I am sure most of you have seen this model sheet of Peter Pan before. Copies of it have been circling the animation industry.
Here are hi/res photos of the actual oversized original model sheet from 1951. All drawing are from scenes by Milt Kahl. These are photos of Milt's rough animation, the real drawings were sent to a clean up artist (possibly Iwao Takamoto), who then drew the tied down versions right on top of Milt's roughs.
And today these remain within complete scenes at the Disney Animation Research Library.
Be sure and double click on the images for full resolution.
Each one is a master drawing, full of life with that unique appeal that only Milt could bring to a character.
Peter Pan's subtle proportions are everything. A bit more realism, and you would have steril looking images. A bit more cartoony, and the character would loose believability.
Milt just knew instinctively how to find that perfect, precious balance. That's why Walt wanted him to animate Peter, and the film's villain Captain Hook went to Frank Thomas.
This previous post shows Milt's version of Captain Hook, the character he wanted to animate instead:
This is exactly the kind of stuff that makes me want to sit down and draw. Thanks for sharing the high res photos with us.
ReplyDeleteHi there! I'm a reporter for Smithsonian Magazine and I'm currently doing a story on the animation style of the 1961 One Hundred and One Dalmatians movie. I was wondering if you'd be interested in an interview to talk about the shift in animation at Disney. Please contact me at yetikyelg@si.edu thanks!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Andreas, for sharing the high resolution scan of these wonderful drawings. For years I had this as a 4th or 5th generation xerox copy. The xerox image degradation of the line quality could not diminish the brilliance of Milt Kahl's poses and expressions , but it's great to see these drawings in their original form, with the sensitive line work intact.
ReplyDeletePlease excuse the animation fan boy question, but here it goes: Did Milt Kahl have a favorite pencil ? (for example: was he a Blackwing man , or did he prefer some other specific type of pencil ?) I realize that it doesn't actually make much difference ; using the same pencil as Milt Kahl won't make me draw like Milt Kahl, it's not the tool, it's what the artist does with the tool... but I'm still interested in this sort of minutia, if you happen to know.
I really feel bad for Milt for not having been able to animate Captain Hook.
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