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Silhouettes
The characters in this beautiful story sketch from Sleeping Beauty are depicted in dark silhouettes. The final frame from this sequence doesn't go as far, standard colors were used instead. This type...
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Quality Control
I have talked often about the fact that Milt Kahl was not only a supervising animator at Disney, but he also maintained drawing quality control over many scenes he did not animate himself. Here is...
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Ollie's Backyard Train
Some cool pics with Ollie Johnston running his backyard railroad for his and the Thomas kids from next door. Approximately late 1940s. Ollie never outgrew his fascination for model trains. Even late...
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Grandpa Milt
In the 2013 Ted Thomas documentary Growing Up with nine Old Men he pays a visit to Milt Kahl's daughter Sybil. They both meet up in front of Milt's condo in Marin County, just north of San Francisco....
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Mary Blair's Legacy
Much has been said and written about Mary Blair in recent years. There have been a variety of new books about her art, some are Disney storytelling editions featuring her masterful color art from...
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The Mona Lisa of Thumbnail Sketches
I recently posted this page with Milt Kahl's exploratory sketches for Medusa's eye lash removals. But in low resolution. Here it is again, the complete page, in hi-res. Thanks to blog reader Ken who...
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Mowgli & Kaa
Here is a story sketch by Vance Gerry, who boarded the sequence in which Kaa tries for the second time to hypnotize Mowgli. I believe young Floyd Norman also contributed story drawings for this section...
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Behind the Scenes
It is always exciting to find photos from the Disney past. Photos I had not seen before from Behind the Scenes that give you a glimpse of what it was like working on incredible projects. Most Disney...
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Another Milt Kahl Birthday
Milt Kahl was born on this day in 1909 in San Francisco. He was eight years younger than Walt Disney.Most of you have seen this photo of him when he worked for the Fox West Coast Theatre chain. He...
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Art imitates Life
The Walt Disney Archives just posted a few photos of Milt Kahl in celebration of his birthday. I believe they were taken just before Milt left Disney in April of 1976 after completing animation of...
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Rotoscoping
Here is an early example of live action use for animation at Disney. All human characters in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs relied on rotoscoping, except for the dwarfs. The more realistic a...
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The Walt Disney Studios and World War II
That's the title of a brand new exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum. If you happen to be in the Bay area, you don't want to miss it. I myself will head up North soon. Can't wait to see what...
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Happy Easter!
A great Easter character illustration from 1939. Possibly By Tom Wood or Hank Porter.
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Mushka and Sarah Maquette
Strangely animation maquettes are often finalized late, toward the end of production, and Mushka is no exception. Hand sculpted by Craig Elliott, cast and hand painted, after a sketch of mine.
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Peter Pan: A Closer Look
I am sure most of you have seen this model sheet of Peter Pan before. Copies of it have been circling the animation industry. Here are hi/res photos of the actual oversized original model sheet from...
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The ARL
Disney's Animation Research Library is a marvel. It houses tens of millions of artworks from all of the companie's animated films. Story sketches, layouts, animation drawings, background paintings,...
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Prince Philip: A Closer Look
Here is another closer look, this time at Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty. These images are photos of the original, oversized model sheet. But unlike the recently posted Peter Pan sheet (which...
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A Sullivant Original I
Dr. Monk: Take a hundred and fifty of these pills with five gallons of hot lemonade before you go to bed tonight, and let me know how you feel in the morning.This Illustration appeared in LIFE...
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Medusa Original Rough
Medusa has just thrown one of her boots toward Snoops, when she lets out a gleeful "Ha!" There is some weird but wonderful stuff going on here drawing wise. That one line starting at her lower back...
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The Rescuers Article
John Culhane wrote this article at the time of the film's release in 1977. He inadvertently had became the model for one of the characters, Mr Snoops. As a longtime Disney fan and historian, John was...
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