More Milt Jungle Book

These drawings didn't make it into the Jungle Book exhibition.  We had so much great material, we could not include all of it. Most of these Milt Kahl "outtakes" are sketches made for other animators.

Colonel Hathi for John Lounsbery, King Louie and Baloo for Frank Thomas and the Girl for Ollie Johnston. 

As Milt proclaimed in an interview:"I was the Disney style!"

Here is a link to a post full of Milt Kahl Jungle Book drawings, from over 10 years ago:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/07/cast-of-jungle-book.html

Lucky Emil

Milt Kahl sent this magnificent drawing of Bagheera to one lucky person called Emil. Probably in 1965. In studying the sketch I think this might be an outtake from an actual scene. Remember when Bagheera gives Baloo a hard time, who just announced that he is going to take care of Mowgli and teach him all he knows? This pose is from that section of the film. Milt added the branch and a personal note, folded the drawing, and off to lucky Emil...

Advance Copy

I just received an advance copy of the catalogue/book about the Jungle Book exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum. 192 pages. It couldn't have turned out better. I am very thrilled with the printing quality and page layouts.

What can I say...I highly recommend it!!

Licensed...?

I see all kinds of merchandise with characters I was involved with. This one stuck out to me. I am not sure if it is licensed by Disney...but it sure made me laugh!

Awesome Kaa

A while ago I posted about an Ollie Johnston scene featuring the snake Sir Hiss. I find the depiction of a snake acting like a human utterly hilarious. At least when it is done in such a clever way:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2014/02/best-snake-gag-ever.html

Frank Thomas did the same with Kaa from The Jungle Book. Mind you, the animator can't get all the credit for the comedy in scenes like these. A story artist will have given the scene some thought long before the animator gets his hands on it. The story sketches already provide the main idea for a personality gag. But the animator of course is responsible for the scene's final comedic acting, timing, staging and draughtsmanship. 

At the Jungle Book exhibition we show a few key drawings of Kaa during a conversation with Shere Khan. Suddenly he realizes he said something he shouldn't have. In a case like this a human would raise the shoulders and cover the mouth with one hand. Well... a snake doesn't have any of those human extremities. But Frank turns this moment into a completely believable -and entertaining- piece of character animation.

Busch Horses

A beautiful sketchbook page by German illustration genius Wilhelm M. Busch. I would date these drawings to the 1970s, early 1980s. There are a handful of artists whose work I admire to a point where I love everything, and I mean everything they ever created. Busch is one of them. Every new sketch or illustration I discover is a gift, and an adventure to study. Here's to artistic idols that continue to inspire way beyond their lifetime!

Jungle Book View Master

 

When The Jungle Book premiered in Germany in 1968 I had to have the merchandise that came along with the new Disney release.. One of my favorite items was the Jungle Book View Master. I thought those 3-D scenes were produced beautifully. Did you know that the View Master sculptors actually checked their maquettes with director Woolie Reitherman and the animators for approval? A photo of such a meeting is included in the exhibition catalogue/book. 

We had originally planed to give the View Master (enlarged) images some space in the exhibit, but we ran out of room. 

For more images go the the Walt Disney Family Museum website:

https://www.waltdisney.org/jb-vm