zombiebass
© zombiebass

FAKE ANIME CEL TUTORIAL

Please download the following texture files to follow along :)


[DOWNLOAD HERE]

Now you may be asking me: "What's an anime cel?! And how do I make one?!" And I am here to tell you what and how!!! A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet with three holes on the upper part, on which characters are painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. They are no longer used in animation.


But we have the technology to FAKE IT. And I will show you how.


Below is a picture of a real anime cel. We're gonna replicate this style!

This is the final painted animation celluloid.

This is a DOUGA, the drawing is an exact outline of what is to appear on screen.

STEP 1. Make a new canvas at 11" x 8.5" or 3300 x 2550 px

STEP 2. Sketch out your drawing!

STEP 3. Create a new group titled “DOUGA”. Make a new layer for the lineart within the group and line your drawing! I use a custom brush to give my brush a subtle textured look. Brush settings are highlighted in this example.

STEP 4. Create a new layer in the DOUGA group. Name it “SHADOW LINEART”. Line where the shading (BLUE) and highlights (RED) will go. Set that layer to MULTIPLY.

STEP 5. Make a new group named “FILL LAYERS”. Use the swatch to divide parts of the art by skin, hair, lights, darks, or anything that has it separated for visual clarity. Separate all individual colors into their own layers.

STEP 6. Lower the “FILL LAYER” group to 20% opacity. Use CTRL on the keyboard to select an individual layer

STEP 7. Go back to the “DOUGA” group and create a new layer for each color (YELLOW, GREEN, RED, BLUE). Shade in the selected filled layer like you’re using a colored pencil! My custom brush settings are shown in the example.

STEP 8. Repeat all the steps until you’ve shaded in all the areas using the pencil-like brush.

STEP 9. Copy the “LINEART” layer from your “DOUGA” group and paste it above all other layers.

STEP 10. Turn off your “DOUGA” group. Make a new group called “COLOR”. Now color in your art!

STEP 11. Copy your “FILL LAYERS” group (LAYER --> DUPLICATE LAYER). Paste it INTO your “COLORS” group. Set it to “MULTIPLY”.

STEP 11. Select your color layers with CTRL and edit the colors as needed.

STEP 12. Repeat the steps until you’re satisfied with the shade colors!

STEP 13. Duplicate the “SHADOW LINES” layer from the “DOUGA” group above the "LINEART(2)" layer.

STEP 14. Set the “SHADOW LINES” layer to “MULTIPLY” and check the “OPACITIY LOCK” button. Edit the colors for the lines so you can barely see them.

STEP 15. Copy your highlight lines (RED) from the “SHADOW LINEART” layer. Paste it above above all layers. Name this layer “HIGHLIGHT LINEART” and set the layer to “SCREEN”.

STEP 16. Create a new layer called “HIGHLIGHT COLOR”. Fill in your highlights! Make sure the layer is underneath all lineart layers.

STEP 17. *OPTIONAL* Adjust your colors by adding overlay layers.

STEP 18. Open Photoshop! Create a new layer on the very bottom titled “WHITE BG”. Fill it in with white.

STEP 19. Make a new layer at the top. Name it "NOISE". Fill it in with white. Then, go to Filter --> Add Noise. Set the Amount to about 25%-26%. Click UNIFORM & MONOCHROMATIC then select "OK".

STEP 20. Set the “NOISE” layer to MULTIPLY. Set the opacity to 30%. This will add a grainy texture to make the art look a bit more traditional.

STEP 21. Download these files. Copy the “CEL SHEET” image into your canvas underneath the “NOISE” layer. Name this layer “CEL SHEET”. Set it to MULTIPLY.

STEP 22. Turn off all layers to see the “DOUGA” layer group. Copy the “PAPER TEXTURE” image into your canvas in the “DOUGA” group underneath your art.

STEP 23. Select the “DOUGA” group by clicking it. Use CTRL + J on your keyboard to duplicate the layer group. Move the copied group slightly off center.

STEP 24. Turn back on all your layers! [Except the SKETCH and original DOUGA groups]

STEP 25. Click the “COLORS” group. Double-click it to pull up the LAYER STYLE menu. Check the DROP SHADOW box and copy the settings shown. Or play around with the shadows!

STEP 26. I added a drop shadow to the paper texture at 30% opacity. This is optional!

STEP 27. AND YOU’RE DONE!!! CONGRATS ON YOUR FAKE ANIME CEL!!! Don’t forget to save!