Home Video and Animation Art do not seem to have a lot in common at first glance but actually they have two distinct connections. The first one is purely financial and not nearly as exciting as the second which is the thrill of collecting and owning tangible reminders of distant memories.

Most major studios have created divisions solely to exploit these two relatively new, revenue-grabbing avenues. George Johnston's article, "Growth Looms In The Made-For-Video Animation Market," details the lucrative nature of direct-to-home videos and thus, this market's appeal for many companies, both large and small. In the same vein "Collecting Animation Art 101" by Steven Grossfeld outlines the many different forms of animation art that exist for sale. Fifteen years ago the average person probably didn't even know what animation art was. Now, they have a myriad of choices and they know they want this stuff because it is cool. It is trendy. With no shortage of product to choose from and outlets to purchase from, consumers have made studios realize the gold mine on which they have been sitting.

No longer a surprise, home video and animation art releases are now assumed. As I left the theater after Hercules, I had to have heard a few children saying, "Yea, I liked that one. Can we get the video?" And people have been musing, "I wonder when and who is going to distribute the Anastasia cels?" before principal animation was even completed. Furthermore, while true original production cels often don't even exist from newer productions, cels are created just to meet the demand that has been masterfully created. It should be noted as well, that a publicity campaign is not in the works advertising the fact that digital ink and paint is eliminating a lot of original production cels. I wonder how many people out there swear that they have original production art when what they really have is limited editions taken from original production art.