Reproduction animation cel made for a 1988 celebration of the 60th anniversary of the landmark Disney animated short film Steamboat Willie. The cel features a drawing of Mickey Mouse slipping on a bar of soap, a scene from the film, in black ink on a transparent cellulose acetate background. Steamboat Willie is a landmark in the history of animation because it was the first Mickey Mouse film released as well as the first animated film with synchronized sound.
A celluloid (or cel) is a transparent sheet used in the process of hand-drawn animation. Characters were drawn on cels and superimposed on a fixed background image to reduce the number of reproductions necessary to produce an animation. <i>The Little Mermaid</i> was the last Disney feature film to use this hand-drawn method of animation. Starting with the 1990 feature film <i>The Rescuers Down Under</i>, Walt Disney Animation Studios began using a digital method of animation known as the Disney Computer Animation Production System (CAPS).
