Not Available The Shire Key #467 - LOTR
Image size is: 13" x 16", Pencil on Vellum by Mike Ploog.
Key Background #467 drawing
This artwork is original and is an historically significant part of Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated feature Lord of the Rings .
title. Lord of the Rings
date. 1978
The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 American high fantasy animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi. The screenplay was written by Peter S. Beagle, based on an earlier draft by Chris Conkling. It is an adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, comprising The Fellowship of the Ring and the first half of The Two Towers. Set in Middle-earth, the film follows a group of hobbits, elves, men, dwarves, and wizards who form a fellowship. They embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring made by the Dark Lord Sauron, and ensure his destruction.
Ralph Bakshi is a director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote. He has been involved in numerous television projects as director, writer, producer and animator. Bakshi began his career at Terrytoons Cartoon Studio in 1957, and made his debut feature film, Fritz the Cat in 1972. Over the next eleven years, Bakshi directed seven additional animated features, including Hey, Good Lookin' (1982), American Pop (1981), Coonskin (1975) and Heavy Traffic (1973). He is well known for his fantasy films, which include Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings, part 1 (1978) and Fire & Ice (1983). In 1987, Bakshi returned to television work, producing the series Mighty Mouse, The New Adventures which ran for two years. After a nine-year hiatus from feature films, he directed Cool World (1992), The Cool and the Crazy TV film (1994), and Spicy City HBO TV series (1997). After painting for more than 15 years and having art shows around the world, Ralph returned to animation to create and animate "Last Days of Coney Island" which was successfully funded on Kickstarter.com in March 2013. Look for LDCI on youtube.
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Production Art is the Original Art created for use in the making of the film. Painters, Illustrators, Designers worked tirelessly perfecting the imaginary world being created for the screen. This includes background art, development art that captures the essence, art used to sell the stories. Sometimes Character designs, clothing, eye color and skin color decisions can be seen. This is the art that Bakshi directed, changed, altered, adjusted, and worked with the dozens of brilliant artists working at Bakshi Studio. This is the art created by beautiful minds to help bring the story to life.
What are Animation Cels?
Traditionally, animated films were created by each motion or movement of every character being hand painted on a transparent material called a cel – short for celluloid acetate. These cels – whether it is one layer or many characters moving separately on many layers, are then laid over a painted background and photographed by an animation camera to create one single frame of the film. This process is repeated for the entire film to be completed. By painting on cels, the illusion is created of a different world inhabited by the painted characters moving within the background they are placed upon.
Original Production Cels
Original production cels are the actual cels used to create the animated film (or TV show) that they were created for. Each one has been hand drawn and painted by an artist and has been then photographed over a background by the animation camera to eventually take part in the entire creation of the film.
This is very different from what are called Limited Edition cels or Serigraph cels. Limited Edition cels are re-creations of a favorite image or scene which is then hand painted. Serigraph cels are silk-screened re-creations. Here at Bakshi Productions we offer to you the real, original production cels used in each of the films.
These production cels are preciously collected and becoming more and more valuable as we progress into the future of animation through computers. There are animation cels from the early days that are valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. These cels are rare and there is only one like it in the world! No wonder they collectible and only increase in value.
Original Production Drawings
Original production drawings are also one of a kind pieces of art from an animated film. Before the image is drawn and painted on cel, the entire film is drawn in pencil by animators. This is where the experimentation and fun truly happens by the artist who creates the image. These are also highly sought after because they are the original drawings and considered “the backbone” of any animated creation. They also can cost much less than an original production cel because they are not painted.
Some Pointers in what to look for in an original piece of animation art
First and foremost, the image has to appeal to you. It jumps out at you, you have to have it. Looking at it illicit some sort of emotional response or reminds you of something or recalls a memory. Other than that – Here are some pointers that many collectors (NOT ALL) use:
-Artwork that depicts a characteristic pose or expression, an emotion common with the film it is from.
-Characters or at least one character that is facing as close to forward as possible with their eyes open are best usually.
--The closer up the character is to you, the better. That is either a full body pose or a close up of the face.
-Some people like to collect the more obscure characters who show up rarely in the film. Others like the main characters. It is obviously up to your preference for which characters you like looking at really!
We hope this helps a bit. Any questions you might have please feel free to e-mail us at shop@ralphbakshi.com.
As always…ENJOY!
