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If you're new to collecting animation follow these tips to
ensure you have a positive experience.
1. Focus - What's your focus? Do you want to collect
only Warner Brothers artwork? Only Disney? Do you want to collect
images of cats only? Female villians only? There is no right
or wrong answer here but having a focus can help. Some collectors
buy whatever appeals to them and create very ecclectic collections
while others prefer to deal only in specifics. It's up to you
but give it some thought.
2. Buy what you like - Don't let a gallery representative
bully you into a sale. Buy what you like and nothing else. I
discourage buying for investment and prefer to encourage buying
for enjoyment. Ask yourself if the piece you are buying is something
you can live with and look at day after day. If you're looking
to buy animation art as an investment be sure to learn the market
before making a purchase.
3. Quality over quantity - Always go for quality over
quantity. You don't want to have the biggest collection of junk
art. It's much better to own just a few top quality pieces then
lots of mediocre artwork. You'll be much more likely to enjoy
the art too. Grade A art is more expensive but dollar for dollar
the added expense is worth it.
4. Expression - When looking for the perfect cel or
drawing pay attention to character expression. Are the eyes open?
Does the character have a pleasant look on their face? Is their
expression humorous? In general the characters with open eyes
and fun or pleasant expressions are more appealing to buyers
and collectors. You want the expression to fit the character
too. For instance, if you were purchasing a Jessica Rabbit cel
you would almost certainly want her to have a coy, sexy expression
rather than a pained or angry look. This is not to say a character
with a pained or angry expression is totally undesirable. You
might want a villian to have an angry or evil expression to more
accurately reflect the characters personality.
5. Gesture - A characters pose and body movement can
sometimes say as much as a facial expression. Gesture is what
suggests movement and action within a drawing. Study the overall
pose of the character. Are they running? Jumping? Twisting? Stretching?
etc. Study the subtlties. Does a swinging arm obscure part of
the characters face? Does a slight head turn allow you to see
less (or more) of the face? Is the character holding a particulary
interesting object? Does the characters stance look natural?
Consider all of these points and try to find images that are
exciting and clearly defined.
6. Full figure - The ideal character image is full
figure, meaning you can see the characters entire body. They
will not be cut off at the waist or legs etc. Likewise they should
have all their parts and should not be missing arms, hands, feet
etc. An ideal character height would be 4 inches or larger.
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