With original production cells and production drawings plus several types of limited edition Batman, Superman, and other superhero animation art available, how does a fan decide what to buy?

As a Warner Bros. Authorized Gallery, we have assisted thousands of customers in making decisions about their Superman and Batman cell purchases. While you have to decide what characters you like best (Batman is a favorite of mine), we can help you with the rest. It's really not that difficult!

The first step is to understand the differences between the various types of animation art. The second step is to step back from all this detail and ask yourself "what do you want to see hanging on your wall?" In this way you will be choosing with your head and your heart, and you can't go wrong!

First, the various types of Batman and Superman animation art available:


1. Original Production Cells (or Cels): One of a kind, hand-painted pieces that went under camera in the making of a cartoon. Original cells from "Batman: The Animated Series" as well as "The New Batman Adventures", "The New Superman Adventures" and "Batman Beyond" are available. Sometimes cells are available from feature films such as "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm".

A Batman production cell may feature one or more characters, and may be made up of one or more layers of clear celluloid acetate with the characters hand-painted on the reverse. This incredibly time consuming process is at the heart of traditional cell animation.

While it takes many thousands of cells to create a cartoon, a very small percentage are complete, recognizable characters or scenes that you would want to hang on your wall. In order to speed up the animation process, Batman animators only re-painted the part of a character that is in motion at any given moment. For example, if a character is standing still and speaking, there may be hundreds of cells painted with just his mouth or face, and just one body. When it comes time to release the cells for sale, the body will be matched up with one complete face, and the remaining bits and pieces will be archived or destroyed.

Batman and Superman production cells are very popular pieces of animation art as they offer superhero fans and collectors an opportunity to own a one of a kind "moment in time" from a cartoon featuring some of the most enduring characters in animation and cartoon history.

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2. Original Production Drawings: One of a kind, hand-drawn pieces that were used in animating a Superman or Batman cartoon. Drawn in pencil on animation paper, production drawings are the artistic backbone of "Batman: The Animated Series" and other Batman and Superman series. Each character action and pose must be drawn by hand before the corresponding cell can be painted.

Some drawings feature codes and notations regarding the layout of the scene, the sequence of the drawings, the positioning of the cells and other production requirements. These features, together with the roughness of some drawings, can give them a very raw, "behind-the-scenes" look that is very desirable to collectors who appreciate the tremendous effort that goes into animating a Batman episode.


3. Hand-Painted Limited Edition Cells: Some of the most popular Batman cells are hand-painted limited editions. Painted using the same materials and techniques as production cells, hand-painted limited edition cells give Batman fans access to scenes that would never be available as an original. Some are directly based on a scene from a Batman cartoon, while others are scenes envisioned by the animators. Some of the most desirable pieces of Warner Bros. animation art are hand-painted limited edition cells.


Individually hand-painted in small editions (typically between 100 and 500 pieces worldwide), these pieces offer many great scenes that would never be found as original cells.



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4. Limited Edition Giclees: A giclee is a very high quality digital print on paper or canvas. The beauty of well made giclees has made them extremely popular choices for art collectors around the world (not just in animation art galleries, but in all genres of art). They are fast replacing traditional lithographs as the preferred means of fine art reproduction as they offer superior quality at reasonable prices. Some of the most widely collected Batman giclees are based on work by Alex Ross and/or Bruce Timm. Alex Ross has also done some spectacular limited edition art featuring Superman and other superheroes.




Okay, now we've covered the technical side of Batman and Superman animation art, its time to have fun!

While we always recommend that you understand what you're spending your hard earned money on, at the end of the day you've got to purchase animation art that you love to look at. Whether a piece is original or a limited edition, celluloid acetate or paper, large or small, signed or unsigned, animation art has got to speak to you.

What do you love? Many collectors are exclusively interested in Batman or Superman, while others love the entire genre and are open to cells or other animation art regardless of character. Even within Batman art, for instance, some buyers focus on "Batman: The Animated Series", others on "The New Batman Adventures", and a smaller yet still significant number of art collectors prefer "Batman Beyond". Do you want Batman alone? Perhaps a great action scene with Batman together with Joker, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, or another supporting character? Maybe signatures are important to you so you may be interested in any piece signed by Alex Ross, Bruce Timm, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Kevin Conroy or other artists, directors and voice actors?

The bottom line is: what do you want to see on your wall every day?

We're always here to answer questions and help, but in the end, you've got to make the choice that's right for you. If you're not sure... get two!

Steve Watt
Owner and General Manager
Animation Connection - The best choice for Batman cells and other animation art
800-700-1173

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