With original cartoon art production cells, production drawings, storyboards, backgrounds and several types of limited edition art available, how does a fan of cartoon art decide what to buy?

As a Studio Authorized Cartoon Art Gallery and one of the world's leading sellers of cartoon art, we have assisted thousands of customers in making decisions about their cartoon art purchases. It's not that difficult... really!

The first step is to understand the differences between the various types of cartoon 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 cartoon art available:

1. Original Production Cells (or Cels): One of a kind, hand-painted pieces that went under camera in the making of a television episode or film. A 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 animation.

While it takes many thousands of cells to create a television episode, a very small percentage (typically one or two hundred per episode) are complete, recognizable characters or scenes that you would want to hang on your wall. In order to speed up the animation process, the artists only re-paint 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.

Production cells are the most popular pieces cartoon art as they offer fans and collectors an opportunity to own a one of a kind "moment in time" from the television show or film.

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2. Original Production Drawings: One of a kind, hand-drawn pieces that were used in animating an episode or film. Drawn in pencil on animation paper, production drawings are the artistic backbone of cartoons. Each character action and pose must be drawn by hand before the corresponding cell can be painted.

Many 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 television episode or film.



3. Original Production Backgrounds and Storyboards: While not widely available, backgrounds and storyboards are great pieces of cartoon art when you can find them.

Storyboards are pages of small drawings, together with dialogue, camera movements and other notations that give the framework of a scene. The process of frame by frame animation only begins once the storyboards have been completed and approved by the director and the producers. While they lack the visual impact of production cells and drawings, a storyboard is a great cartoon art collectible and a fascinating (and often hilarious) peek "behind the curtain" of how a show is put together.

Original production backgrounds are very rare hand-painted pieces of cartoon art depicting the environment in which a scene takes place. Some are exterior paintings of familiar buildings used to begin a scene and place the action. Other original backgrounds are the interiors of rooms or other scenes that often include cell overlays of characters.

Once they have acquired production cells or drawings featuring some of their favorite characters, cartoon art collectors will often turn their attention to purchasing storyboards or backgrounds to get some extra rare cartoon art.

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4. Hand-Painted Limited Edition Cells: Painted using the same materials and techniques as production cells, hand-painted limited edition cells give cartoon art fans and collectors access to scenes that would never be available as an original. No original would ever have as many characters as are found in multi-character limited editions. Limited editions also provide access to classic scenes that would seldom (if ever) be found in an original.

Individually hand-painted in small editions (typically between 100 and 300 pieces worldwide), these pieces are popular although generally not as popular as similarly priced production cells.

5. Limited Edition Serigraph Cells: Very similar in appearance to hand-painted limited editions, serigraph cells (or "sericels") are considerably less expensive for several reasons. Firstly, they are silk-screened rather than hand-painted. While this is still a very high quality and time consuming process (each color is screened one at a time), it is not as difficult or expensive as hand painting. Secondly, serigraph cells are produced in larger edition sizes (typically between 1000 and 2500 pieces worldwide). Still a small number when you consider how many cartoon art fans there are in the world!

Serigraph cells are extremely popular pieces of cartoon art as you can get many characters and terrific scenes at very reasonable prices. Like all the other types of cartoon art, serigraph cells come with the official seal on the front and the official certificate of authenticity on the back. Many collectors begin with one or two serigraph cells before moving on to purchase original cartoon art. Serigraph cells are also great gifts for cartoon art fans!

6. 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 cartoon 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.



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Whew... Okay, now we've covered the technical side of cartoon art, let's have some 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 art that you love to look at. Whether a piece is original or a limited edition, celluloid acetate or paper, large or small, cartoon art has got to speak to you.

What do you love most about cartoon art? Do you identify with a character so completely that your wife accuses you of being like that character? Do you love the vast array of supporting characters? What cartoon art characters do you want to see on your wall every day?

Some cartoon art collectors seek specific characters, others look for specific scenes. Others follow the simple adage "if it makes me laugh out loud, I've got to have it!"

The bottom line is that there is no "right" or "wrong" choice when deciding on cartoon art. Do you want a lot of small character images or one big one? Do you want a full body or a facial close-up? Do you want a starring character or do you seek the obscure? Do you want to own a number of cells, drawings, and giclees, or do you want to put all your money into one "extra special" piece? If you choose with your heart, you can't go wrong!

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!

Yours truly in cartoon art obsession,

Steve Watt
Owner and General Manager
Animation Connection - The best choice for cartoon art
800-700-1173

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