Quantcast
Channel: Deja View
Viewing all 1326 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

John Pomeroy's Penny

September 5, 2013, 9:45 pm
$
0
0


Ollie Johnston animated most of the orphan girl Penny in The Rescuers, but other animators did key acting scenes as well, including Milt Kahl and John Pomeroy.
John had joined Disney in 1973 with the intent to do background paintings, but he soon developed a fascination for character animation. He showed extraordinary talent, so Ollie put him under his wing to be part of the Penny unit.
These are John's drawings for a scene in which the girl has just met the mice Bernard and Bianca.They had found her bottle with a note for help. 
"Did you hear that, Teddy, our bottle worked!  (Pause) Didn't you bring someone big with you (like the police)?"
There is a nice sensitive quality in these sketches that reveal strong insight into Penny's personality. The change of mood from initial excitement to being somewhat confused is beautifully portrayed.




















After working for many years at Don Bluth Productions, John returned to Disney to work on films like Pocahontas and Treasure Planet. Since I was assigned to different movies at that time, we unfortunately never really worked on the same project together. Perhaps sometime in the future...

↧
Search

Marc Davis Roughs

September 8, 2013, 1:33 am
$
0
0


Last year I posted some of Marc Davis' color designs for the unproduced feature Chanticleer.
Here are a few of Marc's rough character designs and staging ideas for certain story situations.
Two things are worth pointing out:
I can totally see Marc's Fine Art sensibility in some of these sketches. There are unusual abstractions taking place that go beyond standard Disney drawing. Just like the edgy avant garde design of Cruella De Vil, these drawings show a search for new graphic representations of Disney personalities.
Secondly it is SOO reassuring to see that Marc worked hard at his compositions. There are often several versions of the same image. I guess, that makes him human after all.
These drawings give you an idea of Marc's creative process. He took the challenge of shaping new animated animal characters very seriously. They are anthropomorphic representations of their species, but all of them are based on thorough knowledge of actual anatomy.
I know that the cancellation of the project was quite a blow to Marc's enthusiasm for animation, but in the end it resulted in Marc's transfer to WED, and what would the parks be without the his rides?!

By the way, I could post more of Marc's work on Chanticleer if you are interested.





















↧
↧

More Chanticleer

September 9, 2013, 7:18 pm
$
0
0

Here are a few more of Marc Davis' rough character studies for Chanticleer. I love the bewildered waiters and the painter.
The images below represent final illustrations based on a few sketches from the previous post. 
Too bad this movie was never made, but at least some of these designs sort of survived and can be found in the vintage Disneyland ride "America Sings" (also Marc's work), "Splash Mountain" and the animated movie "Robin Hood".






↧

Chanticleer, Rough and Final

September 10, 2013, 10:35 pm
$
0
0

I think it is always interesting to compare preparatory work with the final illustration, especially when you are looking at art from Marc Davis. These color images are stunning, but it's the pencil sketches that tell you how Marc approached the research for his characters and compositions.
These images are as good as it gets when it comes to staging ideas for personalities and environments.
The pencil sketches were pinned onto a board and photographed in August of 1960. Marc had finished work on Cruella De Vil, but 101 Dalmatians wouldn't be in theaters until January of 1961.
I see the same confidence with which Marc animated Cruella displayed here in the designs for Chanticleer, which was hopefully going to be the next animated feature.
Disney anthropomorphic animals enter a modern aera, more designy and sophisticated than anything from the Golden Age of Animation.
To this day they cry out to be animated…as moving drawings.

















↧

Secretary Bird

September 12, 2013, 9:08 pm
$
0
0


I wonder if Milt Kahl ever saw this illustration by James A. Shepherd from his 1894 book "Zig Zags at the Zoo". No idea, if the vast Disney Library had a copy of it.
But it looks like the Shepherd drawing might have been inspirational for the design of the Secretary Bird in the film Bedknobs and Broomsticks. 
Milt Kahl animated most of the scenes with this character, who constantly has to put up with King Leonidas' volatile temper. The Lion's roar is so powerful, it repeatedly messes up the Secretary Bird's outfit. Those scenes where he puts himself together again, straightening out his tie and adjusting his cufflinks are among my favorites from Milt's later work.
I'd like to talk about these animated scenes in a future post.


↧
↧

Barbara Firth

September 15, 2013, 12:37 am
$
0
0

I love Barbara Firth's illustrated children's' books. They capture the innocence of childhood without ever being childish. Beautiful sensitive watercolors with strong and appealing character poses.
It's curious to find out that she did not begin her career as a book illustrator until 1980. Before that she had worked for many years in the fashion industry,
Sadly Firth passed away last March at the age of eighty-four. Here is a quote from The Guardian's obituary:
Barbara Firth, who has died aged 84, achieved success relatively late in life with her rich, warm and evocative illustrations for books such as Martin Waddell's Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? Her realisation of Waddell's touching story of Big Bear helping Little Bear overcome his fear of the dark by bringing him bigger and bigger lanterns, before taking him outside to show him how the moon – the biggest lantern of them all – is always there, touched a chord with parents and children. Firth created an engaging, rumpled and shambling Big Bear and an enchantingly bright-eyed and eager Little Bear. Their cave is a haven of cosiness and Firth's illustrations are full of depth and surprise, as well as charm.
Firth never had any formal art training. Her lively work almost suggests that she might have had some kind of animation experience. Here is a small sampling from a variety of her books.








All illustrations © Barbara Firth
↧

Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera

September 17, 2013, 1:50 am
$
0
0


That's character actor Sebastian Cabot in the photo, standing in front of story sketches by Vance Gerry.
Cabot voiced the black panther Bagheera in The Jungle Book. And beautifully so!
Bagheera is one of my favorite animated characters, for three reasons:
-I love his ernest personality, which strongly contrasts Baloo, who just wants to have a good time.
-The way Milt Kahl designed him with an ultimate economy of lines. Pure feline elegance!
-Most of his personality scenes were animated by Milt ( Bagheera pushing Mowgli up a tree) and Ollie Johnston (the night time conversation between the panther and Baloo about how to get Mowgli back to the man village).

Bagheera is like your dad, always sensible and concerned, while Baloo is like your crazy uncle. It is obvious why Mowgli wants to hang out with the bear. 

Bill Peet scribbled these terrific early character concepts, before eventually leaving not only the project, but the studio.



Story artist Vance Gerry continued working on sequences that involved Bagheera.
Here are a couple of his story sketches.



Milt Kahl researches design possibilities that would work with Sebastian Cabot's voice recordings.
At one point Bagheera apparently had colored pupils, and his upper jawline was defined. The final design doesn't show that jaw/ cheek line. As I said, simplified to perfection.




A few key drawings, done by Milt for Ollie Johnston scenes.





After Baloo got Mowgli into trouble, he screams for help. This rough Kahl scene represents Bagheera's initial reaction: "Well, it happened!"
Simple, full of personality, gorgeously drawn and animated!







↧

Lady & the Tramp Doll Houses

September 19, 2013, 1:41 am
$
0
0


Well, not quite.
These three dimensional models were built to help Disney layout artists visualize the perspective for specific interior scenes. Look how detailed they were put together, with furniture, props , even wallpaper design. It makes total sense to offer this kind of visual reference to the layout department.
I just wonder why there were no models like these made for films like Snow White, Pinocchio or Peter Pan.
Even the movies that followed Lady & the Tramp didn't have this kind of reference. As far as I know 101 Dalmatians and The Sword in the Stone were all laid out without the benefit of miniature sets.









Final frames from the film show the result of all the research that went into creating believable environments.



↧
Search

Oscar, Corrina & Co

September 24, 2013, 12:03 am
$
0
0


I just returned from a trip to San Francisco. The fabulous Walt Disney Family Museum invited me to co present the visual development of the classic film "Bambi". It was a lot of fun.
I want to give you some information about this beautiful museum in my next post.

In the meantime, here are a few character designs I did just a few years ago at Disney for a project that was eventually shelved. 
The story was set in London, and house pets were the main characters. I don't recall all that much about the story, but a neighborhood pet went missing, and so a large cat named Oscar and a cockatoo named Corrina went on a mission to solve the mystery. On their quest they would encounter a variety of animals, some of which would offer some help to those two, others not so much.
I enjoyed exploring these animal types.













UPDATE: Check out Hans Bacher's fantastic color environment studies for this film:

http://one1more2time3.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/down-the-drain/

↧
↧

Chicken Little 1943

September 27, 2013, 11:57 pm
$
0
0


This beautifully produced Disney short film takes some liberties from the original popular story in order to drive home its anti Nazi message. IMDb has this to say about the film:

"Produced as a propaganda short during WWII, warning audiences not to believe anti-American propaganda. Originally the film was to have had more direct references to the war: Foxy Loxy would have read from "Mein Kampf"; and the chicken's graves would have been marked by swastikas. But Walt Disney decided to keep the film generic so that it would not become dated after the war".

The film's concept is brilliant, and the animation is top notch. 
I don't know who drew the model sheets, but the animators used those exact designs, no adjustments were made.

Milt Kahl focused on the main character, who is playful, not very smart and likely to believe anything he is told.
Here is the rough model sheet for Chicken Little followed by Milt's design explorations.







More character model sheets, including the villain Foxy Loxy, animated brilliantly by Ward Kimball.






A very brief version of the storyboard.


Watch the film right here:

You can purchase the complete Disney Wartime DVD set here:


↧

Geraldine Page is Madame Medusa

September 29, 2013, 6:57 pm
$
0
0


Frank Thomas considered her the best voice they ever had for an animated character. 
Animator Milt Kahl stated that he probably had more fun animating Madame Medusa than any other assignment at Disney. While working on the film he was also amazed to find out that a lot of her dialogue was only recorded once. Milt had been looking for an outtake of a certain line, but there weren't any. Many of her first and only readings became production dialogue instantly. 
Page had a strong instinct for who the character was and how eccentrically she should be played.
Milt said: "This actress was so good, she could make poorly written dialogue sound great!"
He watched some of her films to get an idea of her acting background, and he fond a particular acting moment useful for a scene he later animated. 
In the 1962 movie "Sweet Bird of Youth" Page is acting opposite Paul Newman. At one point Newman tries to get to the telephone she is holding. To keep him from getting closer, she kicks  him in the gut and pushes him away with her foot.
Medusa would repeat this moment when she tries to keep Penny away from the Teddy Bear, she grabbed earlier from the girl's arms. "Medusa kicks the little girl away with her boot, which is an awful thing to do and right in character," Milt explained.

A few years ago I had the he chance to listen to an old voice recording with Page as Medusa.
She started out by quietly asking the director a few questions, but then when it was time to record, she bursted her lines into the microphone as loud as she could, like: "PEEEEENNY DEAR, AUNTIE MEDUSA WANTS TO TALK TO YOUUUU!! Then very quietly to the director: "How was that?"

These are a few sketches Ken Anderson made while Geraldine Page was working on The Rescuers.





A pre-production design sketch by Milt Kahl, showing a sort of sensual quality.



To me this is the scariest drawing Milt did of Medusa. Her eyes, the way she points into camera, this woman means business.


↧

A Visit to Woolie's Office...

October 2, 2013, 12:18 am
$
0
0


…during the production of The Jungle Book.
I believe the person on the left is an employee, and the man on the right a visiting guest.
It's fun to look around and see what kind of stuff Woolie surrounded himself with that day. There are a few pieces that relate to the development of the film's villain Shere Khan.
Near the lower right corner of the photo is a model sheet of the wolf from the 1946 short Peter and the Wolf. John Lounsbery animated that character way back , and perhaps some of these poses and expressions served as an inspiration for Shere Khan. 
On the desk near Woolie's right hand lies a story sketch of the tiger by Vance Gerry, who boarded important sequences for the film.
Woolie is holding a great drawing of Shere Khan by Milt Kahl. It is worth taking a closer look at this sketch, it shows the tiger as he appears in his first scene of the film (except that the image was flopped in the final version, the character is walking toward screen left.)



Behind the group you can see some of Ken Anderson's concept drawings of Shere Khan on the wall. Above those hangs a small color sketch featuring Mowgli and Bagheeera in the jungle.



I wished there were many more behind the scenes photos that give us an insight into the daily life of the artists who produced these Disney classic films that have become American Folklore. 

↧

The Brave Engineer

October 3, 2013, 9:25 pm
$
0
0


This Disney short film from 1950 is a retelling of the popular story of legendary railroad engineer Casey Jones, who is determined to keep his train schedule despite many obstacles on the way.
One of those obstacles is a villain who ties up a beautiful girl on rail tracks. Of course Casey saves the damsel in distress in a swiftly manner, and all is well.
Milt Kahl animated this scene, and I came across this rough animation drawing (there are actually two drawings which I combined into one image), that had been separated from the rest of the scene. It's a beautiful dynamically staged sketch, which was also used in the composition of the film's poster. 
When you think of it, most of Milt's animation key drawings are worthy of a poster. 


↧
↧

André Franquin

October 5, 2013, 8:07 pm
$
0
0

André Franquin is a genius and a giant in the world of European comics. 
Most of his beautiful work was published in the Spirou et Fantasio comic magazine.
I knew of his art as a kid when I started reading stories with some of his iconic characters like Gaston Lagaffe (behind him in the photo) and Marsupilami. To this day his unique drawing style continues to influence countless comic strip artists all over the world. 
Franquin was Belgian, he was born in 1924 and died in 1997. He drew realistically very well, but his energetic, catooney and ultra appealing way of drawing is what made him famous. Here are just a few pages from one of his sketchbooks.







In the early late 1980s Disney was working on turning Marsupilami into a TV animation series (which did not turn out all that well). But in 1990 Franquin came to LA to visit Disney Studios. I remember getting a phone call in my office from our management. They asked me if I knew of an artist called André Franquin. He was being given a tour of the animation department at this moment. I almost fell off my chair. "Franquin is in the house" I yelled. "Frank who?" a colleague asked me. I ran down the hallway to meet this amazing artist. He was shy, soft-spoken, and he seemed somewhat surprised that a Disney animator knew of his work. Luckily I just happened to have the German edition of his famous "Idées Noires" ( Dark Thoughts, Alptraeume in German) in my office. I asked him to sign it, and he graciously added a drawing. Lucky me. 
The following pages are from Idées Noires.







All images © Franquin
↧

Tony and Joe

October 8, 2013, 12:57 am
$
0
0


Tony, the proprietor and Joe, the chef of the Italian restaurant in the Disney classic Lady and the Tramp are among the best human characters ever done at the studio. John Lounsbery was responsible for their charming and very expressive animation. He took full ownership of this fun couple of eccentric Italians, all of their footage is Lounsbery's.
Animating dialogue that has a foreign accent is always a treat for any animator, and Lounsbery took full advantage of the possibilities that this assignment presented. Tony and Joe not only sound Italian, they act Italian as well. Big, broad gestures that define the Italian spirit. Their faces show a marvelous range of squash and stretch, and you feel the elasticity of skin in motion.

Lounsbery got a little help from a couple of actors who provided live action reference.
Tony on the left is played by Disney veteran Don Barcley, the actor who does Joe is unknown to me. The final animation though hardly shows any traces of such reference, Lounsbery made these two characters his own.
As you can see, Pluto had to sit in for Lady and the Tramp.




A couple of lively rough drawings from Lounsbery's desk.




Look at these expressive hands. We know that Milt Kahl was a master of articulating hands in animation, but so was Lounsbery.




A great story sketch by Joe Rinaldi, full of character and mood.



This final cel and background art shows a very skillfully painted and lit scene.
The calendar on the wall by the Geronomie Noodle Co. could be an in house reference to co-director Clyde Geronimi.


↧
Search

Trying too Hard

October 9, 2013, 11:52 pm
$
0
0


I drew these characters from The Black Cauldron in this this publicity still a zillion years ago.
And yes, I tried too hard to make them look good. There is way too much focus on details like hands, fabric folds and fur. 
The staging and overall compositions are pretty weak. Embarrassing, There is no flow in these poses, everything looks overly chiseled. 
The humans in the photo are director Ted Berman on the left, then producer Joe Hale and director Rick Rich. 

I did a little better in some of these pieces.
A model sheet of The Horned King, signed off by SEVEN people.



A development sketch of Taran facing the Witches of Morva. Could be much better, but at least the composition reads ok.



I am going to brag a little about this drawing, it shows a visual idea for the Horned King's henchmen.
Marc Davis came by the studio to see what this new, inexperienced crew was working on. I remember him walking down a hallway, storyboards with design work on each side. He stopped at this sketch and said: "That's a great drawing." 
What? Did I hear right? I swear I remember Marc's comment as if it was yesterday.



These are my key drawings for a scene with Dallben. He is talking to Taran and taking a few steps toward the boy. They don't look too shabby, and the animation isn't all that bad either. But when I saw it in color I realized that the motion was strobing, the scene should have been on one-s.


This animation thing sure is a learning process. 

↧

Disney in 1946

October 11, 2013, 11:07 pm
$
0
0


Here is a magazine article from Picture Post, March 23, 1946. The studio was in production on a variety of short films to be included in the feature length movie Make Mine Music.
The writing is very odd, the author keeps wondering wether Walt Disney can be considered to be an artist or not. There is some misinformation, too. 
Who knew that an animator draws every 10th drawing? And that in-betweeners are relatively unskilled?
Much more interesting are the photos here. On the page featuring the animators, you see Kimball working on the section called The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met. Great drawings. To his left hangs an early model sheet of the Siamese Cats from Lady and the Tramp, a film that wouldn't be in theaters until almost a decade later. Ollie Johnston is credited as Disney's top animator, while Milt Kahl, in the last image, doesn't get mentioned at all. (I don't know why Ollie is drawing tortoises, but Milt is studying dance moves in preparation for animating the lead couple in The Martins And the Coys section).
It's always great to discover behind the scenes photos like these.




↧
↧

Mickey, Donald and the Rest

October 13, 2013, 11:24 pm
$
0
0


There was a time, around the late 1930s to the early 1940s, when the Classic Disney characters peaked in terms of their design, animation and things like book illustrations.
They had reached a level of appeal that was very unique to that time.
The last short films in which Mickey was drawn with solid black eyes up to the first films that introduced him with pupils within an eye unit define that period.
During the decades that followed, these iconic movie personalities still performed and entertained, but that special touch faded somewhat with time. One of the reasons for this development was the studio's main focus on its animated features, another reason proved to be economical circumstances. Theaters slowly realized that they could sell a feature length movie just as well without the typical opening of an animated short. So Disney and other studios spent less money and attention on characters that had defined the medium of animation not so long ago.

But that Golden age of Disney short films had a huge impact on regular audiences as well as on a number of graphic artists. American childrens' book illustrator Maurice Sendak once mentioned that, as a kid, he was so mesmerized by the Mickey Mouse films he saw, he felt like taking a big bite out of the screen.

That pretty much sums it up.

Let's start with this stunning magazine illustration that helped announce Disney's move from Los Feliz to Burbank in 1940. Everything looks appealing, even Minnie's shoes.







Incredible Book illustrations that somehow capture the innocence and wonder of childhood.
The characters jump off the pages, they seem alive and real.









↧

Johnny Appleseed

October 15, 2013, 11:05 pm
$
0
0


We are in Ollie Johnston's office, around 1947. He is working on the character of Johnny Appleseed, who was the original "man who planted trees".
This is a lovely short which was part of the feature length film Melody Time.
It tells the story of American folk hero John Chapman (1774-1845), who was on a mission to plant apple trees around the Ohio River region for many decades. 
Ollie animated the opening section of the film, where we first meet Johnny.
Milt Kahl is responsible for the song sequence, when Johnny's Angel demonstrates the many ways apples can be used in recipes. (One of my all time favorite animated songs.)
Eric Larson drew scenes with Johnny planting seeds and befriending wild animals in the forest.

Milt drew these rough model sheets to establish the look of the character. It turned out to be one of his least favorite assignments. He explained years later that to him Johnny was just a mild mannered guy without any strong emotions. Not much fun to animate.




A beautiful unfinished staging sketch by Milt. Old Johnny is following his Angel into a pink apple blossom sunset at the end of the film.



Vis Dev art by unknown artist and story sketches (by Joe Rinaldi).  What a beautiful inspiration for the animators to bring their characters to life.









↧

Tinker Bell Gets her own Book

October 17, 2013, 10:08 pm
$
0
0


And what a treasure trove this book is. Mindy Johnson presents all aspects of Tinker Bell's career.
Tink started out as a flash of light in J. M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan, she appeared in a silent film version of the play and then went on to become one of Disney's most iconic characters.
You might already know that actress Margaret Kerry was the live action model for the character, but a lady from the ink and paint department provided facial expressions to inspire Marc Davis and other animators. And did you know that Milt Kahl drew an early model sheet of Tinker Bell?
You will find plenty of visual development art from a variety of artists such as  David Hall, Mary Blair and Don DaGradi.  There are many Behind the Scenes photos, never published before.
The book also covers Tinker Bell on TV, in story books and merchandise. The last chapter is devoted to her CG film career.
Trust me, you will love this book. Mindy's thorough research provides fascinating insight into how and why Tinker Bell has become a phenomenon in modern popular culture.

Here is the link to Amazon:





↧
Viewing all 1326 articles
Browse latest View live
Search