cel

American  

[sel] / sɛl /

Or cell

noun

1. a transparent celluloid sheet on which a character, scene, etc., is drawn or painted and which constitutes one frame in the filming of an animated cartoon: may be overlapped for change of background or foreground.

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cel British  

/ sɛl /

noun

1. short for celluloid celluloid

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Etymology

Origin of cel

By shortening of celluloid

Example Sentences

Some of its TV shows and movies used traditional hand-drawn cel animation, but it carved out a separate specialty in the stop-motion puppet animation familiar to viewers since “Gumby” in the 1950s.

From New York Times • Oct. 28, 2022

When a film cel from “Snow White” was acquired by the Met in 1938, Disney was seen as a pioneer, an innovator, even a modernist.

From Washington Post • Jan. 6, 2022

One could, of course, argue that the cel itself—a tracing of the animators’ drawings on a sheet of plastic—was but a mere simulacrum of the original work on paper.

From Slate • Dec. 13, 2021

I think there is this belief that if you’re Japanese, you should be making hand-drawn cel animation.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2021

Sant Grabiel, Qui portaba la anbasciada; Des nostre rey del cel Estarau vos preñada.

From Letters of a Traveller Notes of Things Seen in Europe and America by Bryant, William Cullen