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"Don't tell me you're going in there..."
Dave Michener assisted Milt Kahl on this unusual scene. Wart has run away from Kay and is now hiding behind a tree in the forest. Kay seems surprised and shouts: "Oh, ha ha, oh don't tell me you're...
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Great Disney Duos
As many of you now, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston were lifelong friends and collaborators. They often worked on characters that had a lot of interaction like Captain Hook and Smee, or The Three...
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Roger Rabbit Scenes IV
I think this was the most labor intensive scene I ever animated (represented here by the first two film frames). It was toward the end of animation production, when I as asked to do the front row of...
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Milt Kahl in The National Enquirer
This article was published at the end of 1973 to help promote Disney's Robin Hood. (The footnote after the article is by Richard Williams.)While it includes some good good information about Milt's...
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Ostrich Studies for Fantasia
These are sketchbook pages from Disney artist and animal drawing teacher Bernard Garbutt. Beautiful, loose drawings from life. They give us an insight into the depth of research that was done in order...
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Jungle Book Pre-Production
This beautiful concept painting from The Jungle Book was virtually unchanged for the final production painting below. Even the placement of the wolfs remained the same. A very atmospheric scene helped...
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The Trouble with Cels
...is that the paint won't stick forever to the celluloid sheet. It's heartbreaking to see these Disney cels in a less than perfect condition. If you are a collector and have experienced deterioration...
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Gaston Model Sheets
Probably the most difficult character I ever animated at Disney. A high degree of realism in the design as well as motion is never easy to bring to life. Here is some material I found in my Xerox...
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More Gaston
How big of a jaw? That was the question I wrestled with during the character design phase for Gaston. I had preferred a more caricatured, villain looking version with a big jaw. When I was asked to go...
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More Fritz Hug Animals
Time for another post featuring one of my favorite animal artists, Fritz Hug. Both his sketchy as well as his more rendered work show this man's passion for animals. Mammals, birds, even insects are...
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The Walrus
I believe the character sketches on this pre-animation model sheet of the Walrus from Alice in Wonderland are by Joe Rinaldi. They are terrific and scream out to be animated.However there is one thing...
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Eavesdropping
Two villains, one from the film Cinderella, the other one from Robin Hood. These two scenes have something in common, both characters are eavesdropping. Lucifer -animated by Ward Kimball- is pressing...
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Polar Bear
I was told that these polar bear designs are the work of John Lounsbery. They don't show the type of line work I associate with Louns, but who knows?! It looks like these sketches were made sometime...
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Rembrandt Bugatti II
It's been over four years since I put up a post on the great Rembrandt Bugatti. Time for another look at this unrivaled master of animal sculpture. I consider any of his sculpts a masterpiece. Who...
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The Way Milt Kahl Draws
When you watch Milt draw some of his characters at the end of his episode from The Disney Family Album series you can't help but feel his intense concentration. He was interviewed and filmed in 1984 at...
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Kahl Drawings for Sleeping Beauty
The rough sketch above is from one of my favorite Milt Kahl scenes. This is Seq. 13, Sc. 53.4, and the Disney draft says:King Hubert gets angry - he is about to smash his crown. Prince Phillip grabs...
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Walt Disney Goes to Work...
Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt spent at least one full day at Disney Studios sometime in 1953 to document Walt Disney in action. I just love the two pics above, as Walt is entering the animation...
View ArticleMilt Kahl Wire Sculptures Footage
These few scenes, showing Milt's wire sculptures with some dimension, were filmed at his home in Marin county. A little bit of the footage made it into the final 1/2 hour Disney Family Album episode,...
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Fred Moore's Legacy
Yesterday was Fred Moore's birthday. As Marc Davis said once: "Fred WAS Disney drawing!"Ollie Johnston talked often about how much he learned from him, while he was Fred's assistant and during the...
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Behind the Scenes of Jungle Book and Aristocats
Some wonderful never before seen photos featuring a look into the production process of The JungleBook and The Aristocats recently surfaced on Getty Images.The pic above shows voice actors Sebastian...
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