This is the first animation drawing I made of Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. Here he has a larger jaw and a moustache. This is from the opening sequence when we see Belle and Gaston interacting.
When I finished the scene it was cut into the story reel. J.Katzenberg liked the animation ok, but asked me to dial up the character's handsome looks.
So I did, and Jeffrey was right. Gaston needed to be good looking because the Beast isn't. Those two characters needed to have opposite qualities.
I only did a few scenes for Fantasia 2000. Eric Goldberg invited me to animate a section of Rhapsody in Blue, which was a joy to work on. And I consider this part of the feature film a masterpiece.
Don Hahn asked me if I might animate Mickey interacting with conductor James Levine. Of course I jumped at the chance.
Here is a character layout sketch followed by a rough animation drawing of Mickey, as he adjusts Levine's bow tie.
I sketched this King Triton a few years ago. I don't remember what for, but to my pleasant surprise I saw an enlargement of this image on a wall of the Disney cruise ship Destiny earlier this year.
There is nothing more fascinating than being able to go back in time and see production photos from Disney animated films.
We see Mary Costa, who voiced Aurora, visiting Eric Larson, Marc Davis and the ink and paint department.
There are great pics with Marc at his animation desk, and background artists Eyvind Earle with Walt Peregoy.
Also photos that show how a couple of the film's opening scenes were shot in a vertical Multiplane setting.
Looking back, I believe that this beautiful sketch by Heinrich Kley got me thinking in terms of a story for an animated film, featuring a tiger and a girl.
The power of art! It can inspire, and in this case, it gave me an idea that kept me busy for eight years.
