In a message dated 12/5/97 9:30:48 AM, you wrote:

<<For the portion that I paint by hand, I'd like the paint to dry flat without
having obvious brushstrokes. But it needs to be as opaque as possible, too.
I find myself wondering what paints are used for animation cells. Anybody
know - or have some suggestions for me?
>>

we used to do lots of art for slides on drawing film (like herculene or
acetate) with some elements on the top surface, and backpainted with cel
paint. you can actually buy cel vinyl paint from the folks that make it for
animation studios - somewhere in southern CA (culver city?). it's been so long
since i've done it, i can't quite remember the name of the company, but i'll
try to find it. cel paint dries flat and brushstroke-free, especially when
backpainted. you can airbrush it carefully, and sometimes you can work over
the top of it with pastel dust on a Q-tip and/or colored pencil. some types of
drawing film can be run through a copier, so one procedure used to be to xerox
a line sketch onto drawing film, and backpaint. of course, you end up with
cartoon-y dark outlines unless you play around with the exposure setting on
the copier. also, i wouldn't want to be the one to test out the acetate in the
copier!

cel vinyl paint comes in lots of different colors, but dries up into sludgy
icky stuff. i seem to remember using alcohol to clean brushes/airbrushes and
to thin the paint (and keep it from growing mold!). email me if you want more
info and i might be able to scare it up out of the dark recesses of my
memory...

wendy hiller gee
zapalac & gee illustration
oakland, ca