ORIGINAL PRODUCTION CELS:Original production cels are one of a kind pieces of original production art that was actually used in the making of the animated show.  A series of cels are photographed in sequential order creating the illusion of movement.  While some cels from a sequence may look similar, each cel is unique.  Cels are hand-painted by overseas studios on clear acetate that are either 12-field size (10.5 x 12.5 inches) or 16-field size (16.5 x 13.5 inches). The majority of animated shows and movies are now digital which means that the only production element available are drawings.  Some shows were originally done on cel, but have moved to the digital process like The Simpsons which went digital beginning with Season 14.  Other shows like Family Guy and Futurama have been digital from the beginning and have never had cels available from the show unless it was a specially created one of one or limited edition.Please note that some images of cels on our site may show the cels before they are restored - before shipping, linework is inspected and restored if needed.The term cel is derived from the word "celluloid" an early form of the material used in the animation industry until the mid-1940's.  More recent cels are painted on clear acetate.  Cel is commonly misspelled as "cell."Please note that since the cels have been used in the production of the show, there may be some scratches or slight paint imperfections.  Depending on how many cels are part of the setup, there may be a slight "fogginess" due to the layers.ORIGINAL PRODUCTION DRAWINGS:Prior to creating cels or scanning artwork into a computer, the production process begins with a drawing. Rough drawings or layouts are created by key animators to establish pose and action while clean up drawings are done by clean up artists to produce finished line art that is ready to be painted either manually or digitally. Please note that since the drawings have been used in the production of the show, there may be some discoloration or creases in the paper. There may also be erasure marks from production.ORIGINAL PRODUCTION BACKGROUNDS:Most of our cel setups come with reproduced backgrounds, but select setups are released with the original background which makes them an exact representation of what was shot on camera in order to animate the scene. Simpsons backgrounds are unique in the fact that the original backgrounds are painted on cels with cel paint. The majority of original backgrounds for animated shows were painted on watercolor paper using cel or watercolor paint. Cels that are sold with original backgrounds are called Collectors Portfolio pieces or Key Master Setups.