TS Sullivant Animals

A reminder of how glorious Sullivant's animals are. Inventive and unparalleled in their design. And a joy to study!

More Joe Rinaldi Story Sketches

Joe Rinaldi's story sketches for Ichabod Crane are hilarious. For personality scenes like these (not necessarily in any order) he pretty much leaves out any background indications and focuses on the characters' attitudes and interactions. He gave Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston plenty of "Good stuff" to work with as far as visual springboards for their animation.

Sometimes we tend to give the animator all the credit for great poses and staging when in fact it was the story sketch artist who really came up with those things. 

Credit where credit is due. I remember my last assignment for Disney was animating Tigger for the regrettably titled feature film Winnie the Pooh. The studio had just hired a few very young story artists, and they were absolutely terrific. I was able to use most of the character poses they came up with. It sure helped me to go through my footage very fast, which was required because of the film's small budget.

But I digress. Here's to Joe Rinaldi, one of the best story artists Disney has ever had. 

Doris

A few sketches I made a while ago to be included into the exhibition Disney's Cats and Dogs at the Walt Disney Family Museum. This is our dog Doris...yes, named after the famous Hollywood actress. 

Today Doris is about 15 years old, and doing very well. Way back, when she was a puppy, my friend Kellie Hoover found her abandoned on the side of a road near a school in Utah. 

We were able to give Doris a home, and she became a family member. Like all dog owners we just love her, she is PURE JOY.

Cinderella's Patience

"Oh well, I guess my dress will just have to wait." Cinderella was about to begin creating her own dress for the ball, when her stepmother calls for her with more duties.

Actress Helene Stanley gives a nice performance here to help the animator in his work.

This is really the thing about Disney live action reference:

1 - The action and acting was always carefully planed and staged. And the actors were amazing performers, who understood what kind of footage the animators were looking for. They understood the characters' emotions deeply.

2 - The animators worked with the reference, they pushed the timing as well as the composition.The animation never seems "floaty", which would happen, if the photostats were simply traced. 

Below a few sketches by Marc Davis showing the dress the mice and birds made for Cinderella.

Warwick Reynolds

Two beautiful works of art by British illustrator/painter Warwick Reynolds, 1880 - 1926).

The first is an etching that served as a study for the final painting of two leopards.

 

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Masterpieces

The ART of Disney Animation.  Two magnificent examples of how sophisticated Disney's animation had gotten 30 years after Steamboat Willie. Walt wanted "Moving Illustration" for Sleeping Beauty, and that's exactly what he got for this film.

My guess is that Iwao Takamoto drew this amazing clean up study over an animation rough drawing by Marc Davis.

The Maleficent sketch is most definitely by Davis. Marc skipped the production of Lady and the Tramp, so he could focus on designing and animating Aurora as well as Maleficent. 

Masterpieces.

Hans Martin Ruwoldt

Here is another artist who should be much wider known for his outstanding work in sculpture and drawing. Martin Ruwoldt lived from 1891 until 1969 in Hamburg, Germany.

During the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936 his art was showcased at a sculpture event, but a year later the nazies declared his work "Entartete Kunst' ( Degenerate Art). 

I am stunned at the fact that I keep discovering incredible artists from the past that are practically unknown today.

Disney animator Art Babbitt once said that an animator should be interested in studying art from Michelangelo to Ronald Searle. That kind of observation might inspire a whole new approach to your own art.

Are any of you animators doing this?