41579


Are anime characters drawn separately or together?

For example, Boy A is near but Boy B is far, and both are dancing. Is Boy B
only drawn for his movements same as Boy A, and with the use of software, they
will overlap a character depending on who is near or far. More like a cel
animation but with layers using the software.

And does this apply to every anime series and anime character movement like
when Boy A and Boy B are fighting and both have interaction with their sword,
are they drawn separately or together?

More like this, are both drawn together or separately but with the use of
software, the girl's hand overlaps the boy's body:

![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/nMu1W.jpg)

I am talking about hand-drawn animes on paper, not hand-drawn animes with a
drawing tablet.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2017-06-28T10:27:46.153
41079
2023-05-17T06:31:48.540
2023-05-17T06:31:48.540
2516
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question
anime-production
Are anime characters drawn separately?


This is actually two, or even three, questions in one. Movements in anime
start and end with keyframes, everything else are inbetweeners. How both
keyframes and inbetweeners are drawn up is not just a matter of preference
(which may impact how the final drawing comes to be), but also one of
efficieny.

In your example, drawing the persons separately will allow much easier change
in composition even though there is nothing against drawing the frame 'as-is'
right off the bat.

For example, if the director decides that the girl needs to be a tad more to
the left, of that her hand needs to be higher, it's much easier to just move
the girl or reposition the hand than to draw _everything_ from scratch
(including the boy, the background, etc).

Distance as such as little to do with anything and is only used to create a
sense of depth. Clouds, traffic, etc moving at different speeds to create a
parallax-like effect.

Ultimately, regardless of whether or not layers are used and regardless of
overlap, all characters, every single stroke even, are drawn separately.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-27T00:49:49.993
41579
2017-07-27T00:49:49.993
34832
41079
answer