History Main / CelShading

* ''VideoGame/MadWorld'' combines this with DeliberatelyMonochrome to give the artstyle an overall ''Comic/SinCity''-esque feel to it.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' [[TropeCodifier famously used this,]] (although it was mixed with slightly realistic lighting and effects as well as relatively detailed textures) causing a huge backlash from the {{Fandom}}/FanDumb before and shortly after release, when some gamers grew fonder of the style. Nintendo used a similar cel-shading style with the Nintendo DS Zelda games (namely ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]''), tailored for the DS's lower hardware capacity.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' also has a cel-shading style (made to look like an impressionist painting rather than a cartoon), but set on characters with proportions more in line with ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]''. [[HistoryRepeats It got the same initial reaction]].
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' use a Cel Shading style as well, though they use a much more powerful graphical engine, stylistically reminiscent of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouache gouache]] watermedia.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' and its direct sequel ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'' both used cel-shading in cutscenes that at times looks almost exactly like traditional animation. This returned for ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'', and appears to be the franchise style nowadays. A still from one of the cutscenes could pass for hand-drawn animation.

* Films such as ''Film/TomandJerry2021'', ''Film/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' and the currently-pending ''Film/CoyoteVsAcme''[[note]]the only screenshots from it so far are one where the Road Runner is running in the desert and another where Wile E. Coyote is seated in the courtroom with his lawyer.[[/note]] also use cel-shaded CGI for the animated characters in the real world to give them the impression of having jumped straight out of 2D animation. Unlike the ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' example above, they do not have motion blur applied to them when moving.

Cel Shading is a style of computer rendering that replaces the shading gradient of conventional rendering with flat colors and shadows (as seen at right). In layman's terms, it imitates the look of hand-drawn artwork and animation. The style was codified with the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast game ''VideoGame/JetSetRadio''.

* ''Anime/FutureBoyConan'' UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 game

* Films such as ''Film/TomandJerry2021'', ''Film/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' and the currently-pending ''Film/CoyoteVsAcme'' also use cel-shaded CGI for the animated characters in the real world to give them the impression of having jumped straight out of 2D animation. Unlike the ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' example above, they do not have motion blur applied to them when moving.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheDrinkyCrowShow''.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' uses a Cel Shading style as well, though it uses a much more powerful graphical engine, stylistically reminiscent of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouache gouache]] watermedia.

* ''VideoGame/{{Klonoa}} 2: Lunatea's Veil''

* Creator/PolygonPictures uses this for the second ''Anime/GhostInTheShell1995'' movie, ''Manga/KnightsOfSidonia'', ''Manga/{{Ajin}}'', and ''Manga/FistOfTheBlueSky''. They're also responsible for the cel-shading of American animated shows ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'' (where their style originated from) and ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise2015'', as well as the less obvious ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''.

* At the time Disney made ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'', a method for placing [=CGI=] directly into an animated film didn't exist. The clock's gears were created as wire-frame graphics, printed out and [[{{Rotoscoping}} traced]] onto the animation cels. Retroactively, this achieves exactly the same look as modern-day cel-shaded animation. Disney would additionally utilize this technology two years later for the vehicles and [[BigApplesauce New York City skyline]] in ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany''.
* Disney's Deep Canvas technology took rendered computerized backgrounds and rotoscoped digital coloring over them, making them appear hand-drawn. The technology was developed for the film ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'', and then reused in ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' (which also used cel-shading, as mentioned above), and a few small elements in ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'' and ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange''.

Be careful when tossing terms around; Cel Shading applies first and foremost to the way the ''lighting'' is rendered. Conventional rendering can still utilize solid colors, simplistic textures, and cartoonish caricatures (e.g. ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' or the 3D ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games). Likewise, Cel Shading can be as realistically-proportioned and textured as any hand-drawing. ''Actual'' hand-drawn media is never an example, for obvious reasons, nor are cels drawn on computers in a manner similar to conventional animation. If a CGI cartoon is not exactly cel-shaded, but still has a "hand drawn" appearance, it may fit under PaintedCGI.

Be careful when tossing terms around; Cel Shading applies first and foremost to the way the ''lighting'' is rendered. Conventional rendering can still utilize solid colors, simplistic textures, and cartoonish caricatures (e.g. ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' or the 3D ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games). Likewise, Cel Shading can be as realistically-proportioned and textured as any hand-drawing. ''Actual'' hand-drawn media is never an example, for obvious reasons, nor are cels drawn on computers in a manner similar to conventional animation.

* In ''Anime/SailorMoonCrystal,'' the switch to 3D animation used for team shots during the opening and for the heroine's TransformationSequence is cel-shaded, but that doesn't prevent it from being fairly obvious, due to the flatter aesthetic of the traditionally animated NoodlePeople character designs. Complaints about this causing UncannyValley lead to [[AuthorsSavingThrow Season 2 and beyond switching to using traditional animation completely]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Skyland}}'': A weird middle ground between [[{{anime}} cartoon]] style and {{realism}}, leading down into the UncannyValley.

* Creator/PolygonPictures uses this for the second ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'' movie, ''Manga/KnightsOfSidonia'', ''Manga/{{Ajin}}'', and ''Manga/FistOfTheBlueSky''. They're also responsible for the cel-shading of American animated shows ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'' (where their style originated from) and ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise2015'', as well as the less obvious ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' used black outlines and textures with penciled-in lines to give the game a stylized ComicBook-esque look, but the lighting and shading was done realistically. ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', however, used a combination real-time filter and specially crafted textures to give the in-game world and characters the ComicBook-esque look, but had the lighting and shading exempted from the filter- this allows the characters to look comic book-esque, but keep lighting and shadows realistic, at the cost of high GPU load [[http://www.gamefront.com/how-to-improve-borderlands-2-with-ini-file-tweaks/]]. Gamers have found that turning off the filter (by tweaking the .ini file) reduced the comic book-esque effect to almost nonexistent, but it does make the game run smoother on lower end GPU hardware.
* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' has a sort of inkbrush look but does not use actual cel-shading.

* The wildebeest stampede in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing'' was animated using Creator/{{Pixar}}'s Renderman computer graphics technology, but colored by hand with Pixar's [=CAPS=] technology, which was used by the rest of the film.

* The Disney short ''WesternAnimation/{{Paperman}}'' looks almost as if it were cel-shaded, but noticeably different; the animation looks traditional, but it is also akin to a CG film. The animators actually drew lines by hand on top of the CG models to achieve this look.

* For some reason, many games running on the Unreal Engine that uses outlined models, such as Trendy's ''VideoGame/DungeonDefenders'', [=SUDA51=]'s ''VideoGame/LollipopChainsaw'' and the aforementioned ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}''. The models may be outlined, but the shading is realistic (except ''Lollipop Chainsaw'', which uses a more stylish shading technique, but it's still not cel-shading). Mind you, this isn't a technical limitation of the engine. Either it is a deliberate technique or a [[Main/LazyArtist reluctance to develop new materials in the Material Editor.]]

* ''VideoGame/TinyAndBig'' has a visual style made to resemble comic books, and makes use of thick outlines for that purpose, but the lighting itself is rendered as normal before being overlaid with a set of hand-drawn shadow textures that take the place of traditional color-based shadows. The developers call their solution the "hatch shader," and explain the rendering process in greater detail [[https://www.indiedb.com/games/tiny-big/news/the-guys-behind-tiny-and-big-johannes-spohr-engine-programmer here]] and [[http://www.the-stamm.com/wordpress/?portfolio=hatch-shader here.]]