Happy Thanksgiving to everybody!
To post sketches from Disney's 1949 featurette "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" seems appropriate for today. Though the film's theme has more to do with Halloween, but turkey is being served in several scenes, so what the heck!
Above are Frank Thomas' design drawings for the main character and his horse. That scary ride home from the party is some of Frank's best work. He told me once that he animated the sequence faster than anything else before that. I forgot the actual footage now, but I believe it was around thirty feet a week.
A couple of animation roughs showing Ichabod escorting Katrina, who would be animated on a separate level. My guess is that these are by Ollie Johnston.
Design sketches of Katrina by Frank. He is trying to avoid any definition of her nose to achieve a soft, youthful appearance. The concept didn't hold up in the animation.
Fred Moore had something to do with her final look as well.
Great staging studies for key poses by Frank. Beautiful, clear compositions.
Ward Kimball's concept for Brom Bones. He looks much cartoonier here, before Milt Kahl turned him into a more handsome dude.
By the way, when I did Gaston, the same kind of alteration was asked for.
A Frank Thomas sketch incorporating Kimball's Brom Bones.
(On second thought, this could be a Kimball drawing).
(On second thought, this could be a Kimball drawing).
A Milt Kahl's rough of Tilda.
For a brief moment Brom Bones gets to dance with Katrina in this Kahl sketch.
Here Milt is helping Frank and Ollie to resolve drawing issues in their scenes.
Wow, this wonderful short gives me the impression of great team work. So, this time Mr Thomas designed Ichabod, or also Milt Kahl set the final design?
ReplyDeleteFrank based his design on story sketches and Vis. Dev. work.
DeleteMilt just finessed and polished it a little.
It's very interesting. Thank you so much for your answer!
DeleteGotta love Sleepy Hollow! A nice Autumn film. One of the most perfectly entertaining Disney cartoons there is.
ReplyDeleteFrom Ward Kimball's journal (Thursday, October 16, 1947): "Did some Brombones models for Frank Thomas — look pretty good — Walt won't like them — too well designed."
ReplyDeleteHilarious! Great insight. Thanks, Amid.
DeleteI liked maybe more Ward´s design.But i understand also reason that Milt´s more handsome design choosed.
DeleteKatrina's design is cute and seems quite Fred Moorish to me in these drawings. Fred's typical girls have an equilateral triangle of eyes and mouth (while realistic adults have the face much more vertical) and big, slightly wide-spaced eyes. These elements are present in this Frank's design as well, just the lines are slightly angular comparing to Fred's :)
ReplyDeleteMilt's work is truly amazing in Brom Bones whose action seems to Gaston.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! Love this character and LOVE this movie. Hey Andreas, who supervised the Katrina animation?
ReplyDeleteDon't know who supervised Katrina. Anyone?
DeleteI'm not sure why, but for some reason the Ichabod segment is probably my favourite featurette from Disney. I think my favourite parts are the interactions between Ichabod, Katrina, and Brom. I love the little looks Katrina gives to Brom before she flirts with Ichabod. It's a small thing but it really gives her a bit of character I think, how she checks to make sure Brom's watching to make him jealous.
ReplyDeleteI gotta admit, I really love this short <3 I always had this weird feeling that for some reason Ichabod always looked like a turkey, although I never really put my finger on exactly why :D With Sleepy Hollow being just down the road from me, I must be a little biased towards this one. I mean, who wouldn't be excited when they make a cartoon that honors the history and folklore of your own neighborhood? =D
ReplyDeleteI've always thought of Brom Bones as a sort of precursor to Gaston. So tell me, do you think the Haunted Horseman was really Brom?
ReplyDelete