, functions...) and what are the other kind of sketches (I think there are roughs ?) ?

Thanks a lot.

[sensei]

In this set, for each cut, I noticed two types of sketches:
- the first are, I guess, the definitive sketches. There are very well drawn and with much colors as green, pink, orange... Also, the number of the sketch is written near the middle of the sheet.

These are called genga, or "foundation drawings." They are the master drawings for the most important parts of the cut (start, end, extreme positions) by the key animator

the second type are, I suppose, the what comes before the sketches I mentionned before. They are drawn only with black and blue, and some of the character parts (feets, clothes) are drawn separately. The number is small and written in the top-left of the sheet.

These actually come after the genga. They are called douga, or "moving/animating drawings." These are done by junior animators based on the genga, and are scanned (in CGI work), then colorized to make the scene you watch. That's why there are more of these than the genga: one of the jobs of the junior animator is to draw the "inbetweeners" that link the key images smoothly.

That's a short answer. For a long one with lots more excellent information, you need go no further than Graymouser's excellent explication of all the various sketch types in this thread (3rd response: and the "and you ought to mention also..." notes in the rest of the thread are worth looking through.

It's a fascinating issue, and you learn a lot about animation by looking closely at these sketches. Thanks for asking!

[Thanatos]

As always, thanks for the answer sensei .

Well, I knew a little about genga and douga, but I didn't knew exactly how it works for the recent series without cels. Now, it's okay .

However, I find it strange that some of the character parts are drawn in a separate sheet. Even if they are used with many dougas, is it not more complicated when adding to the computer ?

And I see I made an error in my previous message. Obviously, it was the top-right corner (yeah, I know, I'm quite absent-minded) .

[sensei]

However, I find it strange that some of the character parts are drawn in a separate sheet. Even if they are used with many dougas, is it not more complicated when adding to the computer ?

Someone may know a better answer, but I always assumed that one of the physical limits to cel-based animation is that each acetate layer darkens and slightly clouds the layer below. So when there is a complicated scene with many individually moving layers, the cel on the bottom becomes harder and harder to image clearly.

This limitation doesn't exist in CGI, and so long as the douga are scanned in registration, then you can pile as many individually moving layers on top of each other as you like, since digital layers don't degrade the quality of the layers they're superimposed on top of. So I assume that this encourages animators to do increasingly complex animation schemes, even if it means that the douga pack is mostly or nearly completely made up of partials.

I temporarily forgot that Graymouser put a more finished version of the genga/douga etc. discussion over at Graymouser's Gallery. Gomen. There's also Keys' Little Anime Cel and Animation Art FAQ which I have bookmarked in my "Favorites" list.

[jcaliff]

My understanding was actually kind of the opposite. It's faster and cheaper to redraw a small part than the entire scene. In older animation cels, we often didn't get the partial cels - you could sell the nicer cels individually and the partials were not worth selling. In genga/douga sets, they probably aren't even looking at what's included in a giant stack of paper, just selling the entire cut. Japanese animation's traditional "style" is partially due to this limited animation. For what it's worth, I think that's also the reason that most Hanna Barbera characters have collars, necklaces, or ties around their necks. They could draw and easily change out multiple heads without changing the bodies in order to save money.

[Thanatos]

Well, I thinks both arguments are right. It surely may be easy to redraw only smaller parts of the animation, and this is probably possible due to progress made in the animation domain. However, I see on watching Bleach for example that the animations are still quite simple; only one part of the character's body moves and the rest not at all. It's not very natural, and canno't be compared to productions like of Pixar's studios. Well, budget isn't the same you will tell me .

[benten]

For what it's worth, I think that's also the reason that most Hanna Barbera characters have collars, necklaces, or ties around their necks. They could draw and easily change out multiple heads without changing the bodies in order to save money.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6193603.stm

See the section entitled "Cutting costs"