Most Disney animation history buffs agree, John Lounsbery doesn't get enough love.
He died in February of 1976 as the first of the Nine Old Men. (Les Clark was the second).
Louns was a mild mannered, soft spoken animator who nevertheless inspired new generations of animators.
Glen Keane was blown away when he saw Lounsbery drawings for the first time. Dale Baer had the pleasure of being tutored by him during the Disney animation training program. And I am still studying his work trying to figure out why his characters in Dance of the Hours, Dumbo and Jungle Book -to name just a few titles- come off the screen in such a believable and entertaining way.
His use of squash and stretch when animating loose skin is astounding. Examples:
Tony& Joe, the dog Bull and Colonel Hathi.
So many great performances like Willie, the Giant, the Mad Hatter (yes, a lot of the the key scenes are his along with the Cheshire Cat), the mice in Cinderella and on and on.
Lounsbery was one of the greatest...ever.
Here is my first post on John Lounsbery:
