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Vis Dev Giants
Here are just a few examples that show the caliber of talent Walt Disney employed to help style his animated movies.Mary Blair, Eyvind Earle, Walt Peregoy and Ken Anderson all had a huge influence on...
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"You Old Goat…"
"…if I ever catch you in my kitchen again, I'll…!" yells the Scullery Maid to Merlin, the magician, who just left her kitchen in a complete mess. A short scene with a character, who only has a small...
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John Lounsbery Characters
There certainly isn't enough art by animator John Lounsbery shown on this blog.This unassuming man never gave any filmed interviews, he never wrote a book, as a matter of fact, he just wasn't into...
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Test Screening
Looks like Walt Disney is getting ready for a screening in one of his sweatbox theaters on the Burbank studio lot. The photo was probably taken in the early to mid 1940s. And look at the audience, men...
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Jungle Book Studies
Ken Anderson and background painter Al Dempster had something to do with these color studies for the Jungle Book. The beautiful cel above of Mowgli and Bagheera is a Milt Kahl drawing.There are endless...
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French Sketchbook
I wasn't quite sure what kind of stuff I might post today. Then I noticed a pile of old sketchbooks in a corner of my studio. One of them dates back to 1994 , when I spent some time in Paris to work...
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The Reluctant Dragon
I was thrilled to discover the other day that NetFlix has started streaming a beautiful HD version of Disney's Reluctant Dragon. This is the whole feature, which includes the Robert Benchley backstage...
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Line, Shape and Form
…all of those in a magnificent balance for this moment from the film 101 Dalmatians. "Melody first my dear, and THEN the lyrics."So many graphic lines are directed toward the main business of Roger's...
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Groupshots
I have had these prints for a while, I hope you enjoy them.Woolie Reitherman, Ken Anderson, Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas meet up with some of the Robin Hood Disneyland characters outside of the...
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Robin Hood & Little John in Drag II
I have posted some material on these two characters dressed as gypsies before, but I have more to show. The doodle sheets above and below were drawn by Milt Kahl. He is trying to find entertaining...
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Ollie & Milt team up on Robin Hood
Ollie Johnston did a ton of animation for the film Robin Hood. His work includes the final section of the tournament. Ollie studied the storyboard, then reworked continuity, framing and personality...
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Wilhelm M. Busch 1950
More tiny Busch spot illustrations for a novel by Ernst von Salamon titled "Glueck in Frankreich" (Happiness in France). The reason why I love these drawings so much is because of their economy of...
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Walt Peregoy's Jungle Book
Here is another gorgeous visual development piece by the cranky, but enormously talented Walt Peregoy. As I said before, this type of jungle would have worked for The Jungle Book as well, but the other...
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Bambi Art
Your guess is as good a mine, as far as who drew the beautiful sketch above. Perhaps Frank Thomas, but I am not sure. Doesn't matter, it is obvious that the artist had a lot of affection for these...
View ArticleAnother Tigger Outtake
Here are two versions from a discarded scene that a I animated for the feature film Winnie the Pooh.First the rough pose test, then the in-betweened rough animation. Tigger is standing on Winnie the...
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The Bambi Lollipop Story
This is young Frank Thomas showing an animation sketch to an onlooker, who I believe worked at the studio as well.They both look very serious, yet in those early days at Disney the working atmosphere...
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Valentine Greetings from Milt Kahl
Somehow this wedding scene of Robin Hood and Maid Marian reminds me of Milt and his late wife Julie. When I met Milt for the first time in Marin County near San Francisco he had just gotten married to...
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Ollie & Frank on Pinocchio
Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas talk about animating Pinocchio in this clip from a 1988 UK TV show on the life of Walt Disney. They discuss acting issues as well as technical challenges.
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Earliest Wire Sculptures
These wire sculpture go way back to 1985. I had a small exhibition in the library of the old animation building on the second floor. It was a bitter sweet event, because the staff was in the middle of...
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Ollie had a cranky Assistant...
…while he was working on a few close up scenes featuring the centaurettes from Fantasia's Pastoral sequence. Further down are Ollie's original rough drawings that were handed out to an assistant to be...
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