About Animation Art as Collectibles

1969 Ralph 115e 9th NYC

More on Collecting Here

Collectibility of Traditional Animation Art

Storyboards ★★★★☆

Highly Collectible

• Early visual interpretations of the film, often drawn or directly supervised by the director

• Reveal the earliest decisions about composition, pacing, and emotional tone

• Frequently loose, expressive, and spontaneous

• Especially valuable when hand-drawn by Ralph Bakshi himself

• Offer rare insight into the director’s creative thinking before refinement

Why collectors value them:Storyboards are the first visual manifestation of the film — raw, direct, and intellectually intimate.

Rough Animation Drawings ★★★★☆

Highly Collectible

• Capture motion, timing, and energy in their most expressive form

• Line work is bold, fast, and emotional

• Often contain handwritten notes, timing marks, or corrections

• Closely reflect the animator’s hand at work

Why collectors value them:These drawings show animation as an act of performance — movement frozen mid-thought.

Key Drawings (Key Frames) ★★★★★

Most Collectible

• Define the essential poses and storytelling moments in a scene

• Establish character emotion, body language, and dramatic emphasis

• Used as the foundation for all other drawings in the sequence

• Often drawn or closely supervised by Bakshi

Why collectors value them:Key drawings are the structural backbone of animation — iconic moments where storytelling and design converge.

Clean-Up Drawings ★★★☆☆

Moderately Collectible

• Polished versions of key drawings prepared for production

• Cleaner lines and more formal presentation

• Less spontaneous than rough drawings, but visually refined

Why collectors value them:They show the transition from expressive sketch to finished image.

In-Between Drawings ★★☆☆☆

Lower Collectibility

• Created to support fluid motion between key poses

• Technically essential but less compositionally significant

• Rarely represent defining moments of character or story

Why collectors value them:Primarily of interest within complete sequences or educational collections.

Animation Cels (Ink & Paint) ★★★★★

Most Collectible

• Hand-inked and hand-painted on acetate

• Used directly in the filming of the movie

• Often feature iconic characters, scenes, or action moments

• Visually striking and immediately recognizable

Why collectors value them:These are the actual filmed artifacts of the motion picture — tangible pieces of cinema history.

Production Backgrounds ★★★★☆

Highly Collectible

• Hand-painted artworks designed to establish atmosphere and space

• Often painterly and visually complete as standalone works

• Frequently larger in scale

Why collectors value them:Backgrounds bridge animation and fine art — cinematic paintings created for a specific moment in time.

Camera-Used Setups (Cel + Background) ★★★★★

Museum-Level Collectibility

• Original cel photographed over its matching background

• Represents a complete production moment

• Extremely rare to survive intact

Why collectors value them:This is animation in its most complete physical form — a single frame of cinema, preserved.

Final Note to Collectors

Each piece of pre-computer animation art represents an irreplaceable fragment of a vanished filmmaking process. Unlike digital assets, these works are finite, tactile, and historically fixed—created by hand, used once, and never reproduced in the same way again.