Hello all,
I have been collecting animation art of all kinds for over 25 years from bunches of studios and I have found studio production copies in all sizes from B5,A4,letter,legal,B4,11"x17",A3,13"x19" and every size pan you can think of including stuff 10 to 20 feet long and I have a few that are even bigger, These bigger copies most of the time are used as Settei or layout copies for the backgrounds, But I have seen a few used for huge pan cels, I have some from a circus scene from the show "Babes in Toyland" that are 8 feet long used for the cels in this scene that are 8 feet long.
Copy size does not matter as each studio uses whatever size there copy machine will make and whatever size they need.
A4 and legal size is used for Settei sets most of the time because this is a very cheap paper size to use when making huge lots of the same item,And what most folks don't know is the Settei sets they buy, Are not the same size as the original ones used buy the production company for the shows, What I mean is they tend to down size or inlarge the original just a little bit, the Settei set copies they sell to the public so they know if they made them or not for future reference.
Lots of in house copies are made at the production companys so many in fact they may not know how many were made, Lots of these copies have pen and ink marks to show changes made for each new show, Say if they need a new color on one of the toons they may make a new copy of the same toon but have different color numbers on it,Here is one just like that,
http://backlotanimation.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_info.asp?ItemID=136270
These copies can be very bad but all they needed was the new numbers for the colors so a perfect copy is not needed just the right model.
A good way to tell if the copy is real is most studios put a seal or a paragraph that states not to be taken out of the studio and or do not copy this, Right on the drawing copy. like this one.
http://backlotanimation.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_info.asp?ItemID=136268
In the top left is the not to be removed from the studio paragraph, Sorry the small size is hard to read.
Most folks making home made copies will remove this paragraph or seal from the copies they make.
But not always!
Like I said before the best way to know if it's real is to know the person or store you buy your art from.
Even I have been taken before with as many as I have seen so it's real hard to know if it's real but after a time you get to know how each studio works, And can see if the copy is from the studio or not but it takes lots of time to be able to tell.
I use one simple rule if I can't tell, I don't buy it and this tends to work real well for me.
I have thousands of these studio copies from at least 100 or more studios from all over the world and each one is different so I don't think any one person could tell you if it was real unless they worked at the studio and made it themself on the studios copier.
As for price they are worth whatever you are willing to pay for them, I have seen 3rd gen inhouse copies from Disney go for a few thousand bucks each because there were so few that got out from there studios but I have also seen 1st gen copies from other studios go for a buck apiece, So they are realy only worth what you will pay for them.
If you are on a tight budget studio copies are a good way to go because even 3rd gen inhouse copies in time will be worth more than you pay for them if you get them cheap enough.
I myself love the line drawings because this type of art shows what the toon was made to look like without color, Don't get me wrong I love my cels also but the line drawing is the real art from the animators hand with no added things to the art. And if I have to buy a copy just to have some of the art that may not be available to me I'll go for it every time I can get it for a good price.But this is me.
A few last words on the subject, Collect what "YOU" like and you will never go wrong with what you buy that is what collecting is all about after all!!!
Enjoy your art collection!!!
Roy
