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How rough, how clean ? II

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Another batch of animation drawings that show a variety of styles. The Sneezy drawing above shows
that animator Fred Moore worked very fast and intuitively. Since he designed the final models for all
dwarfs, the clean up artist didn't need to change anything. Proportions and volumes are all in place, only a few loose details needed to be redrawn more specifically. (Like a line that separates the  
sole from the shoes' top).


Believe it or not, but this Kahl rough drawing of Pinocchio drawing as a real boy needed to be altered.
The size of his hands is much smaller in the final version of the scene. Milt most likely redrew a few hand key positions, so clean up knew how to handle the new size correctly. When it comes to hands, I can not imagine Milt leaving any changes to someone else.
Also, I remember him saying how tired he was at the end of production on the film, he wished he could do those last scenes over.



A rough from an early Art Babbit scene that was cut from the movie. Structurally there would be a bit of work left for the assistant. Hair, hands and upper body aren't quite as solidly drawn as the actual model of Geppetto.



A very clean drawing of Cinderella by Marc Davis. I remember him saying: "If YOU don't draw it well, nobody else will do it for you."



Ollie Johnston always had that light touch in his animation drawings, which allowed him to get through his footage pretty fast. Even at this speed Alice is drawn on model. A beautiful sensitive approach.



Milt became so confident and thorough in his drawing ability that nothing was left for possible misinterpretation. In this sketch he drew the upper body, while hands and legs were traced from a previous key drawing. (Those parts were not moving and held still.)



A lively key drawing of Peg by Eric Larson. All the clean up  assistant had to do here is find consistent patterns for all that moving fur. And that assistant was Burny Mattinson, who still works at the studio, in story.



John Lounsbery didn't leave his assistant guessing, Everything in this drawing of Tony is beautifully worked out and designed in a clear way. John had great rhythm in his work and tons of appeal.



Another Lounsbery key drawing this one depicting the Mock Prince from Sleeping Beauty.
Without the owl's wing flapping, this whole idea might seem highly questionable as far as logic, but Louns completely sells the idea.



Maleficent by Marc Davis as a stylized graphic design. Look at the power of lowered eye lids, 'up to no good' evil. Marc's charts were always even, no key drawing was ever favored. You'd think animation timed like this would float across the screen, but somehow Marc's scenes still show contrast within the acting. It goes to show you, every Disney animator structured a scene his own individual way.



Lots of experimental, rough work was done on the Dragon by various artists. By the time animator Eric Cleworth started production animation, his drawings were crisp and very solid, was the second image shows. Amazing design!




Another example of how gently Ollie Johnston puts his pencil to paper. Sir Hiss momentarily incapacitated.



No greater feeling than seeing your OWN drawings on the screen. You can't blame clean up for the scene not looking good, it's all YOU. I know Marc and Milt loved the whole idea of Xerox.





Images Heritage Auctions and  Howard Lowery.


Disney's Most Modern

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It's strange for me to realize that the most modern Disney animated feature goes back to 1961. That's over 50 years ago!!
Anything that followed (with the exception of Sword in the Stone) went back toward more conventional realism, and with the advent of CG toward hyper realism.
There is something very beautiful and important that's been lost. Stretching an audience's imagination by telling a story with visuals that are sketchy, raw line drawings and organic shapes meant that they accepted the film as a piece of art as well as entertainment. Pongo and Perdita are most definitely flat and graphically sophisticated representations of Dalmatians. Yet no audience has ever had trouble accepting them as real personalities facing real problems.
I love the snow scene above. The imagery is stylized, but the light hitting the dogs' tracks seems real.
To me this is intriguing, fascinating...and amazing.




At the end of the film Cruella's car crashes with the Baduns' truck, she gives off one last rant in utter frustration. She, along with Jasper and Horace, is depicted fairly small on the screen. The overall scenery includes the accident's wreckage.
A while ago when I was working on the Marc Davis chapter for my book, I came across the actual animation drawings for this scene. It was surprising to find out that Marc animated Cruella full size, in great detail, before her image was scaled down to fit the scene's layout.
I found myself laughing out loud at the facial expressions and body motion. There was no doubt that this scene had to be part of Marc's chapter. You'll find thirty delicious key drawings in the book.


Keynote and Book Signing at CTN

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This is CTN weekend!
I will be giving a keynote presentation on the topic of Disney's Nine Old Men on Saturday 11/21, at 12:30PM in the CTNers Lounge. It will include rare interview clips, fantastic art and pencil tests.

On the following day, Sunday 11/22, at noon I will sign copies of my new book in the book signing area, which is in front of the City Ballroom.
See you there!






Fred Moore Pin Up

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Had a fantastic weekend at CTN. Met some terrific people from all over the world, and it's always great running into artists I used to work with.
A little short on time, here is a great Fred Moore pen and ink/watercolor illustration, featuring his usual subjects.

Image Heritage Auctions

From the Desk of...

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All supervising animators at Disney had personalized note pads, like this one by Milt Kahl.
The sheets were small size, just enough to put down a note, the animator might leave at someone's desk, or send through interoffice mail.
I was delighted when Milt's daughter Sybil recently sent me a note written on her dad's "Disney stationary".
Below is a key drawing from one of Milt's many extraordinary scenes for The Jungle Book.
I have spent a long time studying these vultures interacting in this shot. One of them , Ziggy,who is determined to investigate the man cub Mowgli, who happenes to pass through their surroundings.
All four birds are lined up in a tree, when Ziggy starts pushing Dizzy, who then puts Buzzie out of balance and so on. In the end all four buzzards plunge down toward Mowgli.
The scene is on one's and incredibly involved as far as one character's actions affecting another, it is beautifully animated and proves that Milt Kahl is one of the hardest working animators of all time.




I will have more key drawings from this remarkable scene in the near future. It should have been featured in the Milt Kahl chapter of my book!


The Truth about Mother Goose

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What a great color sketch by Eyvind Earle for the Disney featurette film The Truth about Mother Goose. Disney Wiki says this about the film:

The Truth about Mother Goose was an animated short, released on August 28, 1957.
It explained the historical backgrounds of three popular nursery rhymes, "Little Jack Horner", which is based on a story about a servant who stole the deed for an estate intended for King Henry VIII of England. "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary", which is about Mary, Queen of Scots, and "London Bridge", which concerns the history of the real bridge, which "fell down" and was rebuilt.

The film was directed by Woolie Reitherman and Bill Justice. I love the art direction, starting with Toot,Whistle, Plunk and Boom from 1953 Disney Modern was in full swing in a variety of short films and eventually the feature film Sleeping Beauty.





A group of animators headed up by Cliff Nordberg was responsible for the mostly limited, but beautiful  style of movement.


Sleeping Beauty Eye Candy

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A few glorious stills (though not in widescreen) from Disney's classic Sleeping Beauty.
The film was a gutsy experiment in art direction, it disappointed at the box office when first released in 1959, but is now considered to be one of the most beautiful animated films ever made.







An article from McCall's magazine to promote the release of the film.


Wilhelm M. Busch 1965

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In the mid 1960s Busch illustrated a little book with short poems and one-liners by Georg Opitz.
Here are a few drawings from this edition.
I am still crazy about Busch's economy of line, he leaves out a lot of stuff  to get to the essence of a situation. His characters' attitudes are always contrasting and interesting. So brilliant! 
The line to go with the image above is: Cheerfulness is God's benefaction.










Hawaiian Warrior Princess tames African Lion

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I was recently invited to speak and draw in front of a D23 group. The event took place in the Hyperion building on the Disney Studio lot. I also created a special drawing with a couple of characters I had animated. Above you see my first rough pass of an idea involving Lilo and Scar.
Below is the final version which was printed as a handout to the invited guests. It's fun to goof around sometimes by combining different universes.




Here is the link to another illustration, which combines Lilo and Scar:


Dalmatians Mix

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Here is a small selection of various art from 101 Dalmatians. This was Disney's first animated feature set in a modern, contemporary setting, and you can see a sense of excitement and experimentation in the artists' work. The image above from the film's opening sequence shows what animation does best,
a terrific personality idea presented in clear, fresh graphic form.

Ken Anderson came up with these character two doodles.




A few examples of Bill Peet's extraordinary story sketches, beautifully staged and full of personality.





These illustrations appeared in a children's book that was published around the film's release.
I love the restricted two-tone approach to the paintings.





Some of Frank Thomas' early studies which show his attempt at giving human emotions to a Dalmatian.



The official studio stationary which announced the arrival of a whole new (and different) Disney animated film. One of the best motion pictures ever made, in my opinion.


The Disney Style

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It is interesting to see how the visual approach in Walt Disney's animated films changed over the years. From Snow White's romantic realism to graphic sophistication in Sword in the Stone.
As you might know, Disney himself preferred the soft, rounded representation of his characters. But he also knew that his artists wanted to experiment, so he "tolerated" short films like Toot, Whistle,Plunk and Boom. Marc Davis told me once that he believes Walt didn't care much for experimental films like Pigs is Pigs or Paul Bunyan, but he knew his artists needed to get this modern stuff out of their system.
As far as character styling, Milt Kahl said, he believes there WAS NO Disney style. "We drew eyes and hands a certain way that was the most effective, that got the best results." At the same time Milt would also state that he WAS the Disney style, as it changed over the years. "I had more to do with that than anybody at the studio." Art directors like Eyvind Earle, Ken Anderson and Walt Peregoy backed up Milt's drive for graphic change.
Personally, I am fond of both styles. And I think that my film Mushka is influenced by one and the other.




Images, Heritage Auctions

More Bambi Art

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Bambi is one of those films that might have ended up mediocre if it wasn't for the fact that everybody involved in this production was a top notch artist. All that realism Walt Disney called for could have resulted in a boring, stilted movie. Yet it turned out to be one of Disney's most elegant, poetic and best animated films.
Just look at Mar Davis' quick sketches of real deer! That anatomical knowledge enabled him to produce story sketches with the right degree of caricature and personality.





A beautiful study, possibly by Tyrus Wong. Image Heritage Auctions.



Layout and background artists became experts in staging and lighting scenes.






A publicity sketch, possibly by Frank Thomas.


Just like in Jungle Book decades later, the film's story is extremely simple. That meant that art direction and the personality animation needed to be extraordinary to keep audiences involved and spellbound.


...From Walt Disney and Staff

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Walt Disney Productions' Christmas cards were often very beautiful. The artwork was produced by the studio's animators, designers and background artists. Usually the main illustration showed what production played in movie theaters that season, or what could be expected in the following year.
The card above with a great Small World image on the inside was sent out in 1966, Walt had just passed away.




A few favorites covering one decade.












Sword in the Stone Art

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Toward the end of the year, here is another post featuring artwork from Disney's The Sword in the Stone. I love this beautifully crafted book which was created for the beginning of the film, as its opening pages begin to introduce the film's story.

The following story sketches by Bill Peet show again how closely the final production followed Peet's lead. Simple and so effective.








A couple of cel set ups from the film. The first one is an Ollie Johnston scene, the second one is by John Lounsbery.





Bill Peet's concepts of Wart in his oversized royal outfit.



A couple of great Milt Kahl rough drawings depicting the same scenario on a color model cel.



Here are links to a couple of previous posts about this film:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/11/wart-future-king-of-england.html

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/12/sword-in-stone-christmas.html


Moore/Gauguin

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Heritage Auctions continues to offer absolutely stunning, rare animation art, and I look forward to each new selection of artwork. I wished I would have made a bid on the piece pictured above. At first glance it looks like one of many Fred Moore girl sketches. When I took a closer look, I couldn't help but be reminded of a painting by French painter Paul Gauguin. Call me crazy to make this connection, but Moore's fully bodied proportions as well as his choice of color just might have been inspired by this Gauguin painting depicting two Tahitian women.
I understand that Fred was not interested in art history or attending art classes at Disney for that matter. But look at the girl's expression. Her mood is serious and reflective like the woman on the right in Gauguin's painting. The color palette is very similar to the woman on the left.
Fred just might have seen this Gauguin painting in an art book.




Bernard Garbutt Bird Sketches

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Disney animal expert Bernard Garbutt has a sensational sense for observation. There isn't a creature he couldn't draw well. Here are pages from his sketchbook of a variety of birds, sketched at a country fair in the early 1940s. This stuff is so good!

















More on Garbutt here:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/02/bernard-garbutt.html


Holiday Greetings

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This little (actually tiny) sketch is an outtake from a musical montage sequence in the film where we see Sarah and Mushka bond. This was sketch A, sketch B showed the tiger pushing Sarah into a deep snow bank in revenge.
The situation didn't make the cut, but I am happy to say that the sequence is completely animated to a stunning Sherman tune.


From Story Sketch to Final Frame

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I talked about this scene before from Lady and the Tramp. Tramp, the salesman, is trying to convince the Beaver at the zoo how useful Lady's muzzle would be as a genuine log puller.
I just came across the story sketch,  animator Milt Kahl used as a springboard for his animated performance. Amazing to see that the idea for the characters' staging remains the same, just much improved.
The fact that the Beaver's body ends up in the air, held by his tail, adds a nice comic touch. And again Milt finds a way to connect both characters graphically by streamlining Tramp's pose and lowering his rear body.
I am always fascinated to find out how inspirational the story sketches were to the animators and how much they changed to make the scene their own.
I'll post another example shortly from Bedknobs and Broomsticks...different situation, the animator had to start almost from scratch because of a weak story sketch.





King Triton

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I just realized that during my years of blogging I haven't posted anything yet on King Triton from The Little Mermaid. Actually I didn't think I had kept any such material, so to my surprise a bunch of first pass rough animation scenes just surfaced in a far corner of my archive. 
In this scene Triton is pretty darn mad at Ariel, who seems to be smitten by this human guy. His dialogue goes: "(Humans are) spineless, savage, harpooning fish eaters..."
It was fun to animate, because his emotions are very strong here. One thing I remember having just figured out was how to treat Triton's hair and beard. Earlier my first scene with him showed his hair resting on his back and shoulders, and that just didn't look like an under water scene at all. 
In order to achieve that effect, hair needs to float as it reacts to under water currents.

These are the key drawings from the scene, but I did do all of the in-betweens as well. I recall in those days we had either very few or possibly no rough in-betweeners, a cost cutting measure.
I never felt comfortable though "selling" my rough animation as a pose test, which looks like a slide show version of your scene, with missing in-betweens. So I ended up doing my own assistant work, which really didn't take very long since these drawings were loose and sketchy. 
For these scans I pushed the contrast a little, the lines on the 12 field paper are a very light blue. It is freakish to see that the paper has aged, but this stuff is now a few decades old...crazy!
Ahhh...the good old days...but actually they are still good, since I am still doing this sort of work.















One thing that puzzles me about this scene is that I didn't draw my precise graphite lines on top of each pose as per my usual work method. Instead I used new sheets of paper and tied down the character in a clean manner, so my clean up assistants would have an easier time doing their work.


"My precious Pets..."

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Milt Kahl had a way of challenging himself when animating his final character, Madame Medusa for the film The Rescuers. Acting and drawing are not based on live action reference, all of this comes out of Milt's head.
After throwing her boot at Snoops, Medusa turns her attention to her alligators, Nero and Brutus.
Her mood swings from anger to affection. Snoops failed her, but the alligators are still in her favor.
The action that follows is vintage Milt. Medusa throws the boot back to Snoops, during which  Milt breaks her arm for one frame on #18 in order to support the action.
When she turns to he alligators, Milt had a certain final pose in mind. And this is what's so cool:
Her elbows connect first, then the palms of her hands, and finally the interlocking of her fingers.
Great stuff!






















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