Unico Animation Cels
You’ll be able to find cels for the following Unico animations: Unico Black Cloud and White Feather (1979), Unico (1981), Unico in the Island of Magic (1983), and Saving Our Fragile Earth: Unico Special Chapter (2000). I’ll continue to update this page with more animation cels. For now, these are from my collection.
Sanrio distributed the cels for Unico Black Cloud and White Feather themselves and feature a black matte to hold the cel. The mattes feature the Unico logo on the top with an image of Unico to the side. On the bottom, it has the Sanrio Films logo and copyright information. These do not include a pencil sketch (douga) or background, but the inside of the matte comes in various colors. What’s interesting about these cels is that there are several that feature scenes which did not make it into the final product. If you’re familiar with the manga, you’ll remember that Eros, Venus’s son, appears before Psyche to make her fall in love with someone else. The photos above and below show what Eros looked like from the short.
I thought this next cel was amusing because it had Yamaneko (Melvin) making a goofy face. This cel is from the second film titled Unico in the Island of Magic (1983). While there wasn’t a pencil drawing included with the cel, it came with a laser printed background instead.
The next cel is from Saving Our Fragile Earth: Unico Special Chapter (2000), which is the last Unico related animation to use classic methods of animating. Sphinx, Tsubasa, and Unico are in this cel, and unlike the previous cel, this one came with the pencil drawing.
If you look closely, the pencil drawing was placed behind the cel at some point and the paint stuck to the paper. Thankfully, it wasn’t horribly stuck, but this happens a lot with animation cels. Not everyone collects the sketches, but I absolutely love them. It’s interesting to see how they mark highlights, shadows, and everything else. It’s still part of the process and art to me.
More information on animation cels
What is an animation cel?
A cel, which is short for celluloid, are transparent plastic sheets used in creating animations for many years until the early 2000s. These cels were often painted on using acrylic paints to create several frames. When placed in a specific sequence, these paintings create the animation. There are several sequences for each action, so it’s quite impressive to know that someone painstakingly had to draw and paint everything by hand. I won’t go into all the specifics of how the cels are created, but I certainly recommend the site below if you’d like to learn more:
An introduction to anime cels (animanga.com)
What is a douga?
Often, you’ll notice a pencil drawing with information that matches the animation cel. These are called douga and used when the artists were creating the cels. They often tell the artist where the shadows and certain colors are which is very important if you’re working on an entire sequence.
What about the backgrounds?
Backgrounds are different, and not created the same way as the animation cels. Because so many cels are needed to make characters and objects in a film move, they’re easier to find. Backgrounds are stationary while the animations are going, so you rarely see them for sale. What you may see are laser print copies of backgrounds though!
What factors contribute to the varying prices of animation cels?
There are many factors, including popularity of the series or movie, the quality of the cel, key characters or moments from the animation, a renowned key animator made the cel, and much more. An almost perfect cel will obviously be pricier. Paintings that take up most of the cel will go for more compared to the ones with less.
Are animation cels pretty durable?
Unfortunately, no. If not stored correctly, cels and douga deteriorate faster over time because of their delicate composition. Knowing how to properly take care of these items will ensure their longevity, even if they’re 40 or more years old. If you’re going to collect animation cels, there are a few things to take note. The paint for the cels comes off and sticks to whatever the cel rests on. Other issues you may find is that the plastic itself can bubble, warp, and wrinkle. This could be because the cels are kept in extreme temperatures and poor ventilation. If the cel has a strong odor, it’s sadly in pretty bad shape.
The douga will yellow as well because of age and how it’s stored. You’ll also want to separate the drawing from the cel or place something between the two so that the douga does not get damaged by the cel. Unfortunately, the douga can become permanently attached to the cel due to the paint sticking and you don’t want that.