Thursday, October 6, 2016

Wendy & Michael Redrawn




Milt Kahl's superb draughtsmanship was again needed when it came to putting a John Lounsbery scene on model. Wendy has just caught her brother Michael as he came flying down.
Louns didn't particularly care for animating pretty realistic girls like Alice or Wendy, and I think that's evident in his rough animation drawing below. For that matter Milt didn't enjoy those character types either, it's just that he was able to do them masterfully anyway.
While doing this beautiful drawing for Lounsbery, Milt was probably cussing and swearing as he often did. "Nobody can draw his x!# around here...." The teddy bear needed to be there for scene continuity.




A frame from the final scene.



Her is the rough Michael model sheet comprised of Kahl drawings only.




11 comments:

  1. I like the composition of Milt's drawing at the top much more than that in Lounsbery's rough drawing. The pose in the latter does not read as well, Wendy's shoulder looks a bit dislocated, and the pose of the arm looks wooden and unnatural to me.

    Well, on second thought, if we accept the position of the ball-and-socket joint for the upper arm in the rough drawing, then for the drawing to make sense, it must be that Wendy is turning her head almost 90 degrees around its vertical axis. I suppose it *works* (anatomically), but it just looks very unpleasing to me (is that heresy?). The emotion seems to get blocked by the weird pose, and the teddy bear hangs in such a way as to obscure much of Wendy's shoulder, which confuses matters further (at least for me). Since the bear does not obscure Wendy's cup sleeves, however, the image is made busier, and not in a pleasing way. Perhaps this is why Milt moved the bear to cover the sleeve in the final cel?

    Maybe these are small thoughts, but since I am a student, my mind cannot help but run along these paths when you post these very beautiful drawings.

    The emotion and expression is just lovely in Milt's drawing and in the final cel, and that line drawing of Wendy in the middle of "Mike"'s sheet is breathtaking.

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    1. Mr. Deja have you tried to go in the animation library to take care the artwork of Kay Nielsen "The Little Mermaid" was made in the 1940s i will like if you post in your blog so the fans can discover the colors of the images of The Little Mermaid and
      i hope if it will be wonderful.

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    2. The pose, if you think about it realistically, may actually be more unnatural in Milt's, but what he's done is he popped out Michael's body so you could clearly read both his silhouette and by extension, perspective. Two things that really please the eye. And by doing that, he's turned that pose from an 'in between' kind of action, to a key pose, to an extreme.

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    3. Oh - that's a different interpretation, and it makes sense. I had read Milt's drawing as being a moment when Wendy is lifting or catching Michael from a height. Perhaps my memory of that scene is bit foggy.

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  2. He really does make the drawing pop. Working with Milt Kahl must have been a very educational experience - verbally as well as artistically!

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  3. What's the signature "Geronimi Ham" on the model sheet?

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    1. Clyde Geronimi & Hamilton Luske were sequence directors on "Peter Pan". Their signatures, under the letters "OK", show that they have approved the model sheet for use.

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  4. I love the live action of Cinderella with Lily James she is beautifull and she play very good for the character, even Cate Blanchett for Lady Tremaine the Wicked Stepmother and of corse Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother she is a wonderfull character.
    If Mark Davis, Milt Kahl, Ollie Johnston and Franklin Thomas will be there i think thay will be very proud and happy to see the live action of Cinderella, Alice in Wonderlad and Alice Through the Looking-Glass, Maleficent and The Jungle Book how the movies change of animation to live action.

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  5. These are just amazing. The final frame is such a work of art in itself. It's almost impossible to believe this image is one of so many.

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