Monday, July 28, 2014

Mr. Snoops


This post on Madame Medusa’s partner in crime Mr. Snoops is long overdue. 
Brilliantly drawn and animatedly by Milt Kahl, his part in the movie The Rescuers is relatively small. This is due to the fact that actor Joe Flynn, who voiced the character, died in 1974 during production of the film. Director Woolie Reitherman decided to build Snoop’s role around the already recorded dialogue, instead of using a sound-alike actor for further development. 
Snoop’s design is based on animation historian and teacher John Culhane. Milt had given a talk at his class in New York and was inspired by John’s appearance. 


Joe Flynn



John Culhane (from a magazine article in “American Film”)


Snoops is one of many Kahl masterpieces. He is a chubby man, dressed in a baggy suit, wearing oversized glasses and 1970s platform shoes. Milt took great care and delight in defining the character’s bulgy anatomy. His arms are relatively short in contrast to his big pear shaped body. 
As in all of Milt’s characters, Snoop’s chubby hands are beautifully defined. They are worth studying frame by frame, because…they are just plain fun to watch in slow motion. There is as much personality in these hands as there is in Snoop’s expressions.
Here are a few of Milt’s roughs.









Snoops pretends not to be intimidated by the aligators Nero and Brutus…but he is.
This leads to some funny walks as he is trying to avoid them. 

A couple of Milt’s thumbnail sheets.



I have more material on Snoops for another post.

To see a previous post on Nero & Brutus go here:
http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/06/nero-brutus.html

18 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, I follow your blog for years, and I wanted to thank you for your excellent work.
    I dream to be an animator for Disney, is the only thing in my mind from the moment I wake up I go to bed. Now I am studying fine art in college, but I had to spend two years in law because my parents did not want to pay, and I had to do something "with future" first (after having studied science in high school).
    Read and study endlessly every book on disney or animation that meeting (I'm from Spain, and there are very few in Spanish, and order them from the U.S. makes that cost much more, plus the problem of read with a dictionary at hand, the last thing I arrived was the anniversary of Snow White, which contained yours material). Take this opportunity to apologize for any grammatical error or committing ortografico this.
    Every day I turn on my computer waiting locate an a new post on your blog, which I think go down in history as a landmark in animation, and in its day was that of Frank and Ollie or Ellen Weiss.
    I admire you since I read this last book and know your figure, I was born in 1993 and thanks to your work remains amazed with the animation since childhood, and has been my companion since.
    Thanks for these small lessons of history and inspiration you give us every day. (I've never written, but I hope we can keep talking).
    Yours truly.
      Alejandro

    ReplyDelete
  3. Andreas you could help me? How inbetweens do you leave between one key and another? I have some difficult to establish the numbers of drawings that I have to leave!!! =(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There really isn't a rule for this. The more in-betweens you add,the slower the action will be. So if parts of your scene look too slow, just take a few in-betweens out to speed things up. A sense for good timing comes with experience.
      By the way, I will be at CTN this Nov., see you there.

      Delete
    2. Hi Andreas!!! Thank you so much for your feedback!!! You said tha t a sense for good timing comes with experience!!! I absolutely agree with!!! Timing is very hard, to me more than other things in animation!!!

      Andreas, I'll be in USA in 20 December and will stay there until 9 January...it would be possible to go meet you in this period? Mas, I love your Art!!! It would be a dream come true to meet you!!! Thank you for your answer and sorry for my poor English Andreas!!! Hugs from you Brazilian Fan!!! =)

      Delete
    3. Hey Andreas!
      Will you be presenting at CTN or will you have a table? I will be coming out and I would love a chance to meet you. I have been following your blog for a long time and it continues to be a source of inspiration and a great place to look to learn more about the disney classics.

      Delete
    4. So far I am involved in one CTN Event, I'll be around to meet people. See you there.

      Delete
    5. Jaison, leave your email here, and we figure something out.

      Delete
    6. My Email is: jrcdesenho@yahoo.com.br

      Thank you very much for the reply Andreas, sorry to bother you, but I'm very determined to achieve my dream to meet you personally! Big hug!

      Delete
  4. Hi Andreas, Love your blog.I was previously a sketch artisan for the Walt Disney Company. I have a really important question that i feel that you as a Disney Animation Expert can answer! i recently purchased a rough production sketch from the 1942 Goofy Short,"How To Play Baseball" at San Diego Comic Con and i am trying to figure which animator drew it. I have reason to believe it was Ollie Johnston because of both the style & fact he was the main animator of Goofy on that particular short. trying to narrow it down what frame it is in reference to it is labeled "42" in the bottom right corner. Here is a photograph of the sketch: http://i.imgur.com/U71ZrVd.jpg

    you can reply to me either through the comments on this article or via email (my email is elephantwaltz@yahoo.com) thanks for your time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really don't know who's drawing of Goofy this is. It doesn't look like Ollie's work, but I could be wrong.

      Delete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Andreas!
    Were those roughs also drawn by Milt? He used to clean his own roughs? I don't get it...or perhaps those are also thumbnails...
    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The two last pages are thumbnail sketches, Milt is exploring poses and acting for the actual animation. Most pencil animators work that way.

      Delete
  7. Hi Andreas,

    I love your blog – thank you for all the work you put into it. It was so wonderful to see this great article on my dear father-in-law John Culhane or “Snoops!” I will be sure to share the link with him and Hind as well as my husband Michael as I know they will enjoy it. I have been reading you regularly the past few months as I have been writing and editing some short books for a French publisher on classic Disney animated films. I love your spirit and attitude and your great writing – and I have found your blog to be one of the best things around. So interesting and informative – I look forward to seeing what you will investigate next. It was a happy surprise to come upon this today! It really made my day. All the best, Amy Weingartner Culhane

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Amy. Much appreciated. Please, say Hello to John and the family.

      Delete
    2. Hi Andreas, I will for sure! Thanks for writing back!

      Delete