All animation cels are original paintings on a clear sheet of acetate. Cels are not reproductions of an original piece or art. Every cel is an original piece of artwork.
A PRODUCTION CEL is a one-of-a-kind painting that was photographed and has actually appeared in an animated film. Any individual production cel is a hand painted sequence in an entire scene. There are likely to be many other production cels available from any one scene, but they will all be slightly different and they will all be original. During filming, the production cels are laid over a background painting and photographed in sequence. When the film is projected, the sequence of images create the illusion of the cartoon character in motion.
Before the production cel can be painted, a PENCIL DRAWING of the cel is created. This is a pencil sketch of the cel and often includes instructions on coloring and other items. The lines from the pencil drawing are transferred to the production cel and then hand painted. Many of the "Peanuts" production cels include a matching pencil drawing. Some cels do not have pencil drawings at all. In these cases, the drawings may be missing, damaged, destroyed or are otherwise unavailable. Many other studios (like Warner Brothers and Disney) do not include matching pencil drawings with any of their cels.
The BACKGROUNDS behind all of the "Peanuts" production cels are NOT original backgrounds. Original backgrounds are very rare since only one or two are required for the filming of several hundred cels. An original background ca sell of over $35,000 each!
The "Peanuts" cels all have COLOR LASER BACKGROUNDS. The original background is copied using a color laser copier. These high quality backgrounds are then placed behind the original production cels to recreate an accurate view of the scene from the video. Some cels do not have backgrounds at all. In these cases, the backgrounds may be missing, damaged, destroyed, or are otherwise unavailable.
Written by Eric A. Wildgrube. From "Knott's Camp Snoopy Peanuts Animation Art Training Guide."
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