What’s in a box?

LIGHTBOX
Any animator in the older days can’t work without the lightbox. Since the beginning of animation industry in the world especially those times inspired by Walt Disney, the lightbox has been the animator’s bestfriend aside from pencil and paper. It was designed to give animators convenience in making their sequence-by-sequence animation. With its box-like shape, a white-round platform for drawing in the center and a light bulb inside, animators are able to draw with ease.
When we were given a chance to undergo hectic training in 2D animation (2D is two dimensional animation which is purely hand drawn and composited in the computer using animation programs) last year, we were introduced in using the lightbox for our sequential drawings. Through the lightbox, we were able to see the step by step movements of our characters and check the flaws of every drawing. As time goes by, we learned to be more dependent in the lightbox since we were able to anticipate our mistakes in animation even before we scanned our drawings and download it in the computer. Of course, it won’t work without the animation paper with holes that fits the peg bars (these are two metal holders that holds the animation papers in place in both ends) and pencil which serves as drawing material. As our group continued to learn more during the training, we learned that there are various shapes and sizes of light box used by animators throughout the history of animation. But whatever those shapes and sizes are, we knew that animators needed the lightbox to perfect their craft.
Sometimes, some of our members fall asleep while working in their lightbox if the required animated drawing needs a lot of time and revisions.there are times that our eyes get sore while being exposed to the bright light emitted by the bulb. Though the animator’s life seemed hard, we understand its consequences and the need for patience to finish our task. At the end of the day, it was also fun and enjoyable since we get to appreciate the importance of our task… we learned to love it more while at each other’s company even if we tend to get less sleep most of the time.
So if we pursue our future projects, we knew that we will again carry our lightbox anywhere we go again. With the innovation provided by technology, lightbox slowly became obsolete among animators since there are already advance computers wherein you can draw on the screen. Animation became paperless already and it provides further convenience. But for some outsourcing countries in animation like the Philippines, having these kind of computers would cost much. Thus, few animation studios could afford it. Most Pinoy animators are still using the lightbox to draw. And Kuris animators are no exception since we are just starting up.
But we don’t care whether we might be left behind with technology; we still love to draw using the lightbox। It provides us with the freehand to control our strokes and drawings personally. True talent and ingenuity comes out naturally whatever tools you are using to pursue your passion. And for as long as I could remember, the lightbox has been one of our bestfriends that we can freely express our extraordinary gift for animation.

Postscript: with the costly price of peg bars during our training, we were told to use masking tape to hold the animation papers and keep it in place while we draw। We still enjoy those times as we tried to make things better in our own little way। At least we fulfilled the first step of our dream when The BEQUEST was done in time for its screening.