1980’s ANIMATION CEL & Painted Background / Van Camp’s Pork And Beans Commercial

A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet of acetate on which objects are painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. This animation cel is from a television commercial for everyone’s favorite pork and beans, Van Camp’s. The label on the cans the friendly wiener is holding were used by Van Camp’s in the late 70’s to early 80’s so this can be dated to circa 1980. The image is painted on the back of the acetate with finer details (eyes, mouth, highlight lines, text) are painted first and the solid colors are then painted over the detail work (see the photo of the back). This cel comes with a rare original airbrush painted background of a stage with a curtain in the background. An easy way to tell if an animation cel is real or just a reprint (or sericel) is to look for three holes along the bottom (a round hole in the middle and an elongated oval hole on either side. These holes are for pegs that hold the backgrounds and cels in place on an animation board while being filmed. There should also be writing or numbers along the bottom to indicate which scenes and production they are from. As you can see from the photos, both the cel and background have these. The cel and background have been professionally double matted and everything is in very good condition. The cel and background are approximately 12.5 x 10.75 inches and the mat in 17 x 19.5 inches. Be sure to check out my other listings for many unique and hard to find items.