The walking dead

Animation Art Signature auction NY

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Heritage is having their Animation Art Signature auction next month in New York, selling valuable pieces of amazing artwork from the golden days of traditional animation. They have original sketches by Chuck Jones, concept pieces by Mary Blair and some amazing nitrate cells from Disneys early classics. The auction is being held on February 21 and 23th and online bidding is of course allowed (from February 2nd on).

Check out some of my favorites below, or hit the link and check out the complete collection on their website for yourself. Click the images to view the high-res quality.



Above: a gorgeous original handpainted background and cell from the Clyde Geronimi directed Donald short Bill Posters from 1940.


A concept painting by color stylist Eyvind Earle from Sleeping Beaty from 1959. Watching reruns of cartoons shows like Tartakovskys Samurai Jack, it always amazes me how much the new stuff reflects the actual style of early Disney concept artwork, much more then Disneys classic feature animations themselves, as these were merely conceptual designs for them back then, driving the art direction.


Another great piece of artwork, done of course by Mary Blair. Its a concept painting she did for Disneys animated feature Cinderella from 1950.


Absolutely brilliant! A hand drawn model sheet from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disneys first animated feature released in 1937.


One of the very first drawings ever of Wile E. Coyote by Chuck Jones. Its a first character concept study from the Chuck Jones collection, signed and Extremely RARE!


Production cel and original key master background from a scene with Figaro the cat from Pinocchio (February 7, 1940), painted by Disney artist Claude Coats. The fact that both are original and from the same scene makes the item very rare. Often cells are sold without a background, simply because there was only one background, and a whole lot of cells for any particular scene.