Neil's Akira Production Art
Hi Everyone.
Figured I might as well start out with this arrangement of some of the best pieces in my collection to provide a sense of scale. Each is unique and all were actually used in the creation of Katsuhiro Otomo's 'Akira'.
I've been a huge fan and passionate collector for many years.
Figured I might as well start out with this arrangement of some of the best pieces in my collection to provide a sense of scale. Each is unique and all were actually used in the creation of Katsuhiro Otomo's 'Akira'.
I've been a huge fan and passionate collector for many years.
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I nearly fell into the trap of collecting Disney Cells...would need a storage facility if I started that game.
gawd...I would have to give my wife my wallet 'cause I'd be all over any of the classics.
Have you gone to the Silver K gallery in Malvern Dave?
Yup...several times.
This piece is one of my favourite set-ups, even though it's from a relatively unimportant scene from the film.
It consists of four layers - 3 cels and the original hand painted background. Even though the shot is only onscreen for a couple of seconds, the artists went as far as painting individual rivets on the construction equipment, bevelling the 'F-57' garage door and including individual fluorescent bulbs in the windows of the background office windows. I also have many of the production sketches, known as douga and genga, used to plan the shot.
It appears in the film at 1:16:26 -
Certain frames contain many more layers than this. Some feature eight or more individual cels working together to create a full shot. Amongst collectors, these are known as key-master set-ups. They are very rare and highly sought after as a result. Mainly due to the fact that the cels in Akira ran at a rate of 24 frames per second instead of the usual 12. And backgrounds can remain on screen for up to 10 seconds at a time. The rarity of the backgrounds has been compounded by the fact that many of the backgrounds were used as packing material for the cels when they were shipped from Japan to the US in the early 90's to be used as promo items.
You can view some line tests from the production of the film here to get an idea of the immense amount of effort that went into creating Akira's animation at such a high frame rate and level of detail.
Great info, thank for sharing
This is one of the production sketches used to plan the background of the set-up above. The red lines indicate the visible screen area during what was a panning shot and act as a guide for the artists. For some reason, I've always liked the tape stains, notations and creases on a lot of these planning drawings.
Some are pretty amazing in their own right, like the one below that was used to plan how several cels would work together to create one of the film's big set pieces.
The wall is stunning. Well done!
David - With regard to the rarity of the planning drawings, the film was comprised of approximately 160,000 cels. From what I know, every one of them had a corresponding 'douga'. They are slightly less sought after and sadly a great many have been lost, damaged or destroyed over the past 28 years. It's anyone's guess how many are left.
Below, you'll find one of my favourite cel and douga pairings. Akira cost US$10million and was the most expensive anime ever produced when it was green lit in 1986. To remain on schedule, it required the combined efforts of many animation studios working round the clock. These two pieces come from a 'cut' or scene that was personally directed by Akira's creator - Katsuhiro Otomo, due to its immense complexity.
Aside from the fact that it looks pretty cool and is phenomenally well drawn, the douga features a lot of interesting production notes used to guide the colourists who hand painted each cel. I've been told the two little 'x's above the feet were placed there by Otomo, who was known to use a red pencil.
It's pretty simple. 2 cels and a flat grey painted background. But the composition, colour and detail are all exactly what many collectors look for.
The 'end' notation in the top right corner indicates that it would have been drawn by one of the lead animators who drew the first and last piece of each shot, along with a number of key frames throughout. These would then be strung together by more junior artists.
The cel can be seen at 2:04:26 in the link to Akira above. It's late in the film, so if you haven't seen Akira, you might want to watch it properly first. It's well worth it.
A full shot of the one of the two main characters in the film (Tetsuo) upon being shot by the other (Kaneda, see above) with a laser cannon. Cel and inset of the matching douga.
In several parts...
They have been conservation framed, floating behind museum standard uv protective perspex. Each layer has also been mounted to their own perspex layer using pocket corners to separate them and create a slight 3D effect.
This is to protect them against 'traceline fade' (damaging effect light can have on the linework that give the cels much of their definition and detailing) and from the cel layers sticking together, due to the paint acting like a glue when compressed. It also allows for the cels to flex as temperatures fluctuate, preventing the warping and possible cracking of the paint.
The process has been very time-consuming and expensive. But, I feel a sense of responsibility to preserve the art and didn't want them languishing in a folder somewhere. I love the art and seeing them on my wall always cheers me up.