Food for Thought - Production - Cel Shaded Animation on Painted Backgrounds

This was an issue that has been addressed numerous times by our peers throughout the past critique sessions during this module, there is a constant doubt that our flatly coloured characters and props would not blend well with the textured backgrounds/settings that I had designed and painted. And while I agree that simple shadows beneath their feet (And below the cart as seen here) could be added, I really do think that the contrast will not be a problem, especially once things begin to move on screen.

But first, let us take a look at some animated examples that have particularly inspired our group to go with such a look in the first place:

Sleeping Beauty is definitely known as one of Disney's most stylised films, a lot of time was clearly put into the background designs (Quite a few years in fact) and as you can see in this gif example, despite how heavily textured these beautiful painted settings are, the more basically coloured characters and props are still able to blend in quite decently. 

Some thought was definitely still put into the lighting however, as it makes sense to make the characters and objects in front just a little bit brighter as compared to the back, as seen here. While not seen here, the characters still manage to remain rather flatly coloured, even in more complex lighting, such as during the scene when Aurora touches the enchanted spinning wheel, that casts an incredibly eerie green glow throughout an otherwise dark room.

Dexter's Laboratory in its later seasons noticeably uses more textured backgrounds as compared to the earlier seasons (As well as some rather major alterations to its art style). Again, while the characters and interactive props are flatly coloured (Interestingly the props do not have strong outlines like the characters), the lighting still works here, despite how it appears that 3/4 of the room (At least the walls) is made to look as if most of the room is dimly lit. This is perhaps due to the consideration of colours that are used, you could say that the vibrancy levels for everything are made to be really close to one another (So that the characters do not look too vibrant as compared to the backgrounds or vice versa).

Paul Rudish's new Mickey Mouse series (Which I am still trying to find all the episodes for) uses a much looser style as compared to past Mickey Mouse series (Particularly the ones that came out after 1935), with its more organic looking outlines that look as if they were done with brushes, it creates a rather unique contrast to the more sketchy (But nonetheless beautiful) environment designs.

As seen here, the animated characters and props are made to stand out a lot more as compared to the background (Which our animation bears similar qualities to), also, a really simple shadow is given below the scooter Mickey rides on here, which we also plan to do for our own characters and props.

Ren and Stimpy was always known for their incredibly detailed backgrounds (And still shots) to enhance the overall gross or disturbing aspects of that scene (Something which Spongebob Squarepants also does). Again, colour choices are once again carefully considered so that the characters and background are able to go with one another without blending together too much.

My Life as Teenage Robot honestly uses a more subtle colour palette for their art deco inspired environment designs, which allows their characters to stand out all the more. As seen here, the two characters do have a much bright colour palette that contrasts a little more to the painted backgrounds, but not so much that they appear to be from two completely different sources.

Samurai Jack might be a slightly more different case, considering the lack of outlines (Or perhaps its usage of really thin outlines) for its characters, it allows them to blend in so much more with the backgrounds (As compared to the previous examples) which as you can see, while textured, are not given heavily lined details, it does make these shots look so much more like beautiful paintings then typical animation stills.

This however provides a challenge where much more outstanding animation has to be done for the characters so to allow them to better stand out from the environment, which this series has always managed to successfully do.

The blending of different styles in an animation will always prove to be a challenge, some important aspects to always consider however (Aside from how heavily textured something might be to the other), are the colour palettes used and perhaps the outlines. These aspects can truly make a difference as seen in these examples.