The first ever drawing of The Beatles ' famous Yellow Submarine which is dubbed the 'holy grail of memorabilia ' is set to fetch more than £10,000 at auction . The unique psychedelic cartoon , which is hand-painted , depicts the eponymous submarine from the 1968 film in which the Fab Four travel to Pepperland to save it from the Blue Meanies . The rare celluloid painting , known as a cel , was used as a master version from which artists working on the film created all other images of the wacky vessel . The first ever drawing of The Beatles ' famous Yellow Submarine which is dubbed the 'holy grail of memorabilia ' is set to fetch more than £10,000 when it is sold at auction in Dallas , Texas , on Thursday . The rare celluloid painting , known as a cel , was used as a master version from which artists working on the Yellow Submarine film created all other images of the wacky vessel . The 1968 film starred The Beatles ( above ) It features handwritten notes instructing artists on the correct colours to use when recreating the submarine . More than 240 artists and animators worked full time for an entire year to produce the film using revolutionary techniques , and it is credited with helping boost the popularity of animation . Yellow Submarine was a critical success on its release and led onto The Beatles ' 10th studio album the following year . The single Yellow Submarine , written by Paul McCartney and sung by Ringo Starr , had featured on the 1967 album Revolver and spent four weeks at the top of the UK charts . Original examples of cels from Yellow Submarine are so sought after that experts have tipped the submarine cartoon to fetch £10,000 when it goes under the hammer on Thursday . Jim Lentz , director of animation art at Heritage Auctions which is hosting the sale in Dallas , Texas , said : 'Yellow Submarine is one of the most important animations of all time . Yellow Submarine was a success on its release and led onto The Beatles ' 10th studio album a year later . The single Yellow Submarine , written by Paul McCartney and sung by Ringo Starr , had featured on the 1967 album Revolver and spent four weeks at the top of the UK charts . The original cel is set to sell for £10,000 . 'It is a film that has stood the test of time and is as relevant today as when it was made in 1968 . The Band Concert is the most expensive cel sold . The most expensive animation celluloid , known as cel , to be sold in the world is The Band Concert by Disney . The animation , which is noted as the first colour Mickey Mouse cartoon , was released in 1935 . In the cartoon , Mickey is trying to lead a concert of the William Tell Overture , amid various distractions such as Donald Duck playing the wrong tune on his flute . The cel was sold in a private transaction in 1999 for a reported £280,000 ( $ 420,000 ) . 'The message of the film - all you need is love - is timeless . 'It is incredible to think the team behind the film put it together in only a year when at that time it would take up to four years to make a feature animation film . 'The animation was ground-breaking and that coupled with the fact that the film was all about the biggest band in the world is what made it so iconic . 'Amazingly , after the film was made the celluloid sheets were sold off in high street stores for as little as seven pounds . Now they are worth thousands . ' 'This is a rare hand-painted colour model cel painted by the ink and paint department for cel and animation reference . 'It would be one of the earliest final versions of the Yellow Submarine hand-painted - it really is the holy grail of Yellow Submarine memorabilia . 'Since small stickers were used for when the sub travelled there are not really a great deal of Yellow Submarine cels out there . 'This comes from a former Yellow Submarine ink and paint department employee . 'It is an unusually large image . Colour model cels were used also to help determine the final approved colour scheme of the yellow submarine . 'Colour model cels from this film are very rare , and this is one of the single best cels of the Yellow Submarine we have seen . ' The Animation Art Signature Auction will take place in Dallas , Texas on April 9 .
First drawing of Yellow Submarine to fetch more than £10,000 at auction . Rare celluloid painting depicts vessel used in 1968 film starring Revolver . Featuring handwritten notes , it was used as a master for animation team . Yellow Submarine was a success and led to The Revolver ' 10th studio album .