I've been meaning to start blogging for a long time.
The reason is that I want to share with you my collection of classic animation artwork.
As far as the blog's title, you can blame my friend John Canemaker, who came up with it.
What you can expect :
Scans of rough animation drawings, thumbnail sketches and character designs, mostly the work of
Disney's Nine Old Men. The majority of this art has never been published.
I will write short comments and explain, what makes a particular piece unique.
Since I was lucky enough to hang out with Frank and Ollie, Mark, Milt, Eric and Kimball
for many years, I will also tell you anecdotes and stories that they told me.
Some of them are pretty hilarious !
These guys were all geniuses, but it's so interesting to discover their human side. Trials and errors,
triumphs and failures, professional jealousy and even insecurities were all part of their lives.
Of course John's amazing book "Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation"
gives you already great insight into this group of artists.
I will add to that by showing you beautiful images and hopefully some insightful infos.
Occasionally I will post the works of other artists who inspire me, such as Heinrich Kley, TS Sullivant,
Wilhelm M Busch and others.
You will also find some of my own stuff as well.
Just to get started, here is a photo from 1980, when I got accepted into Eric Larson's Disney Animation Training Program. Eric was the most patient teacher. Some of his words of wisdom
didn't sink in until much later.
Observation was one of his favorites. "Look around you and observe things, you will need it !"
