Cel-style coloring

Also called Cel shading · Cel-style coloring

Cel shading takes its name from traditional animation's outlined and painted transparent sheets, and now also describes comparable digital coloring. Defined contours, flat local colors, and clearly separated shadows make characters easy to read. A small number of tonal steps explains turning form without continuous gradients obscuring action, expression, or the design of a silhouette.

Kind

Technique

Lineage

Anime Character Design and Coloring

Related styles

2

Medium family

Anime, comics and characters · Illustration and picture books

Medium

Cel · Digital painting

Technique

Cel shading

Colour

High saturation

Key traits

1. 01Use continuous, flat base-color areas to keep figure forms clear.
2. 02Reduce major shadows to a small set of sharply bounded shapes.
3. 03Place shadow shapes according to the light direction so hair, skin and clothing read coherently.
4. 04Use separate highlight shapes; restrained gradients may support atmosphere without erasing the color divisions.