Peter Pan remains one of my favorite animated films. Right from the opening scenes (above) you find yourself in a dream-like world. The lighting in these background paintings is phenomenal. There is cool moonlight and then a single street lantern emitting a little bit of warm light.
You look at these paintings, and you want to go there, you want to be involved. I have been lucky enough to have seen some of these BG paintings up close at Disney. They literally take your breath away.
The children's books associated with Peter Pan effectively captured that dream-like quality.
One of Mary Blair's countless little color sketches for the film, each in itself a masterpiece.
I will always remember Marc Davis stating that Mary Blair knew color better than Henri Matisse.
A magazine article that helped promote the release of the film in 1953. The first image is a publicity cel which somehow depicts Peter Pan as a manga character. Go figure!
No comments? I always thought Peter Pan was a masterpiece. My daughter and son do as well. The backgrounds always struck me as beautiful. I’m surprised there aren’t any more comments.....
ReplyDelete"I will always remember Marc Davis stating that Mary Blair knew color better than Henri Matisse" yeah wich means that he himself understood both !
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the pictures and article with us! :-)
ReplyDeleteTo draw with white color pencils on black paper is a work with fascinating results.
Thanks for your lesson about warm and cold light.
I need it for the right use of different white and grey tones pencils.
Wow, a great honor for Mary Blair to hear that she knew color better than Matisse specially when this are Marc Davis words...
Since I read about Franz Marc and his work I have too much respekt for colours!...
Manga...A wide field and so many potentialitys...