Moebius painted cel from Internal Transfer

And now one of the cels from the scene. These are traditionally created cels in which all ink and paint is applied by hand (i.e., the line work is not created with cel xerography). The line work (the inking) is hand painted on the top of the cel, tracing the animation drawing. Note that the inking is color matched and perfectly smooth - there are other cels from Internal Transfer in which the linework is clearly a direct copy of the pencils from the animation drawing, and transferred to the cel via xerography. Looking closely, I'm certain that the inking was done by Moebius himself (just as the animation drawings were by Moebius). I've worked in animation for years, and have painted cels myself, and this is the work of a master with a fine brush, and not the work of a cel painter or an assistant.

This film was a passion project while Moebius was part of new-age guru Jean-Paul Appel-Guery's community (i.e., cult). Appel-Guery apparently wrote the scenario (he'd also written the 1982 comic 'Voyage Intemporel' or Timeless Voyage). What was completed of this film was done with minimal budget and likely no animation professionals. The disparity between the drawings and cels that were done by Moebius, and by others associated with the project, is dramatic.

What I find particularly interesting and wonderful about this work is that, as far as I have been able to discover, this is the only time Moebius actually did animation himself (as opposed to character and set designs, layouts, story boards, etc.), much less actually painted cels!

I've yet to find any source where Giraud talks about this production. He seems to have quickly soured on his association with Appel-Guery, and felt some embarassment.