Medusa's Pivotal Sequence

August 23, 2014, 7:18 pm

By many moviegoers and critics Disney Animation during the 1970s wasn’t hailed as the pioneering medium it once was. But there were still groundbreaking achievements in character animation being made, and this sequence is on one of them.

How on earth would you as an animator even dare to draw scenes in which a villainess takes off her make up during a conversation with a little girl?! This kind if business would seem too subtle for animation, and much more suitable for live action.

But if you are Milt Kahl, you live for challenges like this. He said he got a kick out of working out these scenes, partly because he had never seen anything like this done in animation before.

“I wanted to push the contrast between her eyes with the false eyelashes, and then without them. When she removes an eyelash there is’t any hair left at all. On the cels we had the inkers use a skin-tone outline (instead of black) around the eye, which gave a certain pale, vacant look.”

I consider this sequence as amazing and inventive as anything that was done during Disney’s Golden Age. What a statement in character acting!!

Ollie Johnston animated Penny, holding her Teddy bear while interacting with Medusa.

Milt was somewhat disappointed, because he had envisioned Penny holding on to the doorknob. The idea being that this thing is almost a friend to her at that moment.

I would go with Ollie’s version on this one, because the Teddy Bear is more important to the girl than a doorknob.

To see lots of Medusa rough drawings go to these previous posts:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/11/madame-medusa.html

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2013/03/happy-birthday-milt-kahl.html

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Quotes

August 25, 2014, 9:46 pm

≫ Next: Chuck Jones

≪ Previous: Medusa's Pivotal Sequence

…from Disney artists, who knew what they were talking about. In the past I have shown these and other “quote cards” during lectures on classic Disney animation, and sometimes they started off an interesting discussion.

I can certainly came up with more of these statements, based on interviews I have seen and what these guys actually told me.

Here is one, I forgot to add, by Milt Kahl:

“My wife (Julie) and I saw a review of ’The Black Cauldron” on local TV (in San Francisco). It was pretty bad, and I knew the film would be a prize stinker, so we didn’t bother watching it in a theatre. Later we both did enjoy ‘The Great Mouse Detective’ though, it looked like something fresh.”

Don Graham was head of Disney’s internal training program from 1932 - 1940. Chuck Jones called him the greatest American art teacher.

The closest you will ever come to his teachings is through his excellent 1970 book ”Composing Pictures”. It is in reprint and available at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Composing-Pictures-Donald-W-Graham/dp/193524700X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409025633&sr=1-1&keywords=composing+pictures+donald+graham

In other words, if it's not based on real life: Forget it!

It took me years to fully understand this.

Ward’s answer to a student’s question, referring to why the Disney classic films are so good with a quality unachievable today.

Yes…Marc did say that. And I respect him for it.

I wonder what he’d say about today’s animated features.

...as he did with Shere Khan. No rotoscoping, just a lot of live action film studies.

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Chuck Jones

August 27, 2014, 11:05 pm

≫ Next: Daan Jippes on Prince & the Pauper

≪ Previous: Quotes

Like most of you I am a HUGE fan of Chuck Jones. Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him on a number of occasions. On New Year’s day of 1990 Chuck invited a small group of Disney animators to pay him a visit at his home in Corona del Mar, California.

It turned out to be a wonderful afternoon with an animation genius. Chuck had been impressed by the film “The Little Mermaid” which had just been released. As he complimented us on our work, we couldn’t even begin to find words that described how much his work on the Looney Toons meant to us.

We were in such awe, I don’t think anybody thought of taking a photo with him. Bummer…

It is such a joy to study Chuck’s drawings. I can see a little influence by Fred Moore and Searle, but mostly Chuck Jones drew from his own life experiences. He comes up with the most amazing character designs, and the way he developed Bugs, Daffy, Porky Pig and all the others -graphically and personality wise- is simply incredible.

It is difficult to pick any favorites among his many outstanding films, but these three would be amongst them:

“Bewitched Bunny”, because the way Hansel and Gretel are portrayed with limited German vocabulary makes me laugh hysterically. (“Ja, ja, is gut…und yummy!”)

“A Bear for Punishment”, because Ken Harris’ animation of that bear family is hilarious and unmatched.

“What’s Opera, Doc?”, because…well, because!

Here are some of my favorite drawings, published in his 1989 book “Chuck Amuck”.

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Daan Jippes on Prince & the Pauper

August 30, 2014, 6:44 pm

≫ Next: Daan Jippes on Aladdin

≪ Previous: Chuck Jones

Famous Dutch Comic artist Daan Jippes worked at Disney Animation for a few years on movies like Beauty & the Beast and Aladdin. He also did storyboards and character designs for the 1990 Mickey Mouse featurette The Prince and the Pauper.

These are his story sketches for sequence 2, which shows Mickey being schooled by Horace Horsecollar. Not interested in the lesson at all, he prefers to tease his valet Donald Duck.

Dale Baer animated most, if not all of these scenes.

I don’t know any other artist who draws classic Disney character in a more lively and appealing way.

Every pose is pushed, drawn from interesting angles, full of personality. Daan’s work has the kind of rhythm and flair you see in vintage Disney comics as well as short films. His boards were always a great springboard for the animators.

Look at these tremendous, dynamic poses he drew for a little continuity sketch with detective Mickey.

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Daan Jippes on Aladdin

September 1, 2014, 4:57 pm

≫ Next: More Maleficent

≪ Previous: Daan Jippes on Prince & the Pauper

Here are a few more drawings by Daan Jippes.

They are early character designs for the Genie, the Thief, Aladdin and Abu. As usual Daan’s work is inventive, alive and very animatable. His influences are European comic greats like Franquin and Uderzo, and of course Disney’s Freddie Moore. But his art certainly has its own identity. What I love most about Daan’s stuff is that he keeps surprising you with unusual, unconventional poses, expressions and staging.

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More Maleficent

September 4, 2014, 12:31 am

≫ Next: Peet's and Kahl's Brer Fox

≪ Previous: Daan Jippes on Aladdin

This is a powerful scene, Maleficent is in full control. Her curse has come true, Aurora touched the spindle and lies dead on the floor. The Three Fairies are too late.

“You poor, simple fools..thinking you could defeat ME (the mistress of all evil).”

It is one of my favorite Maleficent moments, and Marc Davis gave the character a majestic but evil appearance. These are the drawings of a master at the top of his form. Her expressions are demonic, yet beautifully designed. And boy…do I love her oversized, expressive, claw-like hands.

I will be talking much more about Maleficent and all of Marc Davis’ characters as well as his Disneyland designs and Fine Art at the Walt Disney Family Museum on Saturday, September 13.

Bob Kurtz, animation artist and producer extraordinaire, who was a student of Marc at Chouinard Art Institute, will co-host this talk on the art of Marc Davis with me.

It is an afternoon, I am very much looking forward to.

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Peet's and Kahl's Brer Fox

September 5, 2014, 3:14 pm

≫ Next: Fred Moore, 103

≪ Previous: More Maleficent

It’s hard to imagine that story artist Bill Peet’s first character sketches of Brer Fox looked already this refined and so full of personality. He immediately came up with unconventional, appealing designs that worked perfectly for the film and were almost ready for animation.

There is a sort of hillbilly look about the fox, with his big hat covering his ears completely.

Characters like him as well as the rabbit and the bear have this juicy graphic bite, you just want to pick up the pencil and animate them.

A few of Peet's final story sketches, can you tell he had a ball working on this film?

Milt Kahl refined Peet’s design to animation perfection. These were some of Milt’s favorite characters he ever worked on. The same can be said for Peet.

The energy within the Song of the South characters is unique and inspiring. A top team of animators brought them to life: Kahl, Larson, Johnston, Les Clark, M. Davis and Lounsbery.

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Fred Moore, 103

September 7, 2014, 9:44 pm

≫ Next: Odds and Ends

≪ Previous: Peet's and Kahl's Brer Fox

It is still Sunday evening on the west coast, so I can still say that today Fred Moore would be 103 years old. For a moment I imagined how great it would be to be able to visit him, shake his hand, wish him a happy birthday, and thank him for his incredibly groundbreaking, unparalleled work.

Utopia? Guess what, Bambi’s production designer Tyrus Wong is going to be 104 next month, and I happened to “run into him” yesterday, shook his hand and thanked him for his incredibly groundbreaking, unparalleled work. (I will follow up with birthday wishes on October 25).

Back to Fred, to quote Marc Davis: ”Fred Moore WAS Disney drawing.”

And Ollie Johnston said: ”He couldn’t make a drawing that didn’t have everything in the right place. More beautiful stuff came out of his pencil…it flowed like liquid.”

The charming self portrait above is testament to Ollie’s words.

This vintage photo was taken during the production of the Mickey 1938 short The Brave Little Taylor.

Ollie was doing his first animation ever, on miscellaneous village people, and Fred was mentoring. One of the drawings on the wall in the back is Fred’s sketch of the King from the same short.

Call it spooky, but here is a scan of that drawing, with pinhole and all.

A bit of Fred’s continuity animation with the little sister from Make Mine Music’s “All the Cats Join In”.

A lovely illustration for a greeting card of some sorts.

Happy Birthday, Fred Moore!

To see more Moore art, go to my post celebrating his 100th birthday:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/09/happy-birthday-fred-moore.html

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Odds and Ends

September 10, 2014, 1:24 am

≫ Next: Rhinos

≪ Previous: Fred Moore, 103

As I am trying to organize my studio space, I came across a few things from my Disney past.

The sketches above are character designs for Queen Moustoria from the 1986 film The Great Mouse Detective. I tried to model her after Queen Victoria. Looking at the drawings now, decades later, I think they are not great, but not half bad either.

These are dog studies for Oliver & Company. Most of them were drawn from life at the studio, the first sheet with motion continuity was drawn from video footage. I have always loved this early stage of production, just doing research. In the end I didn’t do much animation on the film, I think just a handful of my scenes ended up in the movie. This was a time when Roger Rabbit was taking shape in London, and I switched over to that production.

If I remember correctly, I did these pigeon/character drawings AGES ago for Dave Michener. He was helping Ken Anderson during the early 1980s to get a movie called “Scruffy” off the ground. And there was this pigeon character. I don’t remember much about him or the story, but what bothers me is the fact that I drew this pigeon with a thin neck. How weird! Pigeons don’t have thin necks!

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Rhinos

September 11, 2014, 11:09 pm

≫ Next: Variations on a Theme

≪ Previous: Odds and Ends

The Royal Guards in the film Robin Hood are played by rhinos. This was a appropriate choice be production designer Ken Anderson, who came up with all the initial animal versions for the cast of characters. When you look at a real rhino, you find it’s the one animal that resembles an armor plated warrior.

Milt Kahl finalized the design for animation, and as usual they are beautiful looking concepts.

The Rhinos' range of emotions is pretty one dimensional, they are just a bunch of stern, if not too intelligent, heavies. And that works fine for the movie.

There is this one scene, where one of them actually buys into the concept that Little John, the bear, is a sexy gipsy woman. The Rhino even throws a whistle as he watches Little John sashaying in front of him. Milt came up with these key drawings, giving the Rhino’s mouth some rather loose lips. It’s a funny effect.

Another Rhino appeared as a pretty intimidating executioner.

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Variations on a Theme

September 14, 2014, 11:32 pm

≫ Next: Albert Uderzo

≪ Previous: Rhinos

While studying book illustrations by Wilhelm M. Busch I discovered a reoccurring theme.
These three drawings were published in different books at different times.
A elderly man is watching a young woman or a youthful couple pass by. I believe that elderly man is Busch himself, perhaps reminiscing about his youth or discovering he still has romantic feelings toward the young.
Anyway, these compositions are beautiful. I've been learning so much from Busch about intense drawing, staging and making a storytelling/personality statement.
Love this man's work!

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Albert Uderzo

September 16, 2014, 11:02 pm

≫ Next: Designing Cinderella

≪ Previous: Variations on a Theme

It must have been in spring of 1995 when I met the legendary Uderzo in Paris. I was working at the time at the French Disney Animation Studio on the Mickey short Runaway Brain. My friend Didier Ghez was able to arrange a visit to Uderzo’s office near the Arc de Triomphe. He seemed to be please to meet a Disney animator from a new generation, and I was practically besides myself to come face to face with the artist, whose work had enriched my life in profound ways.

I remember a few of his rough design drawings framed on a wall of his office. My thoughts were…this is the work of a genius, on par with masters from the Renaissance. I was stunned. We talked for a little while before his daughter and a business associate joined us. (My French was good enough as to not embarrass myself, since I had just spent six months in Paris.) We all walked to a restaurant nearby for lunch, where my French got even better after Uderzo ordered champagne for everybody. He told me how much he enjoyed the movie Aladdin, he especially liked the Genie…”completement fou”!

One of his dreams had always been that Disney would animate an Asterix film. I passed the idea on to Roy Disney, but as you all know, the studio has always come up with its own ideas for animated films. There was one significant thing that came out of this lunch, though. Uderzo had never visited Disneyland Paris (Parc Asterix had been in competition with the American rival), so an official visit was arranged.

I LOVE Uderzo’s work. I grew up with Asterix and Obelix comics long before I saw my my first Disney movie. His drawings are masterful, rich with personality. He is a stickler for detail and historical accuracy. This man drew MY childhood!

A line-up of Uderzo’s characters from the second half of the last century.

Uderzo and his writing partner Rene Goscinny, who passed away in 1977.

Another one of his great strips, Oumpah-Pah. At its core is the friendship of an American Indian and a French officer, called Brussels Sprout, during the eighteenth century.

The master during a drawing demonstration.

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Designing Cinderella

September 18, 2014, 11:04 pm

≫ Next: A Hidden Gem Sequence...

≪ Previous: Albert Uderzo

After my presentation on Marc Davis last Saturday at the Walt Disney Family Museum, his art is still on my mind. Beside animation Marc was involved in many aspects during a film's pre-production phase. He often helped out with story work as well as character, costume and color designs.

In these drawings Marc simplified the human figure in order to effectively show how a variety of outfits would look on Cinderella.

Mary Blair's stylized concepts focus on strong graphic shapes and contrasting colors.

An early color model cel showing most of the film's cast. The somewhat unsure line work indicates that more work needs to be done to give the characters a more refined and polished look, worthy of a Disney production. Cinderella is a little short, and the King's Lackey would go through a complete design change.

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A Hidden Gem Sequence...

September 21, 2014, 10:44 pm

≫ Next: Say Cheese!

≪ Previous: Designing Cinderella

…in the movie Robin Hood is the puppet show during the song number “The Phony King of England”.

Overall this is a fairly weak section, it contains tons of re-used animation from Jungle Book, The Aristocats and even Snow White. And when the animation is new, it is subpar.

But…. the little puppet performance, which mocks Prince John and Sir Hiss is brilliant.

To help us go back to Disney during the early 1970s, the photo above is a nice snapshot with some of the key players from this production, Milt Kahl, songwriter/singer Roger Miller, Frank Thomas, screenwriter Larry Clemmons and director Woolie Reitherman.

Milt got to animate the puppet show, which is surprising, since you might consider this little performance of secondary importance, story wise. But as I mentioned before, when it came to finish a movie, Milt would do whatever was left to do, crowd- or simple continuity scenes. And he would do them darn well. Just look at the feeling of weight he gets into the animation with different sorts of fabric.

The loose shirt bouncing as it hangs on a couple of sticks. Prince John’s head, which is made up of cloth, stuffed with some kind of soft material. The crown is hard and solid, and reacts properly to the movement. The character of Otto is manipulating a green sock, mimicking Sir Hiss beautifully.

Honestly, this is a mini animation masterpiece! So believable and enjoyable!

I also love the staging when Friar Tuck and Otto come up into frame. This could have been a very complicated scene to communicate. They both share a small space in this hollow tree, and they are holding various contraptions. Again…Milt makes it look sooo easy!

Here is an edited clip, just showing the puppet show:

The final scene shows Robin emerging through the Prince John puppet. Look at how beautifully the shirt reacts as he comes up. Then the heavy crown lands on his head before he takes a little bow.

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Say Cheese!

September 24, 2014, 1:00 am

≫ Next: That Staircase

≪ Previous: A Hidden Gem Sequence...

That would be a loose translation of the German phrase: Bitte recht freundlich!

This Heinrich Kley ink sketch portrays an energetic photographer trying to position a male model for a perfect picture. The man being photographed is covering his private parts with a hat, and he is tied to some sort of measuring contraption. And there are nails going through his feet…

It’s difficult figure out if there is a specific meaning to this illustration, or if Kley is just playing around.

In any case, it’s fun to compare the two contrasting poses.

I never get tired of Kley’s definition of anatomy. The guy remains relevant to any serious animation student.

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That Staircase

September 25, 2014, 10:20 pm

≫ Next: Fritz Hug- Animals from the Bible

≪ Previous: Say Cheese!

In the film Cinderella I have always loved the way the staircase was portrayed, dark and scary like real Hitchcock setting. These eerie steps represent the passageway between Cinderella’s living quarters and the rest of the house, inhabited by the stepmother and -sisters.

Mary Blair painted this moody color sketch. Her use of black horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines give the feeling of imprisonment. So great!

A final production background maintains the foreboding atmosphere. The image actually reminds me of an M.C. Escher drawing.

A dramatic downshot was used later in the film, signaling only one thing:

Trouble is on the way!

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Fritz Hug- Animals from the Bible

September 27, 2014, 9:29 pm

≫ Next: Jiří Trnka

≪ Previous: That Staircase

More awesome drawings from Swiss animal artist Fritz Hug. This 1970 book edition, loosely translated from German, is titled:

Animals from the Bible, Part 1 , All kinds of Birds and other Creatures (I don’t think Hug ever did a Part 2)

These color illustration are such a delight to study. Hug is perfectly capable of capturing an animal through simple line work, but here his loose brush adds beautiful color and texture to his subjects. There is realism but also caricature. This man LOVED animals.

Go here for my first post on Fritz Hug:
http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/11/fritz-hug.html

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Jiří Trnka

September 30, 2014, 11:47 pm

≫ Next: Toot, Whistle Plunk and Boom

≪ Previous: Fritz Hug- Animals from the Bible

Jiří Trnka (1912-1969) was a Czech puppet animator/director, children book illustrator and fine artist. Some people called him the Walt Disney of Eastern Europe, even though the content of their films differed greatly. Trnka’s work often deals with social-political themes and therefor goes beyond entertainment.

I am absolutely in awe of this artist. Everything he did was an intense labor of love, but also a reflection of post WW II in Eastern Europe.

Michael Sporn, who is so terribly missed within the animation community, has posted a lot of great material on Trnka’s life and work:

http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/index.php?s=trnka&submit=Search

I will have more on Trnka in the future, today I just want to show a few of his incredible book illustrations. These images take you to different worlds, full of wonder and surprise.

What a masterpiece!!!

Trnka, genius, one of a kind!

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Toot, Whistle Plunk and Boom

October 2, 2014, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Pinocchio Art II

≪ Previous: Jiří Trnka

Looking at stills or artwork from this 1953 Disney short reminds us just how great the need had become for graphic change at the studio. While quite a few short films from the 1950s showed a commitment and drive toward experimenting, the Disney animated features would continue the style that was established during the 1940s. It wasn’t until Sleeping Beauty came along in 1959 that a new modern approach toward drawing and animating became evident to audiences. Many Disney fans were disappointed with these flat graphic designs, but the Disney staff needed to go places, and modern art continued to influence the animated films.

Artists like Ken O’Connor, Eyvind Earle and Tom Oreb would lead the way toward re-shaping the Disney look. While animators like Marc Davis and Milt Kahl were delighted at facing these new challenges, others struggled at the beginning while trying to incorporate strong design into their animation.

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Pinocchio Art II

October 5, 2014, 12:39 am

≫ Next: Virtual Animators

≪ Previous: Toot, Whistle Plunk and Boom

Atmospheric studies and layout sketches from Disney’s film Pinocchio show a level of sophistication and dedication that leaves the viewer mesmerized. There is attention to detail, but nothing is over-noodled. The lighting compares to Rembrandt’s work. Disney artists were on a high, following the incredible success of Snow White.

Long before photoshop and cintiq tablets, these drawings were carved out on paper surfaces with PENCILS. I know, how ancient.

But look at the feeling and love for the medium in these incredible images. They date back to a time when giving all you’ve got was required and even demanded from Disney.

Breathtaking work like his was being produced on a daily basis at the studio. It is still unparalleled, to this day. But…what an inspiration!!

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