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Frazetta Drawings

November 16, 2018, 2:42 pm
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I guess most of you know of Frank Frazetta's work. His draughtsmanship (as well as painting) is extraordinary. He became known as the world's best illustrator for the fantasy/science fiction genre.
Copied by many, but no other artist has came close to this level of expertise.
The depiction of his women and men are sexually charged figures within various storytelling themes.
Bodybuilders and pin up girls. His animals and monsters are strong and muscular as well.
Frazetta goes for maximum dramatic effect in his composition to dazzle the viewers.
There is a sense of ease in his line work. I particularly like his loose drawings. Marvelous doodles that continue to inspire today's animators and illustrators.
I would call him a modern Heinrich Kley.


















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Naughty

November 21, 2018, 1:23 am
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I just love this cel from the Silly Symphony Three Little Wolves from 1936. There is little doubt that Fred Moore animated this scene, in which two little wolves pester one of the pigs.
The whole situation is child-like without being childish. The staging of the scene is so beautiful, two bullies messing with one of the pigs.
I have a big smile on my face  looking at this image, because Naughty meets Innocence in a very entertaining manner. You just want to smack these two brats and have them leave the pig alone.
Sincere animation in contrast to Warner Brothers characters at that time, who often acted in a cynical and sarcastic way. (I love Warner's animation as well, because it differentiated itself from Disney's wholesomeness.)
But there is something special about this cel, because the business of the scene is truly based on real situations.
I wished that entertaining, graphic animation like this still existed.


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Ed Aardal

November 24, 2018, 3:20 am
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Ed Aardal lived from 1910 to 1988. He worked for Disney for twenty years starting in 1935. He originally did effects animation, but was soon sent over to the character animation department.
Perhaps because of his effects background Ed was assigned to complex scenes like this one from Lady and the Tramp.
It is amazing to realize that in the final film you barely see a dark silhouette of the dog catcher's wagon, taking Tramp to the dog pound. Yet in animation every detail was analyzed as if this was a daytime scene.
Ed Aardal is one of those unsung heroes who we need to shed light on for his important body of work in animation. I believe this was his last film for Disney before moving on to other studios like Hanna Barbara. An animation legend!
For a 1984 interview with Ed go here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uag5Pl03luE





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Joe Grant

November 27, 2018, 9:36 pm
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Joe Grant was one of a kind. I am pinching myself when I think about all those years working with him on various Disney films.
Many of you know know that Joe had a Disney career twice. First from the early 1930s to the mid 1940s, and then again from 1989 until his passing in 2005 at the age of 96.
His quirky sense of humor is evident in his 'Idea" sketches. He would do a series of those, and a new film sequence was born. Or a complete short film. 
Joe didn't mind answering our questions about the Golden Age at Disney, but he rather preferred to discuss the present and the future of animation. He watched almost every animated programing from The Simpsons to SpongeBob. Joe was a student of fine art, some of his favorite "cartoonists" were Kley and Sullivant.
I will never forget right after Joe returned to Disney for a second run, Frank Thomas phoned him and asked: " Why on earth are you back at the studio ?"
Joe replied: Why aren't you?"








The brilliant short film Lorenzo was Joe's idea. His sketches are on the left, director Mike Gabriel's
designs on the right.





A brilliant caricature by John Musker. Man, would I love to animate this design. 
Oops, I just had an idea for another short film!


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The Ludwig Von Drake Dilemma

December 1, 2018, 12:24 am
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Ludwig Von Drake is a great TV character, created late in Walt's life during the early 1960s.
According to one artist who was there at the time, one of the animators who was assigned to this new Disney personality was Marc Davis.
Marc had just finished Cruella De Vil, and he was not eager to "step down" to do animation for a TV character. Marc did produce some animation of Ludwig, which did not meet approval.
Marc moved over to Imagineering instead, and the rest is history.
Milt Kahl took over and designed Ludwig's earliest scenes for his first TV appearance in the 1961 episode "An adventure in Color". Needless to say...brilliant work.
Ward Kimball was put back into animation on Ludwig after Walt's dissatisfaction over Ward's involvement in the mostly live action musical Babes in Toyland.
In the end I believe that Milt and Frank Thomas  MADE the character into the personality we all know today.
A befuddled, often confused yet likeable professor.

More on his personality here:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/11/professor-ludwig-von-drake.html


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Beautiful Things

December 3, 2018, 1:28 am
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Heritage Auctions is yet again offering unique and rare pieces of original animation art.
I just love this concept/layout piece from Cinderella. One of my favorite sequences not only in animation, but in film period. This is how the scene was established, even though we never see this particular staging in the film. So powerful, so much personality in just one sketch. I am not sure who drew this, perhaps Ken O'Connor or Ken Anderson.



Anita and Perdita in Regent's Park in London. A beautiful experimental sketch by Ken Anderson.
I posted a similar piece a while back.
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JI8SGjouklQ/U7jneKV1jQI/AAAAAAAALhI/Jj0jS2_sAM8/s1600/KA101.jpg




A publicity cel set up with Walt and Ludwig Von Drake. Magic!!!



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Story Sketches

December 7, 2018, 12:21 am
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It is astonishing to realize that Disney allowed his story sketch artists to work in a graphic style that was comfortable to them, and personal.
Sometimes those sketches were mere character animation poses, other times the whole background scenery was included. It was up to the story sketch artist to put down on paper what would communicate best to Walt, the animation crew, and eventually the audienceThe opening scene from Robin Hood by Ken Anderson.




Not sure who boarded "How to Ride Horse" from 1941, but you can see that this story artist was all involved with Goofy's animation business.






Disney's first features were all about light and shadow, so the story sketch artists rendered  the environments as well as he characters.



James Bodrero boarded the entire Pastoral sequence from Fantasia  in color. It helped to visuals what the final film might look like.




Marc Davis did story and character design work on Bambi for quite a few terms.
I think Bambi's characters work, of cause great was hand out.












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Jungle Book Art at Auction

December 9, 2018, 12:31 am
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Here are some wonderful pieces from The Jungle Book that were recently sold at auction. 
The piece above is a cel set up (matching cel with painted background). I don't know who painted this background, but the animation is by Milt Kahl. What I particularly like about the painting is the fact that some dark line work was maintained to match the characters' outlines.
I would call this a quintessential scene from the movie.

Below are a couple of concept paintings by Art Riley, who was one of Disney's great background painters. Google him and you'll find tons of his personal watercolors.






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Sullivant in Color

December 11, 2018, 8:56 pm
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Each time I discover a new TS Sullivant illustration I can't help but smiling from ear to ear.
Today brought such a moment when I found this beauty online, "Going to the Races".
Apparently monkeys are in charge here of the rest of the animal menagerie. 
Sullivant loved animals like no one else, being able yo infuse his characters and compositions with such exuberance and joy. 
I have posted plenty of his work on this blog, but there's more coming from my Sullivant files and Life magazines. Some of us just can't get enough of this man's genius.

Here is a link to my first post on TS:

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More Early Black Cauldron Work

December 14, 2018, 12:36 am
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A few of my early Black Cauldron exploratory sketches were recently auctioned off at Heritage Auctions. They come from the film's producer's Joe Hale estate.
I made the drawing above while I was still in Germany before joining Disney in August of 1980.
I had read Lloyd Alexander's books after finding out that Disney was going to produce an animated feature based on his story material.
I still think Alexander's books are fantastic, and would make for a terrific live action film. Or a Netflix series.
I mentioned this before, that when trying to design the oracular pig Hen Wen, a big sow came to mind because she was supposed to have magical visions.
But instead I was asked to come up with a cute piglet type for whatever reason.




If I remember correctly this witches sketch was also done way back in Germany.



This rough design of Taran was based on something Tim Burton had drawn. The idea being to somehow "disneyfy" Tim's character concepts. Well...that just didn't work.



Whoever ended up with these pieces needs to know that the medium used was felt pen and Magic Markers. When framed it is essential to use UV glass, otherwise the colors will fade drastically.


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Song of the South Art

December 18, 2018, 1:10 am
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Some more art from Disney's Song of the South. As I mentioned before, Bill Peet's story sketches provided so much information for the animators. Staging, mood and terrific character poses.
And of course they all (Milt, M.Davis, Ollie, E.Larson and Lounsbery) loved taking visual cues from Peet's storyboards. So much energy in his drawings as well as in the final animation. 

More on Peet's Song of the South work here:


A couple of incredible background paintings from the film. With apologies regarding the tar baby image.







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Merry Christmas

December 22, 2018, 2:16 am
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... Happy Holidays to all of you!
This is a vintage photo to promote Disney's 1967 release of The Jungle Book.
Thumper is a trifle oversized in the back, but who cares...
Growing up in Germany meant that any Disney animated release (or re-release) was around Christmas time. That's why it is impossible for me to separate Christmas from Disney.
Best time of the year by far!!

During this holiday season we are working hard to push our 1/2 hour film MUSHKA to the finish line. I think we need one more year. There is plenty to do, but also plenty has been finished.
Recently a lot of new color scenes have been added to the reel, and I am beyond ecstatic.
We are using TV Paint, so the characters drawings need to be opaqued in white first, before getting the color treatment. We then add minimal highlights and shadows as well as some color pencil texture and film grain.
Beate, Ambrose and Ihabo, thank you so much for your hard work to get the characters to color.
And Natalie, your background paintings are always breathtaking. The look of the film is so beyond what I had imagined.
Matthieu, your staging and continuity work is stunning.
Courtney and Andreas WT, thanks so much for your outstanding animation.
Daniel, your effects animation is FANTASIA like.
And Richard Sherman, you are THE inspiration for our film. Your musical contributions are miraculous. I pinch myself every single day, realizing that you and your brother Robert wrote the soundtrack to my childhood. And to have you write music for MUSHKA is beyond words.
Fabrizio, thank you for arranging Richard's music, and for scoring our film, you are the greatest!
And of course a special thanks to my partner Roger, who wears so many hats on this production.
Editing, prepping BG work and X-sheeets, sound etc.

Here is a frame from MUSHKA, just taken off my TV screen.





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The Marc Davis Touch

December 23, 2018, 11:54 pm
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I love the French!
I am lucky to have worked in Paris for almost one year (Runaway Brain). So fortunate to have many French friends. My command of the language is not very good, but after a glass of wine I seem to be able to get by with French party talk. My favorite language in the world.
I don't need to point out that the French have class and taste.
When Disney published a book on animator/imagineer Marc Davis in 2014, the cover became an issue of discussion. How do you present Marc's remarkable talents?
Disney/US chose a variety of images that cover a few of Marc's achievements. An obvious choice, since he was Disney's renaissance man.
But look at the cover of the French version! WOW! One drawing that says it all. This partial development drawing of Maleficent shows strength in composition, powerful use of color and of course personality. This image is worthy of a poster!

The book does go into detail about Marc's many talents. (I wrote a chapter on his animal life drawings.) In animation he became known as the master of leading ladies, heroines as well as villainess personalities.







The cover of the US book. It does give you more information about Marc's work, but somehow the French version knocks it out of the park.




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MUSHKA Update

January 4, 2019, 1:29 am
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We are at it full time! More and more final color is pouring in. I am so excited!
Honestly, I didn't expect the final footage to turn out this beautiful.
Above Sarah is encountering a tiger cub during a winter sequence in Siberia.
The cub's mother isn't happy about this, so she attacks.
What is the outcome? You'll have to wait and find out.



© Andreas Deja

Here is an earlier post regarding this scene:
https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2016/03/tiger-mom-attack.html


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Milt Kahl Moves

January 10, 2019, 1:55 am
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A great self caricature of Milt Kahl announcing his change of address. Not sure exactly when this occurred, but I have a way of finding out. I googled the address and these images came up.






PS This image was offered on eBay a while ago. I believe it is a tracing of Milt's original ink drawing.
Here is a low res version of what I believe to be the original.





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"Quiet, Wart!"

January 13, 2019, 12:02 am
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Milt Kahl sure had some fun animating dialogue scenes with Sir Kay from the Sword in the Stone.
In this scene from an early sequence Kay turns toward Wart who is observing Kay's hunting "skills" from a tree branch above.
Milt drew facial expressions and mouth configurations that let you know right away, this guy is not very bright. The puckered lips for QUIET and WART, then the wide open mouth for QUIET, and later for WART. There is comedy in the way the mouth moves during the dialogue.

When I was animating Jafar way back, I tried to aim for humor in some of his dialogue scenes.
Weird mouth shapes that would hopefully express character while still being in sync with the words spoken.

The thing with Milt is that the flat graphic character design still turns absolutely three-dimensionally in space. He could draw any mouth configuration from any angle.

































Come to think of it, I would have added some teeth to the last mouth shape in order to pronounce the T in Wart. But what do I know?


Here's more on Kay:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2016/12/more-on-milts-sir-kay.html

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2016/04/wart-kay.html


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Aladdin Flashback

January 18, 2019, 2:33 am
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When I look back at my career at Disney, I remember that once in a while everything came together just about perfectly for an animated film I was a part of.
Aladdin is one of those films. It remains arguably the most beautiful looking film of my era.
I think everybody was in the right spot as far as casting. Directors, writers, animators, voice talents,
composer etc, everybody's work jelled and made for an amazing film.
Eric Goldberg took us to a new direction with his animation of the Genie. Fluid, simple and uncluttered. Stylized while still being commercial and accessible. His influence on the movie can't be overstated.
That being said, we did have our bumps in the road. After the first story screening, Jeffrey Katzenberg walked off remarking:"You can keep the title (of the film)."
The story got reworked, Aladdin's mother got the boot and certain songs were cut, because they didn't promote story or character.
As for myself, Jafar was a joy to design based on several artists' work. When it came to his color scheme I did argue though with our production designer's choices.
Still, it all came together in the end.

Above Ron and John behind Kent Melton's beautiful character maquettes.

Next up John Musker with Jafar's voice Jonathan Freeman and Aladdin's singing voice Brad Kane.





Jonathan with lyricist Tim Rice and composer Alan Menken.





A few scenes that represent my earliest animation on the film.
Iago by Will Finn, the Thief by Dan Hofstedt.







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...and Another Kley

January 22, 2019, 12:50 am
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As so often with Heinrich Kley art, you wonder about the meaning behind the illustration.
Depicted here is a female nude presumably flirting with an oversized semi-nude man, while riding a rhinoceros.
Unlike Frazetta's sexually charged drawings and paintings, Kley's nudes always look innocent and wholesome.
I believe that for this watercolor drawing he just let his mind meander, perhaps starting the illustration at one point without knowing what the final result might look like.
In any case, this Kley is a feast for the eyes.


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Frank Thomas animated the Chairman

January 25, 2019, 6:34 pm
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One of Frank Thomas' last animation assignments, the Chairman of the Rescue Aid Society from The Rescuers.
I love this candid photo of Frank in his office taken in 1976 or early 1977. I believe he is working on the same drawing pictured below. Frank didn't do all of this character's scenes, but he animated the best ones. Expressive, full of personality with natural movement. 









Character actor Bernard Fox provided the warm, character rich voice.
Here he is twenty years later in Titanic.

  


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Sleeping Beauty at 60

January 30, 2019, 9:28 pm
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After all these decades Sleeping Beauty remains a stand out film among Disney animated features.
A grand experiment in artistic style and storytelling, which did not pay off at the box office in its original release in 1959. But after many re-releases in theaters and on home video this film is now beloved by just about everybody.






An early character study by Frank Thomas.



Incredible backgrounds with cels that don't match. It's worth zooming in on some of the gorgeous painted detail.







A couple of expressive roughs by John Lounsbery.





A haunting looking BG from a later sequence in the film. Merryweather is not supposed to sit on the chair.




A stunning Eyvind Earle study for the Sleeping Beauty walk through at Disneyland.


There are plenty of previous posts on Sleeping Beauty. Just type the film's title in the upper left corner, and they will all pop up.


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