Current State of the Market

[earl]

I've asked them if they know that they can buy artwork from Naruto, etc. and they all shake their heads. It's not well known that cels and sketches can be bought.

I've talked to a lot of younger fans, and none of them seem very interested in the artwork end of the anime production process. Many of the fans I've talked to had no idea what cels were either. Not to be negative, but part of the problem might stem from anime not being the artistic powerhouse it once was. Not that there aren't attractively animated newer films and shows, but nothing with the visual power and prodigious imagination of classics such as Akira, Ninja Scroll, Ghost in the Shell, Memories, Robot Carnival...the list goes on. The style and energy of anime classics from the 80s, 90s, and even early-2000s inspired a lot of collectors in such a way that new anime, with their pale digital colors and bland character designs, simply can't.

I must admit that, up until a few years ago, I was one of the people who didn't know that animation art collecting was a thing you could do. I knew what cels were and I'd seen some Disney stuff selling for thousands of dollars... but my brain never made the connection that I might be able to find art from the cartoons/anime that I loved. I finally made that connection at Dragon*Con when I saw Bob Camp selling Ren and Stimpy sketches. I never even liked Ren and Stimpy... and I still bought one... because the revelation that I COULD buy one just blew my mind. (I'm 30 by the way, 27 at the time. So, while I may not be one of the youngest collectors, I certainly feel like I started later than many here.)

As far as art style is concerned, I think people tend to appreciate what they grew up with. Even though I still watch new cartoons and anime... nothing compares to what I watched when I was younger (even if, in hindsight, the art was terrible). For a long time I hated the art in Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, etc. I couldn't understand why people liked it. I grew up on cartoons from the 80s/90s. The new shows seemed so simply drawn, flat, and generally uninteresting. While I still don't like it as much, that art style has grown on me a bit. I just had to stop judging it against what I was used to.

[Frysende]

I'm a new collector and a younger one, I imagine (21 going on 22 soon enough). I have a cel mentor in Wendy (aka moop) who has told me the market has opened up recently, with older collectors downsizing or letting go completely. I don't know how true that is, exactly, but I know I've managed to get my hands on a few cels I'm quite pleased with.

I do think we tend to collect what we grew up with. I'm primarily interested in Yuyu Hakusho, for example, but I am often tempted by gorgeous pieces from shows or movies I've never seen or from ones not high on my list. That says quite a lot. Modern art (sketches, settei and such) doesn't quite grab me the same way. Unless I like the series, I won't really give it a look because I know I won't come across beautifully painted gems.

I saw a mention of Samurai Jack as an art style that wasn't appreciated. Funnily enough, I feel like that show was a standout, if only for those gorgeous backgrounds. I'm not too interested in modern western cartoon art, but I'd make an exception for a Samurai Jack background.

Overall, I am surprised that when I tell people I started collecting cels, I get mainly blank looks. A lot of my friends got their start, like me, on Sailor Moon, CCS, DBZ, and eventually Toonami shows like YYH and Rurouni Kenshin, but none of them really know or appreciate the artistry that went into them. They're all just drooling over the, frankly often painfully loose and bland, fight scenes in more recent shows. To each their own, I suppose.

[Keropi]

I wish I could have collected earlier, but anyone can say that about any collecting hobby. The only way I could have collected earlier was if I had access to the internet earlier or went to anime conventions/Rick's Anime Wink store in 1996 or earlier. If I had known that they sold anime cels at anime conventions I would have attended them earlier. I knew about anime cels in 1993, but I didn't know how I could buy them through the mail.

Back in the old days we had limited access to anime and there wasn't much of it to see. We didn't watch anime by the season as we do now. We watched anime that was at least 12-24 months after it came out. So many of us were collecting artwork from the same shows and we could relate to each other's collecting incidents. As anime became more easily available to us, our collecting interests diverged and it became harder to talk to each other about collecting from the same series. The more anime people viewed, the more critical they became of the show's flaws. People's interests change faster these days.

From my other past interests (old movie posters, older movie star autograph collecting and watching old movies) I could tell that people would only remember certain titles. As time passes more and more people don't even know the older movie titles. Only the die hard fans know many of the older movies. That is how it is with anime (but there are far fewer anime fans). Certain older anime titles are remembered while the rest are forgotten especially among the younger generation.

That is why as others have stated...you should only collect while not expecting to get anything back from them (when you sell).