Is a repro cel the same as a Pix-Cel?

Goldknight · Post by **Goldknight** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 11:46 pm

I realize that rilezu are handpainted cels created like production cels. However I'm wondering about repro cels. Are they simply cels made with a printer on cel acetate? If so doesn't that make them the same as a Pix-Cel? Is there an equivalent to a giclee in anime art? I've never quite understood why people purchase giclee since I always understood them to be inkjet printed on paper. I'm just trying to differentiate all the different types of artwork between american and japanese animation.

For those not familiar with the term Pix-Cel, it's a term used to describe cels made using inkjet printers and acetate.

Post by **JWR** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 12:00 am

this site has some info on the differences

http://www.cartoon-factory.com/types.html

Post by **sensei** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 7:13 am

Creating GiclÃ©e fine art prints requires the utmost care and attention to detail. Harvest Productions, LTD., who produce all of the GiclÃ©e's for Linda Jones Enterprises, customize the color settings for each image so that each print is truly what the artist had in mind. The French term "GiclÃ©e", literally meaning "spray of ink," is used to describe these prints. Four precision nozzles spray up to a million microscopic droplets per second on to fine art paper. Then, each piece of paper is individually hand-mounted. Displaying a full color spectrum, the prints are lush and velvety, capturing the subtle nuances of the original artwork.

Ick. That makes me think about those megabucks Thomas Kinkaide lithos on canvas that come with the "genuine certificate of authenticity from The Thomas Kinkade Company, and is individually numbered and DNA signed by the artist Thomas Kinkade." (I don't know what DNA signing is, but that in turn makes me think about Monica Lewinsky for some reason.)

Since my stomach was still empty this morning, I went over to the Kinkade website. Yep, they're done by GiclÃ©e: four nozzles and a DNA source.

Give me an artist, a sheet of blank paper, and three pencils.

cutiebunny · Post by **cutiebunny** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 8:46 am

I only have one repro cel and it did not come with a giclee background; It had a piece of black cardboard paper. So, I can't say what type of background repro cels have. I've heard that it's a xerox copy background, but, I don't know.

But, at least in the case of my Pierrot cel, it appear to be hand-painted. Other than a lack of registration holes & sequence numbers, I wouldn't be able to tell it apart from those that were used under a camera. I don't know if the lines are xeroxed onto the cel, but, I would imagine so as that is the standard method. Perhaps if these repro cels were designed to be hankens or if Pierrot was selling them for megabucks, I could see the lines being done by hand.

I looked at the link and I didn't see any mention of repro or rilezu cels on it. I thought that was strange considering that this form of artwork has been around for several years. However, considering that the site is largerly geared towards American Animation, perhaps it's not an issue.

EDIT -

Since it's somewhat relevant to the lithograph issue, I found this article via BBC's website today.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/commen ... 067451.ece

So, just remember...if you want to sell your item for high, just claim that it's a lost Disney work, with a script that happened to land in Japan, was translated & edited for a Japanese audience. But Disney really did intend to do Gundam, honest!

Keropi · Post by **Keropi** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 2:09 pm

I never quite understood the desire to spend a lot of money on printed artwork that originally came in another form.

But I guess when you really love an image you do those kinds of things. Maybe it's also for the ambiance that the piece adds to your home? Sometimes it's difficult explaining why someone might desire to collect things.

Post by **sensei** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 7:36 pm

cutiebunny wrote:I only have one repro cel and it did not come with a giclee background; It had a piece of black cardboard paper. So, I can't say what type of background repro cels have. I've heard that it's a xerox copy background, but, I don't know.

But, at least in the case of my Pierrot cel, it appear to be hand-painted.

That at least is one point in favor of most repro cels that I've heard about (though I've rarely been tempted to bid on or buy one): that a human artist is at least present at its creation. My disgust was largely based on the original question: whether a Pix-Cel (i.e., a cel created by running a sheet of acetate through a high-quality ink-jet printer) was the same as a repro cel. (The issue of backgrounds sold with such cels is a different matter.)

Myself, I enjoy looking at production cels through a loupe and seeing all the imperfections that result from the rather rushed process of producing an image that got slapped onto a light table and whose shadow appears on the screen when I pause my DVD at that point of the final broadcast episode. Yeah, yeah, it's fetishistic. But that makes for me the item worth having -- that it is a bit of anime history -- more so than the most polished sericel or Pix-Cel or even hand-painted rilezu, no matter how much of Ichigo Kurosaki's DNA is stuck to the back of it.

Just a grumpy old purist's 50 yen.

klet · Post by **klet** » Fri Mar 26, 2010 5:51 pm

I do believe one of my OP repros was open when I bought it. Let me go check.

EDIT: Two were. Color copy background, hand-painted cel, complete with register holes and outlining done on the front in colored paint pens (or however cel artists do that outlining . . .).

I'm not sure how the lines are done, though. They do have the look of xeroxed lines (you know how if you look closely, you can see tiny bits of flecking that's been there from the beginning). On the other hand, I've never known the majority of repro cels to fade. Perhaps it has something to do with the level of care they're given from the get-go? I've seen some older repros with what appears to be line fading.

ReiTheJelly · Post by **ReiTheJelly** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 9:23 am

klet wrote:I've seen some older repros with what appears to be line fading.

One of mine has intense line-fading. http://stemcels.rubberslug.com/gallery/ ... mID=182396

This one came in a real frame, so I imagine the previous owner had it hanging on their wall, hence all the line fading.

The only printed repro I have is from Studio Ghibli. The majority of the "cels" they sell at their museum are Art Print Cels. The hand-painted repros are only select items and tend to cost a lot more (on top of Ghibli's already ridiculously high prices).
http://stemcels.rubberslug.com/gallery/ ... mID=119441
(this piece has a color copy background)

Goldknight · Post by **Goldknight** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:49 pm

Well apparently a Pix-Cel is entirely printed. Not just the lines, but the whole thing. Repros from what I've read and heard have lines that are printed/xeroxed on, but the handpainted colored in. If that's the case it simply amazes me at how dealers of american animation can sell Pix-Cel's for such obscene prices. What a freakin joke!

dark-water-dragon · Post by **dark-water-dragon** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 1:19 am

Goldknight wrote:Well apparently a Pix-Cel is entirely printed. Not just the lines, but the whole thing. Repros from what I've read and heard have lines that are printed/xeroxed on, but the handpainted colored in. If that's the case it simply amazes me at how dealers of american animation can sell Pix-Cel's for such obscene prices. What a freakin joke!

I think this is how studios take advantage of people who have not done their research on these cels just so they can make a few extra bucks. It's just so sad to me. You put a name plate on it, a nice looking stamp, inexpensive printing, and a $500 price tag. Where is the justice, tell me where is the justice.