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A Most Amazing Afternoon

December 16, 2016, 10:27 pm
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Many of you know that yesterday, December 15, marked the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney's death.
Recently the W. Disney Company went through great lengths to restore Walt's original office.
Over the years it had been altered greatly when occupied by Ron Miller, Roy Disney and others.
Today the office looks exactly like the day Walt died. The items you see in the photos I took yesterday are the real things. From furniture to books and figurines, all this had been kept in a warehouse for five decades.
I was thrilled to get an invitation to see this historic space, and our tour guide for the most part was none other than Richard Sherman, who reminisced about meetings with his brother Robert and Walt.
The first photos show the formal office which includes a piano. The model plane represents a new company jet that was on order at the time, but was cancelled after Walt's passing.








Richard treated us to a couple of songs, including "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins.



The working office, where stuff happened, came with a kitchen. That model plane was the kind of company jet in use at the time.





All the cabinetry is original, as you can see in the vintage photo.



Richard finds a script for the live action musical "The Happiest Millionaire", for which he and his brother wrote songs for.



A very cool model of Lady, from the early development period.










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Lisa Davis

December 20, 2016, 1:48 am
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Lisa Davis has become a good friend of mine ever since my clean up lead Kathy Bailey introduced me to her many years ago. Lisa is full of stories about her time as a Hollywood actress, and the people she worked with.
She got to know Zsa Zsa Gabor during filming of the 1958 camp classic film Queen of Outer Space (See photo below).
Lisa became known for doing a very good impersonation of Gabor, Hungarian accent and all.
The casting folks at Disney found out about this and asked her to come to the studio to try out for the part of Cruella De Vil. At that time Cruella was thought of as a campy Zsa Zsa Gabor type.
Lisa didn't feel comfortable though in that role and asked to read Anita's lines instead.
The rest is history.




Lisa at Disney around 1959.





During early scenes in the film Marc Davis animated Anita. She resembles Aurora from Sleeping Beauty a little, who Marc animated before production on 101 Dalmatians began.




In the end it was Milt Kahl who redesigned Anita and animated most of her scenes, along with Roger's.
More on this topic here:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2015/06/anita.html

And because it's the season, here is the inside of Disney's 1960 Christmas card, promoting 101 Dalmatians.




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Kathy

December 21, 2016, 12:34 am
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I love this "Technicolor photo" of Kathryn Beaumont Levine as she poses in an Alice costume, around 1950/51. The kitten is of course a stand in for Dinah.
And look at all of the Mary Blair art behind them.

I wished the next photo would be in color as well. Taken early on in production of Alice inWonderland.




One of many scenes Kathy acted out for the animators. All of Alice's key animators, Milt Kahl, Marc Davis and Ollie Johnston thought that Kathy was just perfect for the role.



A few years ago Kathy reenacts a pose from a Disneyland poster.



A while ago I posted this extensive collection of photos and drawings regarding Alice:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/03/kathryn-beaumont.html

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The Genius of Heinrich Kley

December 22, 2016, 10:40 pm
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I don't know exactly what year this article was published in the German newspaper "Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung". But since the text reveals that Kley had just died, the early 1940s would be a safe bet.
As I said before, Kley's work ages beautifully. Master draughtsmanship defining cartoony situations.
The first page shows you what Kley actually looked like, what a sad expression for an artist who's work makes you smile.
Occasionally Kley would copy one of his drawings and add color, either for a client for a friend.
The drawing below is one of those copies.





A huge oil painting depicting part of the German steel factory Krupp as it is being invaded by a group of demons. Kley's skills as a painter are as strong as his graphic work.



Drawings like this one inspired a generation of Disney animators...actually at least two generations, mine included.


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From All of Us to All of You

December 23, 2016, 10:54 pm
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From All of Us to All of You is an animated television Christmas special, produced by Walt Disney Productions and first presented on December 19, 1958 on ABC as part of the Walt Disney Presents anthology series. Hosted by Jiminy Cricket along with Mickey Mouse and Tinker Bell, the special combines newly produced animation with clips from vintage animated Disney shorts and feature films, presented to the viewer as "Christmas cards" from the various characters starring in each one.
(From Wikipedia)

This painting is from that program, it announces a clip from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
To watch a few clips from Disney animated films was incredibly special, looong before everyone could buy the complete films on video or disc.
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Merry Christmas

December 24, 2016, 6:39 pm
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Remembering a time when a holiday TV program with the Old Maestro (as Floyd Norman calls him) 
made my Christmas season. When a show like this one ran on our TV, my whole family needed to be absolutely quiet...they weren't actually, which frustrated the heck out of me. 

A few pages from vintage Disney Christmas cards.










And a Happy New Year to everybody!

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More Old Art School Stuff

December 27, 2016, 10:21 pm
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During my last semester at at school in Germany I already knew that Disney was producing a film titled The Fox and the Hound. It inspired me to try and keyframe a fox jumping in a circle. My analysis was far from perfect, but it still turned out to be a useful exercise.

At that time my life drawing teacher encouraged me to draw with an ink pen instead of pencil or charcoal. Scary at first (you can't erase), I eventually really enjoyed using a thin felt pen.




These cows were sketched near my home on a farm (ballpoint pen). As far as animal drawing I needed to teach myself, the school didn't offer any such classes. Still, fond memories of learning, and hoping to work for Disney one day.




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Hercules and Scar

December 29, 2016, 8:25 pm
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There are times when an animator has to think like a computer.
I remember feeling apprehensive when I started work on the scene above. Hercules is posing for a vase painter, "wearing" Scar's skin. As the camera moves screen right, a CG generated podium turns in perspective. That meant that Hercules needed to be animated holding still like a statue, but turn in perspective at the same time.
Having worked on Roger Rabbit actually gave me plenty of experience with this kind of a scene. However on that film the animation was usually very lively and energetic. But in this scene the one pose just had to match the rotation of the podium. I asked clean up to be extra careful with the in-betweens to avoid any unwanted graphic wiggles. Last time I saw the film it looked alright.

A thumbnail sheet for this scene as well as one that follows shortly thereafter, when Herc in frustration throws away the mock sword and the shield...and eventually Scar's skin.








By the way this Scar gag wasn't my idea. Somebody in story came up with it. I thought it was kind of cute though when they asked me if I was ok with the gag. I had absolutely no problem with it.

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Wilhelm M. Busch, The Wine Guide

January 2, 2017, 7:47 pm
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A few beautiful Busch spot illustrations from a small German book, titled "Die Weinfibel".
The year of publication is unknown to me, there was info in the book.
As always I love staging and composition in Busch's drawings. Such great clarity. He is an artist who can draw anything, any situation really well. He leaves out a lot of stuff and only puts dow what is necessary to get a point and mood across.


















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More Pongo and Perdita Poses

January 4, 2017, 5:27 pm
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These are sections from a model sheet made up of Milt Kahl pre-animation poses of Pongo and Perdita. For some reason this model sheet was never printed and circulated around the studio. Perhaps because subtle changes were still made for final designs. The amount of spots was greatly reduced for obvious reasons. 
These dogs are every bit as realistic as Lady and the Tramp. Its just that the relationship between lines and shapes was enforced for a strong graphic look.

A few of these poses appeared as rough sketches in earlier posts:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2015/01/pongo.html

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/01/pongo-muzzle-issue.html














I love the way Pongo's soft neck skin reacts to the pull of the collar in the last drawing.

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Milt's Mr. Toad Drawings

January 7, 2017, 1:04 am
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Milt Kahl animated key scenes with characters like MacBadger, Rat and Mole for the Mr. Toad section of the 1949 film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. The scene above is one of those scenes. Even this one frame reveals Kahl's extraordinary strength for clear staging, superior drawing and an overall feeling for contrasting personalities. 
To my knowledge Milt didn't do any scenes with Toad, that character was primarily handled by Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Ward Kimball. But as usual Milt was on hand when it came to improving  the draughtsmanship of scenes done by his colleagues.
Here are three beautiful sketches that he made for his fellow animators.






A few rough animation drawings of Rat from Milt's own animation. He never spoke highly about his work on short films, but as you can see, he always gave his best on the post war "package films".  It's just that he preferred the fuller character development of Disney feature films. For the upcoming movie Cinderella Milt animated the King and Duke as well as the Fairy Godmother.






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Milt Kahl Drawings of Penny

January 9, 2017, 10:58 pm
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I believe that this cel represents one of the earliest scenes animated featuring Penny from The Rescuers. Ollie Johnston started animation on Penny as she interacts with Rufus, the cat, in the orphanage. In the rough drawings below she is offering the cat a cookie. These were actually done by Milt Kahl, who gave Ollie a helping hand as far as character design and solid drawing goes.
Wonderful sketches, even though it's obvious that Penny is related to Mowgli.











This rough drawing is from one of Milt's own scenes toward the end of the movie. Snoops had just pulled Penny out of the cave below, when he suddenly lets go of the rope. His excitement and attention is now with the diamond that Medusa is holding.
When drawing this rough, Milt's enormous power for analyzing and staging a character comes to the surface.



For Ollie Johnston drawings of Penny and Rufus go here:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/12/penny-and-rufus.html

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The Reluctant Dragon Feature Film

January 11, 2017, 11:47 pm
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I love The Reluctant Dragon. The animated short as well as the whole "behind the scenes" 1941 feature film. Disney released the movie as bonus material in glorious HD together with the Blu-Ray edition of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, combined with Fun and Fancy Free.
I am sure many of you have seen this "documentary" and you probably spotted a few Disney artists in the drawing class scene, or when Robert Benchley visits Ward Kimball's office together with Fred Moore.
As I understand it, most key personal was part of the live action shoot in one role or another. But not everybody made the final cut, like Marc Davis and Milt Kahl.
It's no surprise that Woolie Reitherman got some screen time, after all he animated the introductory scenes of the Dragon.




In this animal drawing class you can easily recognize Retta Scott, Jack King, Eric Larson and Ken Anderson in the front.



But look here: As the camera follows Benchley walking in front of the commissary you can see Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston leaning against the wall.



A few seconds later Les Clark shows up in the center of the frame. Geez...those trees in front of the animation building are gigantic today.



A fantastic rough animation drawing by Ward Kimball is currently offered at Heritage Auctions:

https://comics.ha.com/itm/animation-art/the-reluctant-dragon-animation-drawing-disney-1941-/a/121703-13138.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

That short poem about a poor little upside down cake is one of the most hilarious moments in Disney Animation. The fact that the Dragon moves himself to tears as he is reciting it makes me laugh out loud each time I watch it. Kimball gold!



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Lagoon Fish

January 13, 2017, 11:41 pm
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The most fun sequence in Bedknobs and Broomsticks is arguably the Soccer Game between the Dirty Yellows and the True Blues. But the preceding underwater sequence has its moments as well. As usual the live action/animation mix is done extremely well, as you can see in the frame above. Angela Lansbury holding an animated/drawn trophy looks magical. It is always such a pleasure to see live actors interacting with drawn characters in such a way!
Here are a few sheets with design drawings for a variety of fish characters. Milt Kahl's drew some of them, his drawings are sketchier than the ones done by other artists.














Here is the link to an earlier post about the film's soccer game:


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Robin Hood Designs

January 15, 2017, 11:59 pm
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I have written before about the ever changing design of the character of Robin Hood. Here are two images representing the initial version of Robin and Little John followed by their final designs. This opening scene was animated by John Lounsbery. Since Milt Kahl was the character design guru, he made sure that those opening scenes by Lounsbery represented the latest and final version of the characters.
Here are a few draw overs by Milt (over Lounsbery's animation) to ensure character consistency.
I think these sketches are beautiful, sensitively drawn and very appealing.











More on this topic here:

And here:

And here:

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Behind the Scenes of Peter Pan

January 17, 2017, 9:14 pm
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Kathryn Beaumont visits John Hench in this publicity still. Hench was a color stylist on the movie Peter Pan. Here he is looking at a layout for the the scene below, a gigantic camera move during the flight to Neverland sequence.

Image/Hans Bacher blog:
https://one1more2time3.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/through-the-clouds/



Co director Ham Luske helps out during the filming of a live action scene. He is holding his young son Tommy Luske, who plays Michael as he flies into Wendy's arms. The final frame shows a different camera angle.





Actor Roland Dupree holds Kathryn Beaumont for a scene in which Peter Pan protects Wendy from Captain Hook. The final frame is one of my favorite images from the film.
Staging and lighting are phenomenal, magic!




There are many posts about Peter Pan in this blog, here is one that I like in particular:

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An Idea

January 19, 2017, 10:09 pm
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A few years ago I was fooling around with designs for an animated film that involved a story about the friendship between a boy and a circus elephant.
But things happened, and I chose a friendship between a girl and a tiger instead as subjects for my animated film.



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Milt's Archimedes

January 22, 2017, 10:29 pm
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This scene with the owl Archimedes from The Sword in the Stone exemplifies Milt Kahl's modern approach to animation. Starting with Sleeping Beauty his drawings show a 2-dimensional graphic quality that becomes 3-dimensional when viewed in motion. It's a juxtaposition. It says:
I am a flat drawing, but I can fool you into believing that I am a real animal with flesh, blood and feathers.
This concept actually started in Disney's brilliant 1953 short Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom. The animation of Professor Owl is full, not limited like UPA films from that time, but the completely dimensional treatment of this style didn't happen until Milt stepped in a few years later. Marc Davis was right behind in understanding this modernism applied to Disney animation. Other animators struggled, but succeeded nevertheless by working extra hard or by having Milt go over their key drawings. This often led to frustration though, because Milt would alter their work to a point where his improved drawing deviated from what they were trying to express with the character.
The main problem was that animators focused so hard to match this new sophisticated drawing style while neglecting basic animation principles such as squash and stretch.

In this scene Milt demonstrates that you can be graphic without loosing fluidity that comes with squash and stretch.

This is scene 34 from sequence 12, Archimedes brings the sword to Wart's attention:
"Well look, boy, look! There in the (churchyard)"



















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January 23, 2017, 11:57 pm
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Pre-Production Art

January 24, 2017, 1:34 pm
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Wonderful range of techniques and styles in these visual development pieces from Disney classics.
By artists like Mary Blair, Tyrus Wong and Kay Nielsen among others.





















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