Animation Art

Animation Art
The great thing about Animation Art is that every piece of it is a moment in animation history. From original Animation Art production cels and production drawings, to all the other types of Animation Art including sericels, limited editions and prints. Animation Art is now a sort after collectible. But it hasn't always been this way, with animation only being considered 'art' within the last 30 or so years, since the great Chuck Jones made a name for himself as one of the first real animation artists. As a collector, you can experience the joy of the chase. Searching and then finding that one scene of Animation Art from your favourite cartoon is a key part of the collector's enjoyment. Animation art has a number of high profile collectors from Steven Spielberg to Michael Jackson and the major US auction houses of Christies and Sotheby's have all seen the likes of Peter Pan and Cinderella Animation Art fetch hundred's and thousands of dollars. Often the most expensive pieces are key master set-ups which include many layers of cels and even a hand-painted background. These sort after pieces of Animation Art are extremely rare and the main reason for the high value and collectability.

Disney Prints
Ever since Walt Disney first put pen to paper, children and adults have been mesmerised by the charm of Walt Disney cartoons. It therefore was only natural for fans of his work to crave the art of Disney and Disney Prints. Merchandising of all things Disney is now big bucks, from the various amusement parks and memorabilia, and Disney Prints to the ultimate of owning an original Disney work of art cell. All Disney characters are now available as Disney Prints including the Jungle Book, The Lion King and all the Disney Princesses. The most popular Disney Prints now incorporate characters from Pixar such as Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story and Lightning McQueen from Cars. Disney films or Disney Classics as they are now known, continue to top the cinema and DVD charts and the art, prints and posters from these cartoons are always top sellers too. Walt Disney himself masterminded the rise of the Disney brand, or should I say Walt Disney and a certain mouse. After losing the rights to Oswald, Disney felt the need to develop new character to replace him. He based the character who we now know of course as Mickey, on a mouse he had adopted as a pet while working in a Kansas City studio. Walt Disney even voiced Mickey Mouse. Of all the Disney Prints, Mickey Mouse is still a best seller and along with Minnie Mouse, make up the bulk of sales. Mickey Mouse was even immortalised by the legendary Andy Warhol and it is his Disney Prints, which today get the most attention.

Cartoon Cel
The art of any cartoon or animation pre the 1980's was almost always cel based. Each frame of the cartoon was hand painted on a Cartoon Cel or animation production cell. This Cartoon Cel is similar to a piece of clear acetate onto which the artists and animators working on that particular cartoon would draw and paint on. Each cel or cell as it is sometimes known represents a frame or split second of an animated cartoon. And as each Cartoon Cel differs from the next, when watched on rotation at full speed create the illusion of movement. Cartoon Cels also vary in size and each is described as a 'field' for example a 12 field cel measures 12" in width. A 16 field Cartoon Cel measures 16" in width and so on. Even the material of a cell has varied over the years with the original cels being made of celluloid (hence the name cell), later being made of nitrate which was both cheaper and less flammable. The Cartoon Cel or production cel is now almost a thing of the past with so many of today's cartoons being made or at least coloured on a computer. Some may say this is a shame, but for the collector, with production art becoming rarer, and demand for animation art increasing, the price of Cartoon Cels is slowly increasing and investment possibilities seemingly inevitable.

Star Wars Prints
Star wars the epic space opera franchise is not only the biggest and highest grossing film of all time ($4.3 billion), but also the largest and most successful merchandising franchise with everything from novels, video games and comic books spawned from the original movie. Star Wars Prints and posters on paper and canvas featuring all the major characters have also been a major line in the merchandising bandwagon. The Star Wars Prints from all six movies continue to sell extremely well from the movie posters themselves to Star Wars limited edition prints and canvases featuring scenes straight from the films. Darth Vader Star Wars Prints remain the most popular closely followed by any of the Jedi Star Wars Prints. Along with the major characters, fan favourites such as Boba Fett stand out as much loved pieces. A great number of fan art Star Wars Prints are out on the market, some licensed some not and with varying degrees of quality. The latest series of Star Wars Prints on canvas have reignited many peoples passion for quality Star Wars art and have been selling on more websites than the usual art based stores in the UK and abroad. Fan films as well as fan art are rife with many examples appearing on the likes of youtube on a daily basis. Lucasfilms seem to make little to no attempt to stop these 'works of art' and if anything, seem to enjoy the endless fanaticism that goes with this genre.

Simpsons Art
The Simpsons are now an institution. Watched by millions, in thousands of different countries, every day. Simpsons Art has therefore become hot property. With everything from Simpons posters, prints and canvases appearing up and down the high street. As well as standard Simpsons Art, for the more discerning individual there are the original one-off hand painted and hand drawn production art. Production cels featuring the Simpsons fetch big money. Especially Simpsons Art featuring the entire family. Also some of the rare popular characters like Comic Book Guy or Side Show Bob are extremely sort after and Simpsons Art featuring these two are tough to come by to say the least.