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John Pomeroy's Penny
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...
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Marc Davis Roughs
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...
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More Chanticleer
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...
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Chanticleer, Rough and Final
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...
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Secretary Bird
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...
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Barbara Firth
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...
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Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera
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...
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Lady & the Tramp Doll Houses
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,...
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Oscar, Corrina & Co
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...
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Chicken Little 1943
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...
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Geraldine Page is Madame Medusa
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....
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A Visit to Woolie's Office...
…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...
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The Brave Engineer
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...
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André Franquin
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...
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Tony and Joe
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...
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Trying too Hard
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,...
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Disney in 1946
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...
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Mickey, Donald and the Rest
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...
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Johnny Appleseed
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...
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Tinker Bell Gets her own Book
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...
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