Mirko Hanak 1964

More of Mirko Hanak's beautiful children's book illustrations. These images are from an English edition, titled Sing a Song of Everything. What amazes me about his work is the endless variety of textures he is achieving with watercolor. I have quite a few of his books and will post more of Hanak's art once in a while.

More Hovarth Art

 A few more vintage pages with character designs by the great Ferdinand Hovarth, who worked at Disney from 1933 - 1937. He put his mark on many short films during that time as well as on the upcoming Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
More info on Hovarth here:

http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Ferdinand_Hovarth

Images Heritage Auctions

Van Eaton Galleries

I have been purchasing animation art from Van Eaton Galleries here in LA for many years. Once in a while the owner Mike van Eaton comes across pieces that I want to own.  Sometimes I feel like I overpaid for certain artworks, other times I underpaid. But Mike always surprises me with Disney animation art that you'd think doesn't exist anymore. It has been an absolute pleasure to do business with him over the years. Just look at these recent offerings, amazing!

Here is the link to Van Eaton Galleries:

https://vegalleries.com

Mirko Hanak

"Mirko Hanak was one of Czechoslovakia's most popular illustrators of children's books. He studied at the Academy of Arts in Prague and published the first of his dozens successful books in 1951.  Hanak's love of nature has often taken him into the wilds with his sketch book to capture birds and animals in their natural settings.  It is for these animal pictures that Hanak is famous in his native land and abroad."
A brief write up from one his illustrated books. I am very fond of Hanak's art, because it combines Asian painting techniques with Western sensibilities.

Just imagine...for a moment, an animated feature influenced by his art! It would be entirely possible as a mix between hand drawn and CG animation techniques. But for now we are stuck with  nauseating realism. As for myself I am trying my best to offer a new look for my film Mushka, combining drawings with CG rendering.
I will post more of Hanak's  stunning work soon !

A Must Have

I mean it. This new Ueber Coffee Table book by Taschen is one of the best books on Disney Animation ever. There is so much new visual material, it will make your head spin. I did not write any of the book's chapters, but I was a consultant on it. A true labor of love by everyone involved.

I posted a couple of key drawings from this scene with Ferdinand and the Matador, clearly inspired by the story sketches:
http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/05/ferdinand-and-matador.html

The visual material includes all stages of production, from designs and story sketches to final film frames. There are also notes from story sessions, screen credits and behind the scenes photos.
The book weighs a ton, 624 pages with over 1500 images.
Christmas came early this year!

Here is the link to Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Film-Archives-1921-1968/dp/3836552914/ref=pd_rhf_pe_p_img_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=R5CFFTJKBJKEQWDBCDQ1

Chuck Jones Drawings

A small gallery of Chuck Jones sketches from some of his short films or otherwise. I love the kind of tension  going on between lines and volumes. He is always trying for the "Unusual", making what might seem ordinary look extraordinary. And personality is the key, as well as entertainment. The energy found in his work just floors me.
There is something to be learned from every Chuck Jones drawing, which makes him a master draughtsman in a classical sense.

Most drawings Heritage Auctions

Here is a previous post on the one and only:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2014/08/chuck-jones.html

Happy Halloween!