What Has Cel Collecting Taught You?

[star-phoenix]

Hey Everyone! Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend and staying cool for the most part.

As we all know, we have all learned so much about collecting cels and about the animation hobby. What I would like to know is, what is the BIGGEST thing the hobby has taught YOU?

For me, I have learned how extremely impatient I can be when I see something I really want to obtain or if there is something I really want to do. Years of cel collecting has actually taught me to become more patient. And patience has proven to pay off tremendously, not only pertaining to this hobby, but to life in general.

[Keropi]

Hmm, I'm not sure.

I suppose it's that I better appreciate what I HAVE instead of what I don't have. I also learned that my hobbies are not worth getting aggravated over. I save my aggravation for Important Real Life Matters (TM).

[cutiebunny]

1000 recipes incorporating Top Ramen

I think that having a long term hobby requires that you hone the positive aspects of your personality, and, after years of doing so, helps you perfect them. Long term collectors not only need to be patient, but they need determination to stay on track for the long haul (and to get up at 4am to win stuff on YJ), kindness towards others, humility (such as how to deal with losing out on an item that they really wanted, especially if someone else in the community now owns it), and the ability to budget your purchases and yet still pay all your real life bills.

But that being said, going to conventions and standing line to get sketches from various guests has made me more of an extrovert. I used to really dislike talking with others, partially because I've always been able to read them. Often, I didn't like what I saw in them, and as such, wanted nothing to do with them. My experience has been that most people who are in this hobby are very kind people that love what they collect and want to share that enjoyment with others. They realize that the best way in keeping their hobby alive and well into the next century is to get others interested in it, and the best way to do that is by positively interacting with others. I can't speak for others, but I've handed out lots of free shikishi boards during the various conventions I've attended, not in the hope of acquiring that sketch in the future, but to get others interested in what I collect enough to want to open their own gallery and work on their own collection. Yes, it does create more competition, but I've also made some good friends doing it.

[genomexec]

Value things yourself. Don't become susceptible to other people's influence when it comes to what makes you happy.

In cel collecting, just buy the images you want. Forget what the popular characters are, forget what the community calls an "A" cel or a "B" cel. Just buy what looks good to you.

In life, I think this resonates. Don't make decisions just because they seem to be popular with the people around you.

[sensei]

I'd say, as with many things in life, to confront the question, "Now you've got it, what are you gonna do with it?" As Keropi said, that involves appreciating what is in your collection rather than (as with many collectors that I saw burn out along the way) constantly chasing after the wishlist that they "needed" to have and then neglecting this once it arrives in favor of the next "wishlist." But it also includes a bigger commitment to animation art.

One side of this is ensuring that the physical objects are housed in a way that will keep them in good condition for the long term. As many enthusiastic collectors have found, the chemically active nature of cels and many kinds of paper involve stabilizing them and investing in good quality archival storage materials.

The other side is learning to understand the larger craft of animation and the value of anime as a matured art form, which in my opinion it now is. Then find ways in which the objects you own can help shed light on the processes that lead to the creation of "images in motion" that are normally invisible to those who view only the final product. Or how looking closely at a single frozen image, which might only be seen for a fraction of a second in the anime, can illustrate the artistic principles that make up the aesthetic of anime.

That sounds a bit pretentious, I admit, but the more I've collected and gone back and looked closely at items in my collection, I'm constantly surprised at how complex they are in composition, with all kinds of clever detail that no one was ever expected to notice during a normal viewing of the animated footage. And I think this holds true in other sides of the total anime process: scripts, music, voice acting, etc. It takes a lot to surprise a Ph.D. in literature and cultural studies, and I'm constantly being surprised by what I collect.

[Gonzai]

Karma - If you are meant to have something, it will be yours, if you are not meant to have it, you won't.

I find that the series and characters that I prefer to collect, other people don't really care about,
however, you have those one or two people that do collect, and they are the ones that always
have the money to spend and get what they want.

It used to bother me, but now I realize it is all karma. If something is meant to be mine, I will have
it and am thrilled that I do. If someone else gets it, then so be it. If it is meant to be mine, I will
end up with it someday. ^_^

[theultimatebrucelee]

I learned that self control could be crucial in this hobby and that slow and steady is the best way to build up collection in current economy. I think its important to distinguish the difference between hobby and obsession as later could lead to financial problems, which might be much more problematic in the long run than not having certain items in collection.

[JWR]

In my case over the last few years of collecting is that I found out that I am more at peace with my own self than I had been earlier in my my life. What I mean is I do not really get caught up the game played by some that try to compare what they have to others and secretly (or sometimes not so secretly) believe that their collection is so much better others. We collect what we like and appreciate it whether it is from a popular series or just one we like for our own reasons. I'm happy when someone else likes what we display in our gallery but I could be just as happy with it if I never recieved a single positive feedback email.

There was a time when I was so caught up in competition during the days I used to shoot on a national level that it was hard to separate that from my normal everyday life. A couple of life changing episodes occured just before I expanded my collecting from just comic art to include cels. First was a torn ACL that forced me to retire from competitive shooting and then soon after that my best friend got sick and then passed away from cancer.

Those episodes changed my outlook a lot. Seeing bluntly that nothing lasts forever and can be gone in a blink of an eye we changed to being much more carefree and started living much more in the moment. So with our collecting we got what we liked that made us happy to view it and know we own it.

Another thing the episodes taught me is that while we collect "things" we like and make us happy, they are still just "things". While my collection is insured, if I ever had an episode with a fire or worse, my wife and the cats are the high priority to get out first, artwork only if there is time.