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Ken Anderson's Doodles for The Rescuers

October 19, 2013, 5:13 pm
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Ken Anderson did a ton of loose character design sketches and background studies for The Rescuers. He was not concerned with the final look of the film, instead he presented valuable ideas which layout and background artists as well as the animators could put to good use. There is always a good dose of charm and personality in his work.
These drawings show how Ken staged the mice with objects from the human world in order to make them look small. Fun stuff!









See Milt Kahl's version of the following sketch here:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k4LuCAWM77s/UZWyGYGxOCI/AAAAAAAAGcg/Er1E_CucaPg/s1600/MVAB+7.jpeg





A couple of line ups showing the swamp folks.



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Wart

October 21, 2013, 11:14 pm
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Milt Kahl is showing off a pencil test on his moviola. (A moviola was a specifically designed contraption for the purpose of running pencil tests on a loop. You could also view a whole reel of film on it.)
If I am not mistaken, the other person in the photo is assistant Stan Green. Someone might correct me on this one. I only knew Stan in his later years, so I don't know what he looked like when he was younger.
I have been meaning to post some development art for the character of Wart from the film The Sword in the Stone. 
Bill Peet drew this great story sketch, which inspired Milt to restage it slightly as part of his final design research. So much personality in both drawings.




These drawings show a slightly different looking Wart. His nose in particular is more caricatured, which gives him a bit of a nerdy look, but it is still a very appealing design. (I actually prefer this version over the final one).
When I asked Milt way back, why these facial changes were made, he said that Walt Disney didn't think Wart looked attractive enough and made him alter the design.






Milt redrew many scenes in an effort to keep the look of the characters on model. The drawings below show Wart attending to the "Jousting Machine". Cliff Nordberg animated this scene based on live action, and Milt polished off the key drawings.


Not everybody enjoyed working on such a stylized looking character. I remember Eric Larson reminiscing about working on Sword in the Stone. "Boy, that kid was so skinny, tough to draw."

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Disney Trains

October 24, 2013, 12:16 am
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Most of you know that Walt Disney was a train enthusiast. 
Trains show up in some of his feature length as well as short films. Often a train would become a personality like Casey Jones Jr., or they just functioned as the real thing, like the train that almost ran over The Aristocats.
Walt put a train into Disneyland, and named it after his wife, the Lilly Belle.
He also installed train tracks around his home in Holmby Hills, Ca. This was a 1/8 scale miniature train, called the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, which ran for 1/2 a mile.

Here are a few images of Disney trains from various films.
The drawings of Dumbo's Casey Jones Jr. are incredible, the artists developed such a fantastic motion range for something that is basically made out of solid iron. Just wonderful!









A magazine article from October of 1965.






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Prince Phillip

October 26, 2013, 1:36 am
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I know I posted about this character before, but there are many fascinating aspect to his development for the film Sleeping Beauty. As I mentioned before animator Milt Kahl didn't like the assignment of animating him from the beginning, not the kind of animation you could get your teeth into. Being the professional Milt was, he did the best he could with the story material given to him. Just imagine how much more interesting this prince could have been if he had a more important role in the film. It's a mystery to me why the studio in those days always underplayed the part of a prince, from Snow White and Cinderella to Sleeping Beauty. It seems they saw no potential or entertainment value in the male hero at all.
So it is amazing to see that Prince Phillip comes off as well as he does, but I do believe that this is mostly due to Milt's hard work.
Here are a few images that show Phillip's visual development.

Beautiful early costume research, possibly by Mary Blair, but I'm not sure.



Marc Davis was the first animator/designer to work on Sleeping Beauty. This is his version of the prince. Milt thought he didn't look masculine enough.




Live action reference was provided by actor Ed Kemmer, who was known for his role in the 1950s science fiction TV series Space Control.



Milt's original version of Prince Phillip. Walt didn't care for his sharp facial features   and asked Milt to alter the design.



Phillip argues with his father King Hubert. Milt animated both characters in this scene, but for some reason he only tied down the prince with pencil, the king was finalized by somebody else.




Milt didn't animate any action scenes, but he helped other animators to keep the prince on model.





A photo stat and the corresponding animation drawing. They reveal how Milt was able to look at live action reference and find the essence for his animation. Looking at this drawing, Frank Thomas told me once that only Milt Kahl could simplify the human body this way.




His part might have been small in the movie, but Prince Phillip made the cover of a few beautifully illustrated story books as well as promotional material.



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The Genius of Frank Thomas

October 28, 2013, 12:04 am
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Frank examines storyboard sketches of a sequence from Robin Hood. He would later animate those very scenes. Not very thrilled with the way the film's story was coming together, Frank still did the best he could with the material given to him.
Following are just a few examples of animated moments in Frank's long career. To my eye there are zero formulas to detect in his work. Every one of his characters moves and acts in a unique way. 
That way of working takes not only great analysis but a ton of passion.












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Hug, Animal Drawings from the Zoo

October 29, 2013, 11:52 pm
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That's the title of a limited edition portfolio by Swiss animal artist Fritz Hug. 
The publishing date is unknown. 
Hug visited the zoo in Zurich so many times that he knew a lot of the animals by name. 
I enjoy his loose quick sketches, but also the drawings that took a little longer, when he took the time to define textures like fur, feathers and skin. But most impressive is his observation and his knowledge of what pose brings out the animal's characteristics.

If you missed my first post on Hug's work, here is the link:












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Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2013, 1:03 am
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That's my friend Pierre Landy in the photo, dressed as the Mad Hatter.
About three years ago, when I had some time on my hands, I brainstormed with Pierre the idea of animating the invitation for his upcoming birthday party in Paris. Pierre is a huge fan of Disney animation, and he especially loves the female villains. After a few discussions I agreed to animate him disguised as three different wicked ladies. He sent me his voice recording and after three weeks of work the invite video was finished.
It was a crazy idea, but a lot of fun to do. Later I took all of the animation drawings to Paris and handed them out as party favors. 

Incidently, way back when I met Pierre, he worked in the legal department of Disneyland Paris for a number of years before moving on, and today he is one of Yahoo's top lawyers.

To be honest with you, this little homemade project went through without a glitch, it gave me the confidence to produce "Mushka".     

This is a piece of affectionate satire, no more, no less.



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Duchess

November 1, 2013, 8:50 pm
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Actress Eva Gabor poses with an enlarged Ken Anderson sketch of Duchess, the female lead in the film The Aristocats. Gabor voiced Duchess with her distinct Hungarian accent. She would later return to the studio to play Miss Bianca in The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under.
Duchess was animated by quite a few artists, I would say that Ollie Johnston did some of the nicest scenes, educating the kittens etc.. Frank Thomas came up with good acting scenes as well, when Duchess meets O'Malley for the first time, and when she says goodbye to him at the end of the movie. 
Milt Kahl set her basic design based on Ken Anderson's drawings. Below are a couple of beautiful exploratory sheets by Milt. As always it's great to see his mind at work in these drawings, he is trying hard to avoid formulas and to find unique arrangements of shapes that bring out her personality.
There is so much knowledge of feline anatomy here, after all, Milt had just finished animation on Shere Khan and Bagheera.

To see a sequence with Duchess and O'Malley in pencil test form go to this previous post:




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Disney Vis Dev

November 4, 2013, 1:08 am
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The visual development artists that worked at Disney Studios over the years pioneered all kinds of different styles for characters as well as for environments. Sometimes their artistic vision made it intact into the final film, other times their work provided only a subtle influence. 
One thing is for certain, the range of expression was huge. What you see here are images that are realistic and tonal, others are graphic and flat. They all try to set a mood or illustrate a particular situation. Story people were involved in suggesting designs as well.
I thought it would be fun to show one….just one visual from each of the classic Disney films. Post one (of two) covers the features from Snow White, 1937,  to Mr Toad from 1949.















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Disney Vis Dev II

November 5, 2013, 11:37 pm
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Part 2 of classic Disney Vis Dev art begins with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and ends with The Rescuers. The films that followed were drawn by a new generation of animators, classic Disney ends right here in my opinion.
Mary Blair, the first lady of visual development, still dominated color and staging during the early 1950s. After that artists like Don DaGradi, Eyvind Earle, Walt Peregoy and Ken Anderson put their mark on the look of the films.
And there were politics. Mary Blair had been a favorite of Walt, to the dismay of several artists. Eyvind Earle was fed up with animators, who felt that his backgrounds out staged their characters. He left right after Sleeping Beauty. Ken Anderson and Peregoy disappointed Walt with their graphic visions of Dalmatians and Sword in the Stone. 
In those days it wasn't always easy to put forward your own creative efforts without offending the rest of the crew or the boss himself.















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One of my Days

November 8, 2013, 12:41 am
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In 1978 Wilhelm M. Busch published a small edition with a collection of drawings, depicting moments from one day of his life. Busch gets up in the morning, takes the bus to the Hamburg art school, where he teaches life drawing. In the afternoon he visits the circus to sketch animals.
He returns home, watches some TV with his wife before going to bed.
Busch had given his students this kind of assignment before to draw key moments from one day in their lives. Eventually he went through the exercise himself, and here are just a few illustrations from that effort.
What a fantastic idea for student homework! It teaches you how to analyze and draw what you do on a given day of your life. I encourage everybody to do the same thing, I know I will, as soon as I find some time. Great challenge!










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The Colonel

November 9, 2013, 9:41 pm
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Storyman Bill Peet drew these sketches of The Colonel, an Old English sheepdog, from the 1961 movie 101 Dalmatians.
Most of the animation for this character was done by John Lounsbery, who must have been relieved to have gotten this assignment. After animating mostly serious and dramatic scenes for the previous film epic Sleeping Beauty, he again was given the opportunity to handle comic animation.
When you look at Lounsbery's career, it's his eccentric characters who are the most memorable. The alligators in Dance of the Hours, some of the Mice in Cinderella, the crocodile in Peter Pan and Tony & Joe in Lady and the Tramp are just a few highlights. 

Below are a few of his oversized thumbnail drawings for the scene when the Colonel, after realizing that Pongo and Perdita are close by, tries to meet them half way. "By jove, it can't be the Pongos!" The Colonel runs screen left over a frozen surface, and Lounsbery knows exactly how to play this scene for optimum comic effect.
Over the years John didn't get to develop his "own" characters very often in the way Frank & Ollie or Milt did. But the Colonel is one of his animated creations.

So much life in these drawings.










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Disney Leading Ladies

November 11, 2013, 11:11 pm
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Here is a little background information on a few actresses who acted out scenes for the animators.
Though this article was published many years ago, it is fun to see faces next to the drawings. Everybody was cast perfectly for their individual roles, Kathryn Beaumont not only provided live action reference, but also voiced her characters beautifully.

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Penguins

November 14, 2013, 12:26 am
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After having seen the fabulous film "Saving Mr. Banks" I feel inclined to do a post on Mary Poppins' penguins. They were animated by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, Ollie did most of the introductory scenes, and Frank did the famous dance with Dick Van Dyke.
The photo shows the two animators acting as penguins in front of animation director Ham Luske ( who was a fantastic animator in the early days of Disney) and animation art director McLaren Stewart.
Milt Kahl helped to design these characters based on story sketches. As usual his drawings show very pleasing shapes and forms. He also deals with foreshortening issues, like the difficult facial front view.
Milt didn't do any animation with the penguins, he instead focused on the terrific fox during the hunting sequence. More on that in this previous post:







Frank Thomas knew he needed to dig a little deeper as far as animatable penguin anatomy and range of motion. He also found beautiful graphic solutions for how the wings are attached to the bodies. Great observation of real penguin behavior! Just wonderful stuff!!




What a great way to squash and stretch a penguin's upper body in the small doodle on the right.






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Missed Opportunity

November 17, 2013, 2:39 am
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This is one of those things, when a friend asks you to do some character design work. The funding for an animate feature would just be around the corner, blah, blah , blah.
I actually thought the script had potential, so I came up with character designs for this new Arabian Nights Fairy Tale.There were Witches, a prince, a princess and a variety of animals.
I did enjoyed working on the character concepts until I was told that funding for the originally highly budgeted film had been pulled,

Still, I enjoyed creating  these character concepts, and I still believe this could be a great hand drawn animated feature.












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If Fred Moore had his way...

November 19, 2013, 1:33 am
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…Snow White might have looked like this. In his beautiful sketch the princess looks very young, and her appearance matches the design of the dwarfs very well. But Walt Disney felt that in order for her to feel real to an audience Snow White had to be drawn with more realism. A cartoony looking girl couldn't portray the dramatic as well as the romantic scenes the way he envisioned it.
Live action reference was filmed, and thanks to animator Grim Natwick and assistant Marc Davis Snow White turned out to be as believable as any live actress on film.
Here are just a few versions that preceded the final choice.


Gustaf Tenggren



Albert Hurter



Unknown to me, but what a great drawing.



Young Marge Champion acted out scenes for the animators. Black lines on her costume helped the artists to translate the photo stats into drawings. They couldn't have picked a better actress to perform this role. Marge brought so much life to the character with her natural and confident acting.

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Diane Disney Miller 1933-2013

November 20, 2013, 9:43 pm
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Most of you have heard or read by now of the sudden passing of Walt Disney's daughter Diane.
My heart goes out to her husband Ron, her children, but also to the wonderful staff at the Walt Disney Family Museum.
I met Diane years ago at the house of Marc and Alice Davis. Frank & Ollie's book on Disney Villains had just been published, and I brought a copy along with me. When I asked Diane to sign it, she politely declined. I remember her words: 
"My family is very proud of our heritage, but we don't take credit for it."
At first I was surprised, but the more I thought about it, the more I respected Diane's point of view.
When Alice announced that we were all going to have lunch at the Tam O'Shanter restaurant nearby, Diane said: "Gosh…Dad and I used to go there all the time".
That phrase stunned me for a moment, after all only Diane (and her younger sister Sharon) could refer to Walt Disney as dad.

Over the years I had the chance to see Diane at various functions, my most recent get together was just last September in a meeting with Museum staff and members of her family. Diane was full of energy, full of ideas for future exhibitions, panels and events at the Museum.

Due to her strong will and convictions, all of us in LA can enjoy performances at the amazing Walt Disney Concert Hall, which finished construction in 2003, but only because of Diane's persistence and generous support.
Alice Davis said that Diane was like her father in many ways. When she wanted to get something done, she did it with passion, the best way possible, no matter how many obstacles might come her way.
To say that she will be missed is an understatement.



This photo was taken last year at the unveiling of the Walt Disney Storyteller sculpture. From left to right:
Marty Sclar, Imagineer Ray Spencer, Diane, imagineer/animator Blaine Gibson, Mickey, Walt, me and sculptor Rick Terry.


Mickey Mouse sketch by Fred Moore, early 1940s.
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Diane's Dad

November 22, 2013, 9:00 pm
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In September of 1964 Walt Disney made a stop over on his way home from Washington in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He was visiting his friend Donald S. Gilmore, who had invited a few guests.
You can read about this visit on Mike Barrier's website :


It's always great to see photos of Walt that are not staged, but of the moment.

These photos are part of photographer Douglas Lyttle's album, which I purchased on ebay a while ago.






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101 Dalmatians, Sequence 2, Scene 54

November 24, 2013, 8:49 pm
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Ollie Johnston animated this scene with Pongo as he growls and backs away from the approaching Cruella De Vil. The following rough drawings explore a pattern of how to get into that final pose, which, as you can see, has been given a lot of thought. There are several versions of it, drawn with different color pencils. I believe that Frank Thomas did these to help out his fellow animator Ollie Johnston.
Frank is not even trying to come up with good looking drawings (even though they are), instead he is interested in Pongo's inner emotions which seem to be saying:
One step closer and I'll bite off your finger!









Milt Kahl offered this expression, which shows threat and disgust at the same time.
The drawing is graphically sound and right in line with the shape language of the character's design and the film's style.




Bill Peet's storyboard of the sequence shows the way he staged the Pongo/Cruella encounter (top row).


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Milt Kahl Fan Art

November 26, 2013, 9:43 pm
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This is a sketch Milt Kahl did for a fan named Jane, a while after he had left Disney.
I remember Milt talking about a lady he was corresponding with, who thought that the sun rises and sets with his animation. Obviously flattery goes a long way, not only did Jane get a Kahl original, but a drawing of Prince Phillip, the character he had abhorred animating many years earlier.
This piece was offered at auction years ago, and I was lucky enough to pick it up. 

Even in retirement you can see that Milt still had the touch. The human body simplified to perfection. One continuous line defines the Prince's back, from his neck all the way down to the knee. The other side of his torso is a contrasting straight line. There is something to be learned from every Kahl drawing, no matter at what stage in his career it was made.

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