Both old and new animated movies look like everything was drawn by 1 single person. Everything is in the same art style. Can multiple people draw identically? How do art studios do it?
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First, yes. While we think of all artists of having a unique style, many are also talented at drawing in a particular style so long as they have some examples to work with. There are also people who specialize in a general style that is close to what the film wants.
People with titles like “art director” create “references” for the other artists. Sometimes if you dig around in bonus content you can find pictures of the reference sheets. They usually contain several example backgrounds, characters in various poses, etc.
Good reference art doesn’t just show examples of the desired art style, it also includes textual discussion of important details so other artists know what things to make sure they don’t obscure. It can also include information about proportions and sizing.
The idea is the references should be good enough if two different people are told to draw a character in a certain pose, most people might not be able to tell a difference between the two drawings. If that has been achieved, then when multiple people are drawing different things using the same references they’ll usually end up making art that is all on-theme.
Keep in mind the other job of people with titles like “art director” is to personally oversee the production of the art. If an artist’s work seems off and is sticking out, the director will reject it and either get them to do it again or find a more consistent artist.
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