I want to follow up on yesterday's post with some of Marc's development work on
Flower, the skunk from "Bambi".
After having done years of story sketch work on the film, it was Walt himself who suggested that Marc should try animation.
Marc said:" So Walt turned to Milt Kahl and Frank Thomas and said: I want you to make an animator out of him."
Flower became his first character, and to get started he did a lot of research of life skunks. These preparatory sketches are beautiful and show thorough analysis.
Joints, hip bones, the whole inner structure is observed and understood.
After that the character's personality dictates certain poses and attitudes.
What an astonishing start to a legendary animation career.
Today's blog is pure gold. Great story and setup Andreas. That third set of drawings, analyzing Flower's construction is truly superb. Wow. Wow. Wow. Aren't we glad Walt decided to make Marc an animator? "Make him an animator"... ooo wee! Now there's Walt cutting straight to the heart of the matter.
ReplyDeleteabsolutely amazing.. congratulations on the success of the blog I think you're doing a great job and I'm already a loyal fan
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post, Andreas! It's been lovely seeing Marc Davis's abilities develop as he forges a career in animation. We're very lucky to see these studies and sketches: however do you have access to them, still? If it's Alice Davis, I can only echo your sincere thanks to her in your previous post. Amazing!
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Chris,
ReplyDeleteAlice has been very kind to let me share some of Marc's sketchbooks as well as gag drawings on this blog.
Everything else I obtained from auctions, ebay etc.
I am glad you appreciate Marc's talent.
More to come.
I love Marc's pure curiosity and precise observations to see how things work (animal anatomy, etc). It has definitely been a tremendous help for him and his animations.
ReplyDeleteMr. Andreas, would you happen to know if Marc also had an ability for keen observation of timing and posing for his animations? Or was that also taught to him by Milt and Frank?
Walt had an amazing eye for talent! Flower looks really young in the drawings in the third pictures, very cute. But I guess they moved away from that because Bambi was meant to be the youngest of them all.
ReplyDeleteThese are beautiful drawings, as might be expected. Marc Davis was one of the finest artists among the "Nine Old Men." Of course, we do know that Marc was a brilliant assistant on the character of Snow White working behind Grim Natwick.
ReplyDeleteit is really nice to see the great artist`s step about his journey...those sketches are so inspirational especially for me as i always wanted to see the work process from the masters...
ReplyDeletemillion of thanks to you Andreas and for Alice also for her great kindness...
Andreas,
ReplyDeleteYet another amazing sampling of Marc Davis' talented work. It reminds me that constant study of an animal's movement & structure is crucial to drawing and animating it.
Thanks again! :)
What is that on the anatomy page? A reminder that he owes someone a dollar? haha.
ReplyDeleteIt's really cool to see the work that went behind bringing Flower to life. Also, I never knew that story about Marc, that's really amazing!
It's great to see the progression of Flower. i just love reading these behind the scenes events that led to great careers and films.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting!!
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ReplyDeleteWith each set of sketches, you see Flower beginning to emerge. Thanks for sharing these with us. :)
ReplyDeleteHi, Andreas! Can't tell you how inspiring your blog is.
ReplyDeleteAbout Flower, I recall cleaning up some keys of both Flower and his girlfriend for a cameo they were to have in "Pomp and Circumstance" in "Fantasia/2000", that was of course not used. It was nevertheless a joy to work with such appealing characters.