How many cels does it take to make a cartoon?
All film (live action or animation) is photographed and projected at 24 frames per second. However, for theatrical animation, most cels need to be photographed twice to make the timing and action correct. For television animation, which is not as fluid (due to cost and time constraints), most cels are photographed 3 or 4 times. So there are approximately 4000 to 5000 cels for both a 6 minute theatrical cartoon short and a 23 minute television cartoon. Out of these cels, the number that are sold is greatly reduced due to factors that affect their collectibility. These are: closed eyes, back of heads, too small of images, secondary characters, or obstruction of the characters. It is estimated that from any cartoon only about 10% to 15% of all the cels used to make the cartoon are sold to collectors.
