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Lounsbery Outtakes

February 12, 2020, 10:33 pm
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These are Aristocats animation drawings by John Lounsbery showing the Italian cat Peppo, as he is preparing a Roquefort omelet or something of that sort.
The scene (perhaps two scenes) was cut from the film, and it is a shame that a pencil test of the animation doesn't exist, at least to my knowledge. But who knows, the remaining drawings might surface sometime in the future. In the meantime enjoy these two Lounsbery beauties.







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Cinderella in Pencil

February 15, 2020, 6:29 pm
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Milt Kahl Outtakes

February 21, 2020, 11:55 pm
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These are a couple of rough animation drawings by Milt Kahl from a scene featuring the character of Frou Frou  from The Aristocats. This scene was not included in the final film, perhaps the action was re-staged. There is a similar shot in the film depicting the mare as she reacts strongly to Edgar slapping a newspaper on her rear.
I am not entirely sure if the two are connected.
In any case, any rough animation drawing by Milt Kahl is a revelation, as it shows the master's mind at work. I remember him talking about this character and that he had a hard time with the design and her personality.
Nevertheless the work he did on Frou Frou is just beautiful!




A little more about this character here:
https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2016/06/milts-aristocats-drawings.html


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Animators' Footage on Jungle Book

February 29, 2020, 1:20 am
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This is a beautiful scene by Frank Thomas. Milt Kahl offered some help with drawing the characters on model.
And here is an interesting, rare document I received a while ago from the W. Reitherman estate.
It looks all too familiar to me, because we received these weekly footage updates as well at Disney.
Management needed to keep track of how animation production was progressing.

Here you can see what the animators' average footage was between May of 1966 (when animation officially began) and the end of December of that year (which was the time of Walt's death.)
Not surprisingly Ollie Johnston was the fastest, followed by Hal King and Frank Thomas.
Milt Kahl comes in fourth with almost nine feet per week. That's about SIX seconds of film. Milt of course would argue that he could have been a lot faster if other animators didn't bug him constantly for drawing help on their scenes.
In any case, these numbers are incredibly impressive, considering the top notch quality of Jungle Book's character animation.




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Prince Outtake

March 4, 2020, 10:55 pm
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There is delicate perfection in this Milt Kahl key drawing from a scene that was cut from Sleeping Beauty. Prince Phillip is leaning against a tree in the forest, probably talking to his horse Samson about that beautiful voice he just heard. 
That scene was eventually re-staged with Phillip sitting down as he takes off his boots.

What is also interesting to note is that the drawing represents Milt's earlier design of the character.
The tip of the nose comes to a point, which was a design feature Walt Disney disliked. Milt altered the nose slightly for the final version.

This is actually a small drawing, the guy is about 5 inches tall on paper.




More on Prince Phillip's design development here:


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Honest John

March 16, 2020, 1:39 am
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That's Norm Ferguson animating the fox Honest John in Pinocchio.
(I feel like telling Ferguson: Don't touch your face, and wash your hands...!)
I am literally mad about this character, and I think not enough people are talking about him in terms of outstanding acting and personality development. Every single scene he is in just shines.
Not ONE missed opportunity to present ultimate entertaining moments.
Any of the key poses he strikes are inventive and full of character. Other animators who did fantastic work on Honest John are John Lounsbery, Hugh Fraser, Preston Blair and Shamus Culhane.
Quite the crew!!




















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Samson

March 21, 2020, 12:09 am
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This is a scene by Milt Kahl with Prince Phillip's horse Samson. At first I thought the drawings correspond with the film frame above, but they don't. In the color image Samson reacts to the forest animals stealing the prince's cape, hat and boots. 
It turns out that the actual scene in the film shows broader animation than what you see below. 
I believe this scene was cut from the movie. It might have been Mitl's original version, before being asked to re-animate it with a much stronger reaction.
It is interesting to see Milt applying multiple images to the horse's muzzle when he shakes his head. He did this off and on when his characters moved very fast. (Pongo jumping on Roger's lap, Kaa uncoiling before falling down a tree).
Occasionally these motion blur type lines were ignored by the inkers and painters and eliminated, other times they made it on to the final cels.
You can imagine Milt finding out that his animation was altered....lots of colorful language.



















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Albert Uderzo R.I.P.

March 25, 2020, 12:35 am
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A giant in the world of comics has died. Albert Uderzo drew the legendary Asterix comic albums that became a part of millions of childhoods as well as adulthoods. I was -and still am- in love with his work on Asterix and other characters. Genius!

I did one post on Uderzo a while ago, but since then have found more pics from our lunch in Paris, around 1995. I was working on the Mickey short Runaway Brain at the French Disney studio in Montreuil, just east of Paris.
On the left is Didier Ghez, who arranged this get together. On the far right is his daughter Sylvie.









Uderzo stops by the French Disney studio. That's animator Catherine Poulain in the middle, and animator Sylvain Deboissy on the right.



A few of us had lunch with Uderzo after the studio visit. Animator Yoshi Tamura is in the back.



On the left are Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi, who would later direct the Firebird sequence in Fantasia 2000.



Here is the link to my 2014 post on Uderzo:


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After You've Gone 1946

April 3, 2020, 2:14 pm
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This animated short gem was part of the musical feature Make Mine Music.
The song was written by Harry Creamer and Turner Leighton. It was performed by Benny Goodman's quartet, with Goodman on the clarinet, Teddy Willson on the piano, Sid Weiss doing bass and Cozy Cole on drums. 
I love this short. It features nothing more than than a variety of anthropomorphic musical instruments interacting with each other and dancing to Goodman's music. I would call the animation semi abstract, with exhilarating timing and color styling.
I am not sure who sketched these story/color continuity pages, but they are lovely and make for good study as far as how Disney was breaking down a piece of jazz music with entertaing visual results.

Here is a magazine article featuring tis segment from Make Mine Music.




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Peter Pan & Dalmatians BGs

April 7, 2020, 1:49 pm
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A few samples of production backgrounds from Peter Pan, painted in gouache. 
To me everything is painted in a dreamlike atmosphere, soft and illusive. Even the sequences outside of Neverland, like the Darling family home. You are in a dream from the get go. 

BG artists were: Ralph Hulett, Ray Huffine, Art Riley, Thelma Witmer, Al Dempster, Dick Anthony, Eyvind Earle, Brice Mack and Art Landy.











A completely different aesthetic for the art direction and backgrounds in 101 Dalmatians.
Intricate thin black lines on top of washes of paint. I understand that they used thinned down cel paint in an effort too create a strengthened unity between BGs and character cels. I am not entirely sure though if this is true. It sounds like this might have been something Ken Anderson experimented with during pre-production.
101 Dalmatians has a modern story line with no magic in it. The backgrounds reflect that modern realism. Its graphic 'bite" originates from illustrations and fine art typical of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

BG artists: Al Dempster, Ralph Hulett, Anthony Rizzo and Bill Layne

Either style stunning in itself!












These background paintings are currently available for purchase at Van Eaton Galleries:


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Galaxy Gas

April 9, 2020, 9:09 pm
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Robin Hood

April 11, 2020, 9:05 pm
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There has been quite a bit of traffic today around an earlier post regarding Robin Hood.
Perhaps this has something to to with the recent announcement that Disney is going to produce a CG version of the 1973 film. 
In this scene Robin is reacting to Friar Tuck's announcement about the upcoming archery tournament.
"Thank you, Little John, but I am sure we're not invited."
Milt Kahl worked hard to make the key poses look good, particularly #59. That pose looks almost unnatural the way the body is bent and twisted. But of course in motion the scene comes off as refined and very much in character.

























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Ollie Johnston in Sketches Magazine

April 19, 2020, 12:48 am
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This article was published in 2001. Ollie passed away in 2008.








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Roland Dupree

April 20, 2020, 11:38 pm
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I have mentioned Roland Dupree before in connection with his Peter Pan live action reference work.  But only recently did I find out more about his career as a dancer and choreographer.
This lovely article appeared in Disney's Newsreel magazine in May of 2007. At that time Dupree returned to Disney Studios for the first time since he was filmed as Peter Pan to be reunited with Kathryn Beaumont and Margaret Kerry (whose comment about seeing Dupree again CRACKS ME UP!!).



Dupree was in his mid 20s when he was filmed as Peter Pan, mostly during flying and fighting sequences (Peter Pan's voice actor Bobby Driscoll was responsible for acting out more subtle moments.)
I know for a fact that various animators had a hard time translating Dupree's muscular physique into proper Peter Pan drawings because the character was so much younger.

I wrote earlier about this situation here:



Roland Dupree in action on set at Disney.









A few links that provide you with more information about Dupree's long career:


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"They'll be back !"

April 25, 2020, 1:29 am
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Live action Roland Dupree, animation Milt Kahl.

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Lisa Davis II

April 26, 2020, 11:34 pm
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A charming article in Sketches Magazine from 2006.
Lisa Davis talks about her experience voicing Anita in Disney's 1961 classic 101 Dalmatians.





Several animators were involved in designing and animating Anita.
First there were Bill Peet's story sketches which served as a springboard to the animators.
Marc Davis (probably before getting going on Cruella) animated Anita at the beginning of the film when she meets Roger Radcliff. There is a little bit of Aurora in these animation roughs which is not surprising. Marc had just finished animation on the princess as well as on Maleficent.






Actress Helen Stanley (who had modeled for Aurora) was filmed as she acted out scenes with Anita.




At that time Les Clark was cast to animate the human female lead, but not before Milt Kahl tried out some  character designs. These are Milt's drawings.







In the end Milt took over the character of Anita, and he caricatured her facial features while maintaining a sympathetic heroine type appearance. Less formulaic, too.





Great character design, wonderful animation and a realistic, modern relationship to her husband Roger. A triumph for a straight, female  Disney protagonist.

Links to earlier post on Anita:


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What's on my Animation Desk Right Now

May 8, 2020, 10:55 pm
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I am animating a bunch of short action scenes right now which will connect longer, already animated sequences. 
Here Sarah is trying to push her tiger Mushka over the edge of a cliff into a river. Why?
I won't say. 
This is my first rough pass followed by my tied down version which will go to color. Actually the tiger is too heavy, so Sarah asks her friend Alex for help. He enters the scene a few frames later.

I was pausing today, thinking this project is the adventure of a lifetime.





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Camouflage

May 15, 2020, 1:56 pm
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For a while during WWII Frank Thomas joined the US Armed Forces as a member of the First Motion Picture Unit, which produced training films at the Hal Roach Studio.
Frank directed this 20 min. live action/animated short film called Camouflage from 1944. He also animated the "host" character, a chameleon. How appropriate!
I remember Frank briefly talking about this project, but hadn't seen it until a few years ago when it became available online.
The character animation is incredible! But what would you expect from a young Frank Thomas who had just animated on Pinocchio and Bambi ? In films such as this one you needed to get many technical aspect of warfare across. To help hold the audience's attention the chameleon character was added for entertainment. 
This is fantastic vintage Thomas animation from the medium's golden age.

You can view the film here:

Below are are a couple of cels from the film. The chameleon and an eagle who would like him for lunch. These cels were offered by Howard Lowery a while back.





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Background Designs

May 22, 2020, 9:05 pm
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A handsome article from Sketches Magazine, spring 1994.
Its readership consisted mostly of Disney fans, so the information is basic. But the article does make the point that even though most people believe there is ONE Disney style, beautiful artistic variations can be pointed at from films through the decades.
From early cozy looking watercolors to the gritty, almost avant garde style for 101 Dalmatians.

And yes, I do believe that Aladdin fits right in with these masterpieces of stage sets for the characters.
I remember when I saw the first finished backgrounds for Aladdin, we had just started production animation. I couldn't believe my eyes. It seemed like the studio had hired back Claude Coats, Bill Layne, Al Dempster and all the other old-timers. Aladdin represented a huge artistic leap forward for my generation of animated film makers.
And then there was Eric Goldberg's spectacular animation of the Genie....I knew then that this film was going to be extraordinary!!!





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The Roger Rabbit Production Process

May 25, 2020, 2:07 am
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I remember animating this scene early on in production of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
The Disney Archives recently posted these three phases of our process which combined animation with live action. 
It was ABSOLUTELY essential that the animation would hide any live action gadgets that were needed to hold real props or create effects, like real water in this case. The animation needed to be on 1s (like the live action), which resulted in a ton of work. But I had a blast working out the technical challenges for each scene. Because I knew that when ILM would send us the final scene (with highlights and shadows) to be shown in London during "rushes" or "dailies" we will see magic.








Video essayist Kristian put this clever and informative youtube film together. It explains how we did some of this stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=242&v=RWtt3Tmnij4&feature=emb_logo


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