Jessica Rabbit cel

Up next I have a cel of Jessica Rabbit - a mighty hot pose too. lol. The cel has been trimmed slightly, it is measuring approximately 12"x10". Putting it inside a mylar sleeve first, I then place the cel on the paper. I try to avoid placing the cel directly on the paper while painting, one might scratch or worse still, accidentally wet the cel and cause the paint to stick. Using a light pencil, I roughly mark out the edges of the cel. This is to give myself a frame to work within, so I know where to stop painting.

I do a light sketch of the background. Next I added some masking fluid to cover up 3 tiny windows of the background. The masking fluid will dry up and block out the paint. This is to prevent the paint from getting into the windows. I use toothpicks to do the job since the windows were really small. I try never to use any of my brushes for masking fluid, because they tend to dry up and damage one's brushes if not rinsed properly.
All the same, I try to avoid using masking fluid if I can because it smells like rotten eggs. (sulphur). yeecckss *holds nose*

Now, I start by painting a faint layer of yellow. This is to give the background some "glow" after the main blue is washed over.

Next I wash the blue all over.

Then I paint a ligher faint of blue on the left. This is where the tower will be later.


On the right I use a darker tone blue. I use a flat brush of large washes, they cover up really fast.






I start to add some details - mostly the windows and outlining the towers.



I add more windows. It is starting to resemble Toontown.




Then I add the tower on the left. I use a dirty brown on top of the blue background, hence giving it a blue-ish brown hue.



Adding some details to the tower.




Now, I painted a dark blue shadow on the tower's right to give some perspective. I also darked the tower's windows to give it some depth.



Alright, finally almost everything is done, we're left with the tiny windows which I had covered using masking fluid. The fluid has hardened into a layer of rubber, which I gently erase using my finger. It pretty much easily peeled off.



I added a yellow shade over the windows.




Alright!! Done!!





This would how it will look like after the corners of the background has been matted out.
I hope you had fun reading this post! =)

Peter Pan cel - John Michael Wendy

Here we have a cel of John Michael and Wendy from Peter Pan. The cel was trimmed, it was originally a Disney Art Corner set-up which sold in Disneyland through the 1950s- 1970s.

This is the screen capture of the cel. My apologies for the not-so-good quality. I grabbed this from YouTube, somehow my Dvd player could not print screen, the images disappear after I turn off the Dvd player.

Sadly I did not take much pictures during the process of making this background (this was the first one I did), hence I only have the final background up for pictures.


I deliberately left an empty space where the cel would lay, because the paint of the cel was already moistened by the background paint and showed signs of sticking to the background. Hence I painted just enough so the cel could lay over nicely. I did not do a full 16-field background because the cel being trimmed, would be framed and matted eventually around its edges.


This is how it would look like when the edges of the background have been matted out. It took me about 4 hrs to paint the background. It was really interesting to study the background, the evident influences of Mary Blair struck me, especially when I was painting the leaves. One reason I love painting background for 1950s cels were because most of the Disney movies made in that era were art-directed by Blair - Cinderella, Alice In Wonderland, Peter Pan etc. I love Mary Blair's work, they're so dreamy and its amazing how she plays with the colors. For example, in this background, she uses blue for some of the leaves. I would never have though of it.

First Post

Hi! Welcome to my blog! Assuming you found my blog, you are probably an animation art fan. Handpainted Backgrounds is my first blog creation, it is to document the painting process of creating custom handpainted backgrounds for cels. Hopefully some of us will find this useful and start picking up our brushes. Its not that hard to paint! =)

On a more serious note, I began painting animation art backgrounds to enhance my personal cel collection, it is an incredible hobby. Not only I have met many incredible people all over the world through my cel collection, I also picked up loads of animation knowledge along the way. This blog is dedicated to a very special mentor, Kathy, an excellent artist herself.

Sadly, background painting is a dying form of art as most animation studios are moving towards the 3D direction. If I could past forward myself a couple of decades, I would have loved to work in the Ink and Paint Department at Disney. In real life, I am just a 21 yr college student in Singapore studying something with no relation to art or animation. Unfortunately, none of my peers are as passionate as my "silly cartoons" and it can be quite a lonely hobby sometimes. :( I can only share my love for old school animation through my cel collection, and of course, this new blog.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog, even though if you don't paint. Feel free to comment, I always enjoy hearing feedback.
Susan