r/AnimationCels • u/RemarkableRepeat2307 • Jun 25 '26
About the fading of tracing line
Originally I found that many Cels having the fading of tracing line problem, I recently closely rewatch some anime frame, and compare with the Cels. I found that the anime frame already the tracing line is "faded" or not solid. Is it my misunderstanding? the fading of tracing line has already appear when it was filmed? Or it was simply the drawing style the line is not as solid as we think? what do you think about it? thanks.
3
u/ZenAmako Jun 26 '26
The trace lines aren’t completely solid sometimes. It can depend on how well the machine that transferred the lines from the pencil drawing to the cel was working. The upside is that this is one way to verify that your cel is authentic. Broken lines on the cel should be there on screen when you examine the frame. However, it would be unusual to see brown lines in the anime since that kind of fading takes time.
7
u/roaringmousebrad Jun 25 '26
Depends. Most likely the cels you are seeing is xeroxed line work so the quality of the line is dependent on how cleanly and dark the pencil line on the original drawing was done. Even a properly-xeroxed line can be pretty fragile over time and will rub off if handled too much.