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All 2D animation is made up of individual drawings called cels (セル). The term cel originates from the traditional animation process, which uses transparent celluloid film on which animated characters and objects are painted.

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Layer order follows Japanese timesheet logic. The furthest back layer is the background, with "A" being the cel farthest from the front. It then goes as far forward as far as needed.

Drawing the Cels[]

Cels are used to chop up a shot into different objects and characters. A person far from the camera walking might be the A cel, while a car driving by close-up would be on the B cel. It's also common to put different parts of a character into different cels. Hair, eyes, mouths, and clothing are often put on different cels so that they can all move at different times.

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Another common term is Frame (コム or koma). These make up the horizontal rows in a timesheet. Sakuga is almost always 24 frames a second. With animations being held on 2s or 3s, most animation will effectively be 8-12 frames per second.

Keyframe drawings are labeled with the Cel they're from (A, B, C, etc.), numbered, and circled. The number indicates how late they come in the cut, in order from one to the last frame.

Important note: Both the letter and circle are vital because most anime studios still work on paper.
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