Ride Em Sam!

ABOUT THE IMAGE: “Whoa Nellie! Whoa Mule!” Yosemite Sam hangs on tight for the two fisted, shoe flying, rootinest, tootinest ride that ever a bronco buster braved. This limited edition cel from famed Warner Bros. director Friz Freleng shows the contrast between the sketchy “rough” animation drawings (on the background) and the “cleaned up” look of an inked and painted cel. The rough drawings capture the feel and movement of the cartoon’s storyboard, translating the director’s ideas into motion.

ABOUT THE MEDIUM:  This limited edition cel and background setup were developed from an original drawing by animation great Friz Freleng. The maser inking of Yosemite on the horse was silkscreened onto an acetate sheet (or “cel”). The cel was also silkscreened with the Warner Bros. Masters Collection/Friz Freleng seal. The cel was then painted on the reverse side, bringing the characters to life with color. Special attention was paid in the printing of the background in order to maintain the delicate quality of the original sketches. In the final step of production, the edition number was hand-inked on each cel.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Friz Freleng was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer and composer known for his work at Warner Brothers on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons.  He introduced and/or developed several of the studio's biggest stars, including Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester the cat, Yosemite Sam and Speedy Gonzalez.  Freleng directed more cartoons than any other director in the studio (a total of 266), and is also the most honored of the Warner directors, having won five Academy Awards.