I was about 11 years old when I first saw what Disney animation drawings looked like. My parents had bought me a little Super 8 film box set with a clip from Lady and the Tramp. It also included a little brochure on Disney Animation. And this photo of a young Ward Kimball caught my eye in a big way. These sketches of the rooster Panchito completely mesmerized me for a long time. At the time they were the most beautiful drawings I had ever seen. So lively, so appealing, I kept studying them.
I don't think these are Kimball's actual animation roughs though. It looks like he used a grease pencil here, and he drew them for the photographer. Still...to this day, absolutely masterful!! And the fact that Ward had the time of his life working on Saludos Amigos comes through in his spirited line work. Pure joy!
Here is a series of his animation drawings from the deleted Soup Eating sequence in Snow White, drawn a few years earlier. Ward took what Fred Moore had introduced in terms of character styling as well as squash and stretch, and he made it his own. These are his roughs, not the clean ups used in the pencil test sequence most of us have seen. Stupendous work at such a young age.
PS There are key drawings missing from this scene. There is no way #6 follows #5 directly.