Animators draw the initial animation on paper, which comes in different sizes to match standard cel sizes. The most used sizes are 12 field and 15 field. Animation paper is typically somewhat transparent, and an animator can usually see the five previous layers of paper through the top sheet. This transparency is useful for keeping track of the movement of a drawing. Animation paper also has holes in the side, which a device called a peg holds together. This ensures that all of the pages are aligned correctly.
Animation does not require special pencils, but animators typically use more than one pencil. Animators often use colored, erasable pencils that do not appear when photographed to make general forms and outlines. These pencils are refined with a wooden pencil, usually H, B or 2B grade. Each of these pencils has a different lead hardness. A pencil drawing may be further refined with a black lead pencil. Materials used with pencils, such as erasers and pencil sharpeners, are also part of a traditional animator's tools.
Animators need a camera of some kind to capture the drawings so that they can be played in sequence. An animation studio is likely to use a rostrum camera for this, which is designed to take photographs of cels or drawings. However, animators can use any camera that takes a single frame, such as a stop-frame Super 8 or 16 mm camera or a single-frame video camera.
A cel is a sheet of clear plastic. The name is derived from the word "celluloid," which is a specific brand of nitrocellulose, an early type of plastic. Modern cels are made from cellulose acetate. Drawings from paper are transferred to cels by inking or xerographing, then placed over a background. The advantage of a cel is that only the moving aspects of an animated sequence must be redrawn; still items and backgrounds can be reused. This makes the animation both smoother and faster because it reduces the number of elements that must be drawn.
Animators use watercolors, markers, colored pencils and pastels to color animation backgrounds. Most traditional animation requires a lightbox, which allows the animator to see through a stack of paper more easily. Animators use an animation disc, which holds and moves drawings, with a lightbox. If an animation is large enough, then animators use production folders to organize animated sequences.