Directing at Disney

That's not only the title of a great new book by Pete Docter and Don Peri, it is also the latest special exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. 

Get your copy of the book at Amazon, the exhibition will run until March 16... so hurry!

During my visit to the Museum last weekend I took these fun pics.

Director Clyde Geronimi discusses the storyboard for Casey at the Bat with Ollie Johnston. 1946

Milt Kahl and actor Bobby Driscoll plan a live action scene with director Wilfred Jackson for Peter Pan.

Geronimi again with singer songwriter and voice talent Peggy Lee during production of Lady & the Tramp.

Here is the link for more infos about the exhibition:

https://www.waltdisney.org/directing

Walt Disney's Collection of Heinrich Kley Art

I don't know exactly when, but at one time during Walt's travels to Europe, he purchased complete sketchbooks as well as individual illustrations by German artist Heinrich Kley. I am also not sure wether Kley's widow Emily sold Walt the artwork or if he bought the pieces at art galleries. 

But the fact is that today this unique, never published Kley inventory belongs to the Disney family.

During my recent visit to the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco I was thrilled to discover that visitors can now browse through a couple of oversized printed sketchbooks from the collection. There is a small Kley set up near the Museum's reception area. 

Here are a few gorgeous sample pages. 

 

Marc Davis Character Drawings for Fans

Like many animators Marc Davis would occasionally draw character sketches for fans, even after his career in animation was in the distant past. Sometimes these sketches showed a different drawing style than the original character concepts. After all Marc dad not drawn these characters in decades. But there is still a charm and appeal along with the essence of their personalities.

This large sketch was given to Marc's wife Alice, who of course was a fan of his work as well.

I love the characters' comments as they pose for a group shot.

Two Key Drawings of Maleficent

 

Maleficent locks the door to the dungeon cel in which she holds Prince Philip prisoner. Here are the two main rough key drawings by Marc Davis that define this particular piece of action. You can see her hand turning the key, while the rest of her body moves very little as not to distract from the subtle motion.

Both hand positions for the key turn are perfectly chosen. What impresses the heck out of me is that in the second drawing Marc shows a slight flexing of the character's lower arm muscle called brachioradialis (I had to look that up.) This is not something he would have gotten from studying the live action reference because of its minuscule nature. This is something Marc KNEW from studying human anatomy his whole life. When an arm turns THIS happens.

As an animator the more you know about anatomy and motion range, the more you can apply that knowledge to your work and make it that much more believable. 

A lesson from Marc Davis brought to you by.......

Fred Moore's Cuban Caballero

 

These absolutely stunning design drawings by Fred Moore depict a Cuban bird character that never made it to the big screen. He would have been the fourth caballero for one of Disney's South American feature films. This is Moore at his best! Here is a great write up on this character by the late Jim Korkis, animation historian:

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-cuban-cabellero/