Animation Cels , Production Art and Character Items

About Animation Cels

A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Celluloid was used for animation and film production up until the late 20th century, however, it burned easily and suffered from spontaneous decomposition, and was largely replaced by cellulose acetate plastics.

Generally, the characters are drawn on cels and laid over a static background drawing. This reduces the number of times an image has to be redrawn and enables studios to split up the production process to different specialised teams. Using this assembly line way to animate has made it possible to produce films much more cost-effectively. The invention of the technique is generally attributed to Earl Hurd, who patented the process in 1914.

The outline of the images are drawn on the back of the cel. The colors are also painted on the back to eliminate brushstrokes. Traditionally, the outlines were hand-inked but now they are almost exclusively xerographed on. Another important breakthrough in cel animation was the development of the APT (Animation Photo Transfer) process, first seen in The Black Cauldron. Disney later stopped using cels in 1990 when CAPS replaced this element in the animation process.

Actual production cels are sometimes sold after the animation process is complete. More popular shows and movies may demand higher prices for the cels, with some selling for thousands of dollars. Some cels are not used for actual production work, but may be a "special" or "limited edition" version of the artwork, sometimes even printed ("lithographed") instead of hand-painted. These normally do not fetch as high a price as original "under-the-camera" cels, which are true collector's items. Some cels have fetched record prices at art auctions, e.g. a cel depicting numerous characters from the finale of Who Framed Roger Rabbit sold for $50,600 at Sotheby's in 1989.

With the advent of computer assisted animation production, the use of cels has been practically abandoned in major productions, however, studios still produce animation cels for the collectible market.

Some of the most collectible cels are the original Snow White cels, since that was the first full length animated film.

	Michael Jackson Simpsons Animation Production Cel Buy It Now Price: $9,499.00 Sale Ends: 8d 4h 21m
	Simpsons Animation Cel Treehouse of Horror Signed Buy It Now Price: $8,000.00 Sale Ends: 12d 20h 58m
	Pinocchio production Cel 1940, "I've Got No Strings" Buy It Now Price: $7,499.99 Sale Ends: 20d 18h 41m
	WARNER BROS ANIMATATION Wile road runner Cel ORIGINAL Buy It Now Price: $7,416.45 Sale Ends: 11d 12h 7m
	Little Mermaid Production Cels on Production Background Price: $6,000.00 (0 Bids) Sale Ends: 7d 21h 9m
	Little Mermaid Production Cel on Production Background Price: $5,500.00 (0 Bids) Sale Ends: 7d 21h 6m
	RARE Disney 2000 Millenium Framed Character Art Cel LTD Buy It Now Price: $5,000.00 Sale Ends: 2d 14h 16m
	Anime Hanken Cel Kimagure Orange Road Buy It Now Price: $4,999.99 Sale Ends: 25d 6h 32m
	Pinocchio Cel. Jiminy Cricket & Sea Horse, 1940 Buy It Now Price: $3,499.99 Sale Ends: 20d 18h 39m
	1959 DISNEY ANIMATION CEL SLEEPING BEAUTY BRIAR ROSE Buy It Now Price: $3,000.00 Sale Ends: 29d 23h 55m
	LITTLE MERMAID Original DISNEY Animation Cel COA Signed Price: $2,975.00 (0 Bids) Buy It Now Price: $3,495.00 Sale Ends: 3h 36m
	SNOW WHITE THE SEVEN DWARFS Disney Limited Edition Cel Buy It Now Price: $2,950.00 Sale Ends: 24d 18h 37m
	MICKEY MOUSE Limited Edition Cel STEAMBOAT WILLIE NR Buy It Now Price: $2,750.00 Sale Ends: 23d 22h 35m
	Disney's Lion King Limited Ed. Animation cel signed! Buy It Now Price: $2,500.00 Sale Ends: 17d 18h 36m
	SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS, STORY BOARD CEL. 1930'S Price: $2,499.99 (0 Bids) Sale Ends: 2d 22h 24m
	RARE ANIME CEL NEON GENESIS EVANGELION KAWORU NAGISA Buy It Now Price: $2,299.00 Sale Ends: 11d 4h 34m
	SNOW WHITE Disney Limited Edition Cel #224 275 Seal COA Buy It Now Price: $2,250.00 Sale Ends: 23d 2h 28m
	LIMITED SIGNED PINOCCHIO CEL OLLIE JOHNSTON #30012 Buy It Now Price: $2,100.00 Sale Ends: 18d 15h 54m
	DUMBO Disney Limited Edition Cel Ed. #19 275 NR Buy It Now Price: $1,995.00 Sale Ends: 4d 21h 58m
	PRODUCTION DRAWING CEL THE GRINCH MAX CHUCK JONES Buy It Now Price: $1,995.00 Sale Ends: 8d 2h 56m