Casual Talk: Some Thoughts on Anime-Style Visuals (Patreon)

Hello, everyone!

This time, it's a casual talk post, and I'd like to write about something I've been thinking about lately. It's about "anime-style visuals."

What I've Been Thinking

One technique that often comes up for creating an anime-like atmosphere is layering a blurred version of an image on top of the original, using blend modes like screen or overlay. Basically, you duplicate the image, blur it, and layer it back on top. Doing this changes the mood a lot, so people often say it looks "anime-like."

I get why people say that, since it really does make everything blend together nicely. But personally, I've been thinking,

"Isn't this just one expressive technique among many, rather than something specifically meant to create an anime-like look?"

Anime's Compositing Process

The compositing process in anime production actually does something similar, called "diffusion processing." It's used to express things like the diffusion of light.

So the technique itself isn't wrong, but calling it an "anime-like expression" feels a bit off to me.

I think what's actually happening in anime's compositing process is simply that processes used to express light and atmosphere are layered together, and the blurred feel on screen is just a byproduct of that. It's not really about layering blur on purpose. It just ends up looking that way as a result of building that sense of atmosphere.

This is a bit of a tangent, but let me talk about how anime used to be shot in the past.

A Trace of Film Photography

Back in the day, anime was actually shot using real cameras.

Because of that physical shooting process, things like lens blur and film grain bleed naturally added a bit of "blur" or "softness" to the image. These weren't something done intentionally either, more like a byproduct of the physical process of shooting on film. (Though I'd guess that texture was often accounted for and intentional to some degree as well.)

Build Your Visuals With Intent!

I think it's totally fine to intentionally add a blurred impression when you're aiming for that light diffusion look or the texture of film cameras. But the idea of "just layer a blurred image and it'll look anime-like" feels like a bit too easy an approach to me.

I think it's better to choose the right technique based on the effect you're aiming for, and let the "anime-like texture" come out as a result. That approach should give you a much more convincing atmosphere.

Anyway, that's just a little something I've been thinking about lately.