Chromacolour

Before they were gallery-worthy collectibles, animation cels were considered office waste. We explore the chaotic history of studio "cel parties," why millions ended up in the skip, and why the few that survived are now true treasures.

Happy Donald Duck Day! Today we are looking back at the golden era of hand-painted cel animation to explore how a short-fused duck with a classic sailor suit became an ironic, deeply relatable icon of modern pop culture.

Netflix is weaving AI directly into the 2D animation pipeline. The aim is to speed up development, in-betweens, cleanup, and compositing. All hopefully without removing artists from the driver’s seat. The promise is faster turnarounds and bigger scope for smaller teams. The risk is polishing off the hand-drawn charm that we love in 2D animation. The likely outcome? A hybrid future where strong visual bibles and human guidance of AI-assisted tools, bring drawings to life, one frame at a time.