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 are worth pointing out:
I can totally see Marc's Fine Art sensibility in some of these sketches. There are unusual abstractions taking place that go beyond standard Disney drawing. Just like the edgy avant garde design of Cruella De Vil, these drawings show a search for new graphic representations of Disney personalities.
Secondly it is SOO reassuring to see that Marc worked hard at his compositions. There are often several versions of the same image. I guess, that makes him human after all.
These drawings give you an idea of Marc's creative process. He took the challenge of shaping new animated animal characters very seriously. They are anthropomorphic representations of their species, but all of them are based on thorough knowledge of actual anatomy.
I know that the cancellation of the project was quite a blow to Marc's enthusiasm for animation, but in the end it resulted in Marc's transfer to WED, and what would the parks be without the his rides?!
By the way, I could post more of Marc's work on Chanticleer if you are interested.
