Acme has a website called CharacterKey.com which is dedicated to releasing and selling our character keys and other exclusives during Comic-Con and Celebration V. There is a link to CharacterKey.com on Acme Archives Direct which will take customers to that site. CharacterKey.com is a separate website and is not part of Acme Archives Direct. Shopping carts and registrations are separate for each site. Characterkey.com uses a secure shopping cart provided by UltraCart.
If you would like to submit your artwork to us, please email artsubmissions[at]acmearchives.com. When emailing us let us know where we can see your artwork, either online or select one image to send to us as an example of your work. Please do not submit artists that you think would be good for our program, those artists will need to approach us directly. Unfortunately we do not accept submissions for any of the Twentieth Century Fox properties (such as Simpsons, Family Guy, etc...)
We offer two options for our canvas artwork.
Stretched is a canvas stretched and stapled on the back to a thin wooden frame (also known as a stretcher bar). A stretched canvas is ready for framing.
Gallery Wrap is a canvas stretched and secured to a thick wooden frame stapled on the back with a hanging wire. A gallery wrapped canvas is suitable for hanging on the wall.
Gallery Wrap image samples (clicking on image will open larger in separate window)
This website is owned and run by Acme Archives Limited. We are located in Burbank, California. Our business hours are 9:30am-5:30pm PST Monday through Friday. If you wish to contact us, you can call us at (818) 252-1500, email us through our Contact Form or directly at info@acmearchives.com.
Correspondence can be addressed to us at:
Acme Archives Limited 7575 San Fernando Road Burbank, CA 91505
Please note that we are not open to the public and do not have pick up available.
For the Holidays, Acme will be closed Dec 24th-26th and Dec 31st-Jan 2nd.
We do not accept returns of original production artwork, this includes animation cels and drawings. If artwork arrives damaged, please contact us within 5 days of receipt and we will work with you to get a suitable replacement. Please note that original artwork has been used in production and may have small scratches on cels or slight creases in drawings. This is normal wear and tear.
We do accept returns on limited editions. We must be contacted within 10 days from the date you received your order. Once we have approved the return, the customer is responsible for the cost of shipping the artwork back as well as a 15% restocking fee. We will not issue a credit or exchange until the returned artwork has arrive in house. If a piece arrives damaged, we will issue a return label and assist the customer in the return and replacement of the artwork. Please do not send a return without first receiving authorization from us. We do not accept returns on items that are done custom. Paypal refunds may take 4-5 days to process through Paypal. Credit cards refund usually take 1-2 days to process through Authorize.net.
Please note that if a framed item is damaged that is a larger piece or has been shipped internationally, we may issue a refund for the frame cost instead of having the piece shipped back to us and the frame replaced.
Please email us using the contact form or directly at info@acmearchives.com or call us at (818) 252-1500 for further information.
We currently accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express. We now also accept Paypal.
We do not offer layaway options.
Please note that when paying with Paypal or with a credit card, payment is taken at the time of purchase. If you have shipping questions or need to combine a shipment, please email us before placing the order. If a different email account is used to pay with Paypal then is used on the order, we will email to confirm the payment is valid before shipping. If you are an international customer having checkout issues when paying with a credit card, we recommend using Paypal as an alternate checkout option. Paypal also processes credit cards and does not require an account or registration.
All ordering, price quotes, stock status and shipping quotes are provided online. We do encourage using the convenience of our website to place orders. You are welcome to call us with an order at (818) 252-1500 and we can place the order for you through our website. While we do accept email inquiries on our products, due to security issues, we can not accept retail orders through email. We do not have layaway options or accept partial payments.
We do have a mailing list. When registering for an account with us please make sure to check the box that says "please send me email notifications..." If you do not want to be on our mailing list please leave the box unchecked. You can also sign up for our mailing list by going to the Mailing List link on our top bar.
If you are on our mailing list and no longer want to receive our mailings, please click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email or fill out our contact form asking to be removed from our list.
Current order process time is three to four business days for in stock items.
It generally takes one to two business days for us to process an in stock order (prior to shipping it). If you absolutely need same day shipping, please contact us before placing the order. If you have a specific date your order must be delivered by please contact us to check stock and processing time before placing the order. Once the order has been shipped, your estimated time of arrival will be determined by your selected shipping method for delivery. A framed item will take 8-14 business* days to process due to the fact that we do not keep framed items in stock. Stretching or Gallery Wrap will also add 5-14 business days to your process time. Editions that are signed by the artist may take longer to ship. Orders placed over the weekend are not processed until Monday.
New releases may take several extra days to ship depending on demand and availability.
**Please note during the holiday season, our bi-annual sales and Comic-Con, orders may take longer than normal to process **
*business days means that weekends and holidays are excluded, please keep that in mind when calculating your process time
We are closed on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas day and New Years Eve. Orders will not be processed on these days.
No. Currently our website is the only catalog available.
Normally when placing an order successfully, you will receive an order confirmation page on the final step of your order. You will then receive an email confirmation. If you do not receive either, please log in to My Account to view your Order History/Status to verify that the order was placed.
Please note that Paypal and credit card payment are taken at the time the order is placed. If you have requested additional options like framing, stretching or gallery wrapping, it will take 10-14 business days for your order to ship. If an item is signed by the artist, additional processing time may be involved.
Original production cels are one of a kind pieces of original production art that was actually used in the making of the animated show. A series of cels are photographed in sequential order creating the illusion of movement. While some cels from a sequence may look similar, each cel is unique. Cels are hand-painted by overseas studios on clear acetat that are either 12-field size (10.5 x 12.5 inches) or 16-field size (16.5 x 13.5 inches).
The majority of animated shows and movies are now digital which means that the only production element available are drawings. Some shows were originally done on cel, but have moved to the digital process like The Simpsons which went digital beginning with Season 14. Other shows like Family Guy and Futurama have been digital from the beginning and have never had cels available from the show unless it was a specially created one of one or limited edition.
The term cel is derived from the word "celluloid" an early form of the material used in the animation industry until the mid-1940's. More recent cels are painted on clear acetate. Cel is commonly misspelled as "cell."
We do offer framing on the majority of our products. When adding an item to your shopping cart, there is an option to choose framing. Framing varies in cost and type. Some items have custom framing. Our general framing for items is square black frame with acid-free mat, snapline and plexiglass (non UV). Canvas artwork is framed without plexiglass. When possible, we put up a framed image of the product on the product page. If you would like to find out about the framing of an item, please contact us via our Contact Form and we will do our best to send you an image or a description of the framing available.
We do not generally keep framed items in stock (this includes gallery wrapped or stretched items as well). When ordering a framed item, please be aware that it may take up to 14 business days to process and ship the order. Please let us know if you need something within a specific time frame and we will try our best to accomodate you.
If ordering off our website to have it framed, we recommend waiting until you actually have the piece before purchasing frame materials as our sizing may refer to either the image size or the paper size (and may be rounded to the nearest quarter inch). Many of our prints have borders to make it easier for framers to mat and frame them.
We ship via Fedex and USPS (United States Postal Service) both internationally and domestically. Listed below are the methods available as well as estimated shipment times. The majority of our shipments originate from our warehouse located in Burbank, California. These shipment estimates are from the time the order is shipped and are not relative to the order processing time.
The $3.95 shipping option (Fedex Ground) may be sent without a signature required if the value of the order is under $200. If an order is over $200, a signature is generally required. In the event of a high traffic holiday such as Christmas, a signature will be required on all shipments unless otherwise requested. Oversized pieces with a shipment option of USPS chosen may be changed to Fedex to ensure safer delivery. If you need to have a signature required for delivery, please choose a Fedex option as USPS shipments do not require a signature. Please note that overseas customers may be subject to additional customs charges or clearance fees. Acme is not responsible for these additional fees. Tracking information for USPS may not be in real time and orders may be received before USPS has updated their website that they have received the package. There is nothing that Acme can do about this fact and we recommend selecting Fedex for up to date tracking information and timely shipping. USPS orders for countries outside the US ship to that country's postal service for delivery which can cause further delivery delays.
If you would like to combine shipping on multiple orders, please email us so we can change your order to a different process. If you note that you want combined shipments during the order process, we may not be able to accomodate you as our shipping labels are automated. If you have placed an order with multiple items and an item is out of stock, the order will generally be held until all items are in stock. We do not ship items as they becomes available unless requested.
Please note that most orders go out within 24-48 hours.** USPS orders add an extra 24 hours to the process time. There may be some exceptions if a piece is out of stock. If this happens, you will receive an email with an estimated ship date. Framed pieces are not normally kept in stock. Framing can add an additional 8-14 business days to the ship date. Please contact us via the Contact Form on our site with special requests or to check stock on an item. We currently do not ship to PO Boxes or to APO addresses. Signed artwork may take longer to ship depending on artist availability.
To find out shipping costs for artwork, you can add the product to the shopping cart and begin the checkout procedure. Once you fill out your customer information you will be taken to a page with shipping options and costs. If you decide at this point that you do not want to continue the checkout process then just close out the window or click on another link (like HOME) to go back to our main site.
*this ship time is approximate, customs processing may add additional shipping time **orders placed during holiday times or Comic-Con may take longer to ship out
Shopping cart problems usually occur for one or more of the following reasons:
1. Cookies are not enabled or your browser has been configured to block our site. Cookies may become corrupted and require you to clear your cookies and cache and restart your browser before continuing.
2. The master clock on the computer is not set correctly.
3. The item you are trying to purchase is out of stock, or there is a lesser quantity available than you wish to purchase.
4. The computer you're using is behind a firewall.
5. Your browser is not compatible with our website. Our website works best with Internet Explorer versions 6 & 7 and Firefox versions 2 & 3.
If all else fails, try closing all open programs and restart your computer, or try from a different computer.
