Historically, perhaps cleanup (CU) was done with greater emphasis on simplicity than it is in the present time of Xerox printing. Formerly, the drawings had to be drawn with enough clarity to allow the inkers to do their task with the least problem. Now, Xerox clearly prints whatever we draw, or don’t draw, and then it’s up to the painters to fill areas which may not define the painted cell with the kind of shapes we would like to see. Examples of these shapes are facial areas that do not clutter up the face but leave the expression defined and readable, straight lines working against curves, small “busy” areas against large unadorned spaces, etc.
First, know your scene. Study the scene thoroughly. Do not merely do the first drawing and work your way through it chronologically, hoping that somehow it will all work out for the best. Spin, or flip, your scene from time to time as you’re working on it. Stay acquainted with it.
Before you begin, study the scene to learn and feel the essence of the action! Try to spot the two or three key moments in the scene. At this time, do the three or four key drawings in the scene. Study them — are they “in drawings” doing what they were meant to be doing? If the extreme ruff had good “drive,” a dominant “force” through it, does you drawing retain it, or make it stronger? Or does your drawing look weak and mush by comparison?
DEVELOP GOOD WORK HABITS
To some, this has become a trite cliché, but do learn to roll and flip the drawings without reducing them to limp, demolished pieces of “paper towel.” No need for excessive gripping and wrinkling of paper. If done, it makes follow-up work, checking, etc., more difficult. Practice thoroughness. Be neat and definite.
When drawing, especially in cleanup, it is often a good idea to talk the scene over with the animator. During the cleanup phase, keep three or four preceding drawings on the pegs so you know where you are “coming from.” It is often a good idea to have two or three ruffs under the drawing worked on; these would be in reverse numbering so you would be rolling these drawings backward into the one on which you are working. This process gives the cleanup person complete knowledge and, hopefully, control of what has been animated. The result will be a scene that should have no “mechanical” spots in it, and one in which the drawings work fully and three-dimensionally.
DEVELOP ACCURACY
One way is to learn the “dot” method. With the bottom light off, place a dot on the bottom paper. Drop the two top papers down and place a second dot precisely over the first one. With concentration and periodic practice, you will be able to quite accurately do inbetween drawings with accuracy and dispatch. Also, for the person doing the cleanup, it is helpful to know the preceding and following scenes, just as it is for the animator.
To do final check or finished “final” drawings, always reverse the drawings on the pegs. This has the drawings working in the opposite direction of what has become too familiar, and will help you spot mistakes, which your tired eye was unable to spot previously. As the drawings are checked, watch for “traveling lines,” i.e., lines whose endings do not all follow a precise arc or path.
KEEP THE PAINTER IN MIND
Do not draw in such a way that you leave tiny enclosed areas, causing the painter to misunderstand them or have difficult painting them in. This is costly, and it diminishes the viability of the drawing. It may also cause honest misjudgments on the part of the painter, causing him to paint in wrong color areas and creating “glitches” and flickers on the screen. If a small area of the background shows through on the character somewhere, be sure you indicate it. Otherwise it may be painted on varying cells as part of the character.