Animation Art

Like a growing number of people who have more money than sense (or in my case, just wish they did) I collect cels and other animation art. Most of my collection is from Japanese shows, but I have a modest selection of Cosgrove Hall things too; I'd like more, but unfortunately they're damn hard to find. On this page, you can take a sneaky peeky at my collection, and learn a little more about animation art collecting if you feel so inclined. Because of their rarity, these items are absolutely not for sale, unless you make me an insanely generous offer or have a very tempting piece of art to trade. Click on thumbnails to make big.

My Animation Art | Animation Art Glossary | Links

My Animation Art

Count Duckula
I really love my Duckula cel, although it's not what you'd call a proper set-up. Duckula, Nanny and the background all come from different episodes, but they work well together, don't you think? I also have the matching drawings of the two cels.

The BFG
I unfortunately don't have a scan of this cel because it's much too big for my scanner, but it's a huge reproduction cel from the BFG. The picture on the right is exactly what it looks like, anyway. I got this one direct from the studio.

Avenger Penguins
Yep, it's an Avenger Penguins cel. Not my favourite CH show, but the cel was cheap, so it would have been silly to pass up the opportunity to buy it. There's a little line fading on this one, but nothing serious.

Dangermouse
Ah, Dangermouse. Art from this show has rocketed in price over the last five or so years, so I couldn't afford an actual cel. I do have this nifty animation drawing of DM and Penfold instead, though. From the episode "Rhyme and Punishment".

Victor & Hugo
If you think I don't have some art of Victor and Hugo, you WRONG! These are actual animators' drawings as opposed to cleaned-up ones like Dangermouse (see above), which they are used to create. They represent the first stage in the animation process, and are very hard to find. I'm still searching for a production cel from this series, but I have managed to acquire a colour model cel which is damn fine. I'll put it up here as soon as I figure out a way to fit it on my scanner bed.

Animation art glossary

A1 end cel – Particularly desirable to collectors; a cel which is both the first and last one in a sequence, in other words, the only one. Often depicts a character with a particular expression, such as shock, or frozen in an unusual pose.
Backgrounds – The painted sheet which the characters are filmed on top of. Background styles vary wildly from show to show and place to place; studios like Disney, for instance, are well-known for their sumptuous backgrounds. Even today, when studios all over the world are relying more and more heavily on computer animation techniques, backgrounds are often still hand-painted for the right effect. In terms of collectability, backgrounds on their own aren't worth very much, but adding the matching background to a cel (even a really mediocre one) can send its value soaring.
Bank cels – A term most often used to refer to Japanese art, but relevant here too. Bank sequences are the ones which are used from episode to episode; an example would be when DM and Penfold descend the sofa lift, or when Alias would spin around to change costumes. More valuable than normal cels because, like cels from opening and closing credit sequences, they are readily identifiable to even casual watchers of the show.
Cel (sometimes spelled cell) – Piece of acetate onto which a character is xeroxed or hand-inked, then painted with special cel paint. Cels are filmed on top of painted backgrounds to create the moving images you see on screen. Many studios, including Cosgrove Hall, have phased out cels in favour of computer animation. This means their value is increasing as fewer and fewer are produced.
Cleanups – "Clean" drawings with no construction lines, created by carefully tracing over the animators' drawings. In most studios, they would then be fed into the xerox machine for transfer onto cels.
Concept art – Pre-production art created when a show is still in the development stages, and many different ideas are being tossed around. Ultra-rare.
Drawings – Produced by the animators. Key animators draw the most important poses in a sequence and assistant animators called inbetweeners fill in the rest.
Keys – The most important images in a sequence; the ones done by the head animators. Can refer to the drawing or the cel. Keys can often, but not always, be identified by a circle drawn around the sequence number. A key set-up is a key cel paired with its correct background, and is the Holy Grail of most collectors.
Layout – The stage after the storyboard, where the composition of each scene is set out for the animators' reference. Many layout drawings are very attractive and detailed.
Model sheets – Guidelines for animators which ensure characters and props are drawn consistently by everyone who works on them. Not technically classed as animation art, but it's nice to know what they are.
OPC – Original Production Cel, as opposed to a limited edition or sericel.
Sericel – A posh-looking cel, of which hundreds or thousands of copies are made, specifically created to convince novice cel collectors that they've bought something valuable or unique. Used extensively by Disney and Warner Bros.
Set-up – Term used in animation art collecting circles which refers to all the cels and the original background from a particular scene. In other words, what appears on your wall is exactly what is seen on your TV screen.
Storyboard – The first drawn stage after a script has been approved, showing how the action progresses. Looks not unlike a giant comic strip. Storyboard art is hugely collectable but very, very rarely found.

Links

• The Animation Art Gallery in London sells Cosgrove Hall cels, but they ain't cheap. Even if you don't feel like purchasing, do look around the site for pictures from the recent signing event they held with Brian Cosgrove and David Jason.
• The Wonderful World of Animation Art Gallery in New York has an absolutely fabulous selection of art for all you rich folks out there. No Cosgrove Hall cels, as you would expect from an American gallery, but well worth a visit just to admire all the stuff they do have.
• Everyone knows that eBay is a great place for collectables, and they have many sections devoted to animation art. If you're in the UK, you may want to try eBay UK instead, as it could take you forever to search for cels on the US-based site.

  Back to the Gallery