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Cels have become a recognizable collectible which means more access and more changes for a buyer to pay top dollar for a worthless piece of art. You may have seen them hanging on the walls of your local Disney Store, framed sheets of plastic with a famous cartoon character captured in living color. Ten years ago you'd have to go to an art gallery to see this kind of work and ten years before that you'd have to work in a studio or be an artist yourself.
Filmmaking owes it's life to animation. Animation goes back to the 1600's and The Magic Lantern. Long before we learned how to record actors on film, we drew them dancing and/or jumping. Spin the wheel and a series of pictures seem to move in one continuous motion. Today, animation is a bit more sophisticated but the idea is basically the same. To make a drawing move you need a series of pictures, each slightly different than the one before it. To make a smooth transition, the differences must be a minute and the drawings and backgrounds much match exactly. This is where the cel comes in.
Cel is short for celluloid, a plastic like substance that can be pressed into thin, transparent sheets. The discovery of celluloid was a great boon to animators, the substance allowed artists to lay one sheet over another so they could trace an exact replica of the original drawing. Once this drawing was painted in, it could be laid over another, detailed background drawing creating the illusion of movement past a background. To create one second of film, an artist might draw as many as twelve cels. (Less are used for cheaper, jerkier animation). Now multiple, twelve per second, times all the seconds in a half hour cartoon on TV or an hour and a half feature for the movies! That will give you some idea of the scope. In the last decade, hundreds of animated films were produced and that means there are potentially millions of cels flooding the market. That doesn't mean that they all have the same value. Let's take a look at what makes or breaks a collectible cel.
1. Make sure it's really a cel. Sounds simple enough, right? But remember those pieces of art hanging in the Disney Store? Look closely. Chances are they are sericels not production cels. Production cels are hand-colored originals that were actually used to make a film. These command the highest prices. Sericels or Serigraphs are made with a process called silk-screening. (The way t-shirts are made). It's a machine process, much cheaper than hand-painting, and it means a company can turn out dozens of identical prints. The good side of Sericels is the price. Since they are cheaper to make they cel for under a hundred dollars. While their resell value is limited, they can be lovely pieces of art to hang on your wall.
2. Subject Matter
Certain subjects simply sell better than others. Right now, Japanese Anime is extremely hot while current Disney movies are running a bit cold. Mickey Mouse from Steam Boat Willy is bound to cause a fuss, while Mickey from the newest Fantasia might not bring in the same bucks. When it comes to TV animation, certain characters still reign supreme; Rocky and Bullwinkle, Batman, and the Flintstones. Recently, Scooby-Doo has climbed to its place as the hot collectible of the year.
2.Composition
A character standing alone may be a nice, neat cel, but groups of characters really up the price. One word of caution, characters standing in front of a nice background may look great but make sure you know what you're buying. Characters are never drawn on their backgrounds, they are an overlay. Find out if the background is a mat put behind the cel to enhance the look. If not, you may be getting taken.
3.Condition
They say there are three things to look for when collecting, condition, condition, and condition. It's all true. A torn or punctured cel is nearly worthless. Faded colors should lower the price. Never buy a piece that has been 'touched-up'. When it comes to condition, there are a few rules of keeping your cels in top shape. Number one, if you don't buy them framed, have them framed by a professional. Number two, use only acid free papers. Believe it or not, regular paper can give off a gas that will slowly eat away your precious cel. Number three, frame the art with good quality plastic. This will reduce the change of slicing the art should the picture fall and break. And lastly, don't hang the cels in direct sunlight; if you're really fanatical, 50% humidity is recommended.
High-quality animation cels routinely sell for $5,000 to $10,000 dollars. Some of Disney's early works fit into this category. Newer pieces sell in the hundreds and you can still buy some excellent pieces for under a hundred if you're not overly picky. Always buy from a reputable dealer and always buy with your heart, not your wallet. While cels can appreciate in value you should buy them because you smile when you see them on your wall.
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