For collectors of animation art

Find the moment your cel was painted for

Every production cel was made for a few frames of a real film or TV episode. Share a photo of yours and Pegbar finds the scene, the frame and the second it appeared on screen.

Check my cel
  • Just a photo of the front
  • Your photo stays on your device
Robin Hood · 1973 · Sherwood camp83 frames

Step through Tuck’s scene

Press play to see the shot at its real speed. Your cel shows faintly over every drawing, so you can see how far off the others are, and fills in on the frame it was made for.

Your cel · frame 67
29:05Frame 67 of 83
Your cel
Each bar shows how well your cel lines up with that drawing. The gold bar is the match.Scene time 121.5 to 124.9 seconds
Xerox cels, 1960s to 1990s

Why a cel can be matched

From the 1960s, studios stopped inking cels by hand and copied each animator’s drawing straight onto the cel with a Xerox process. Painters then filled in the colours by hand on the back. Disney worked this way from 101 Dalmatians in 1961 to The Little Mermaid in 1989, and TV series such as The New Batman Adventures were still made on cels in the late 1990s.

That means the lines on your cel are the animator’s own lines, sitting where they sat under the camera. Pegbar compares those lines with every frame of the scene.

The paints on the Friar Tuck cel, sampled from the dealer’s photo.

How matching works
Pegbar match card
The Friar Tuck cel sitting on its frame from Robin Hood. Frame 67 of 83
Friar Tuck
Robin Hood · 1973
In the film29:05
Scene
Sherwood camp
On screen
2 frames
Fit
Within an ink line
Checked
83 of 83 frames
Pegbar matchNo. 0001
The match card

Every match gets a card

It records the film, the scene and the second your cel is on screen. Slip it behind the backing board, or add it to a listing when the cel changes hands.

What the match tells you

  • The drawing on your cel appears in the film, at this frame.
  • Which scene it’s from, the time, and how long the drawing stays on screen.

What still needs a person

  • Whether your cel is the one that was filmed. A sericel or reproduction printed from the same drawing can line up too.
  • Paint, condition, stamps and seals. Someone has to look at the cel itself.
For galleries & auction houses

Put the scene on the lot page

Buyers can see the cel sitting on its frame, with the time in the film, without leaving your listing.

  • Works from the photos you already take.
  • Names the scene and the time, so the description doesn’t have to guess.
  • Flags cels that aren’t from the film, with the reason.
How it works for galleries
Example listing
Lot 214

Friar Tuck production cel

Robin Hood, Walt Disney Productions, 1973. Gouache on acetate, framed.

Seen in the film at 29:05Watch the scene on Pegbar
Your cel

Check your own cel

One good photo is enough. Pegbar matches it against every frame in its library, right here in your browser, so the photo never leaves your device.

Match my cel