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An original production cel featuring one of the fleeing Pepperlanders during the Blue Meanies' invasion of Pepperland, as seen through the eyes of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, who continue to perform inside the anti-music missile bubble above.
This is a fleeting, almost "blink and you'll miss it" moment from the sequence, yet the character is captured here in full stride, arms outstretched in panic, with great movement, rhythm, and expression.
Centrally positioned and beautifully painted, this cel demonstrates the expressive design style pioneered by Heinz Edelmann, whose pop-art sensibility defined the look of Yellow Submarine. Each Pepperlander was given a distinctive silhouette and exaggerated posture to heighten the sense of chaos and musical surrealism as Pepperland falls under attack.
Unusually, the cel is painted on a large vertical acetate sheet rather than a standard 12- or 16-field format. This was a deliberate production choice for this specific sequence, which required extended field artwork to accommodate the vertical panning shots used to convey depth and scale, as the Blue Meanies' attack expands across the Pepperland landscape and the missile dome dominates the upper composition. The larger cel allowed the animators to maintain continuous character movement across a wider painted area, eliminating the need to cut or reposition the acetate mid-pan.
A rare survivor from one of animation's most visually daring films, this cel represents both the technical innovation and the boundless creativity that made Yellow Submarine an enduring pop-culture milestone. Dimensions (cel on background): 39 cm x 56.5 cm (15.25" x 22.25")
Sold without copyright; see copyright notice in the Terms and Conditions.
Estimate: £300 - 600 M
View all lots from YELLOW SUBMARINE (1968)