The Thomas Touch

Another article from Sketches Magazine written by Jim Fanning, Disney historian and author.

Frank consulted on the figurine of Mickey Mouse from The Brave Little Taylor for the Walt Disney Classic Collection. It was the best three dimensional depiction of Mickey I had ever seen. A beautiful piece.

Dumbo in Sketches Magazine

Another nice article in Sketches Magazine from 2001.

Interesting quotes by Disney greats Ward Kimball, Ollie Johnston and even Tytla himself.

Great photo of the man who brought Dumbo to life.

The Roger Rabbit Production Process

I remember animating this scene early on in production of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

The Disney Archives recently posted these three phases of our process which combined animation with live action. 

It was ABSOLUTELY essential that the animation would hide any live action gadgets that were needed to hold real props or create effects, like real water in this case. The animation needed to be on 1s (like the live action), which resulted in a ton of work. But I had a blast working out the technical challenges for each scene. Because I knew that when ILM would send us the final scene (with highlights and shadows) to be shown in London during "rushes" or "dailies" we will see magic.

Video essayist Kristian put this clever and informative youtube film together. It explains how we did some of this stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=242&v=RWtt3Tmnij4&feature=emb_logo

Background Designs

A handsome article from Sketches Magazine, spring 1994.
Its readership consisted mostly of Disney fans, so the information is basic. But the article does make the point that even though most people believe there is ONE Disney style, beautiful artistic variations can be pointed at from films through the decades.
From early cozy looking watercolors to the gritty, almost avant garde style for 101 Dalmatians.

And yes, I do believe that Aladdin fits right in with these masterpieces of stage sets for the characters.
I remember when I saw the first finished backgrounds for Aladdin, we had just started production animation. I couldn't believe my eyes. It seemed like the studio had hired back Claude Coats, Bill Layne, Al Dempster and all the other old-timers. Aladdin represented a huge artistic leap forward for my generation of animated film makers.
And then there was Eric Goldberg's spectacular animation of the Genie....I knew then that this film was going to be extraordinary!!!

Camouflage

For a while during WWII Frank Thomas joined the US Armed Forces as a member of the First Motion Picture Unit, which produced training films at the Hal Roach Studio.

Frank directed this 20 min. live action/animated short film called Camouflage from 1944. He also animated the "host" character, a chameleon. How appropriate!

I remember Frank briefly talking about this project, but hadn't seen it until a few years ago when it became available online.

The character animation is incredible! But what would you expect from a young Frank Thomas who had just animated on Pinocchio and Bambi ? In films such as this one you needed to get many technical aspect of warfare across. To help hold the audience's attention the chameleon character was added for entertainment. 

This is fantastic vintage Thomas animation from the medium's golden age.

You can view the film here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camouflage_(1944_film)

Below are are a couple of cels from the film. The chameleon and an eagle who would like him for lunch. These cels were offered by Howard Lowery a while back.

What's on my Animation Desk Right Now

I am animating a bunch of short action scenes right now which will connect longer, already animated sequences. 

Here Sarah is trying to push her tiger Mushka over the edge of a cliff into a river. Why?

I won't say. 

This is my first rough pass followed by my tied down version which will go to color. Actually the tiger is too heavy, so Sarah asks her friend Alex for help. He enters the scene a few frames later.

I was pausing today, thinking this project is the adventure of a lifetime.