Original Art From Unforgettable Disney Movies

Sericels, or serigraphic cels, are a form of animation art, typically created as limited edition prints, which depict characters or a scene from a full-length feature or animation short.

These images are created as silkscreens, with artists creating a hand-inked, hand-painted colour model of animated characters which is then transferred to an acetate sheet by silkscreen printing.

A clear sheet of either cellulose nitrate (cel) or acetate onto which the character or characters have been traced and then painted. The most common method is for an animator’s drawing to be inked or xeroxed onto the front of the cel and then painted with colour on the back. Each second of animated film is made up of 24 individual cels which, when combined, create the illusion of life.

All production cels are photographed on production backgrounds during the making of any animation. Production backgrounds are the most rare and valuable form of animation art due to the fact that only a few hundred of them are ever made for a feature-length animation. 

Animation drawings are accomplished in pencil on paper and are the first step in the final creation of characters. Each drawing will be traced onto the animation cel to form the black outline before it is filled with colour and photographed.