Monday, June 6, 2011

Welcome to my new Blog!

Finally....
I've been meaning to start blogging for a long time.
The reason is that I want to share with you my collection of classic animation artwork.
As far as the blog's title, you can blame my friend John Canemaker, who came up with it.

What you can expect :
Scans of rough animation drawings, thumbnail sketches and character designs, mostly the work of
Disney's Nine Old Men. The majority of this art has never been published.
I will write short comments and explain, what makes a particular piece unique.
Since I was lucky enough to hang out with Frank and Ollie, Mark, Milt, Eric and Kimball
for many years, I will also tell you anecdotes and stories that they told me.
Some of them are pretty hilarious !
These guys were all geniuses, but it's so interesting to discover their human side. Trials and errors,
triumphs and failures, professional jealousy and even insecurities were all part of their lives.
Of course John's amazing book "Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation"
gives you already great insight into this group of artists.
I will add to that by showing you beautiful images and hopefully some insightful infos.

Occasionally I will post the works of other artists who inspire me, such as Heinrich Kley, TS Sullivant,
Wilhelm M Busch and others.

You will also find some of my own stuff as well.

Just to get started, here is a photo from 1980, when I got accepted into  Eric Larson's Disney Animation Training Program. Eric was the most patient teacher. Some of his words of wisdom
didn't sink in until much later.
Observation was one of his favorites. "Look around you and observe things, you will need it !"

74 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your new blog! ;-)

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  2. Congratulations on your new blog. Finally some classic animation stuff!:)

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  3. Congrats and I wish you lucj in your new endeavours.
    Amitiés

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  4. Hey Andreas,

    Finally! This is great news and I was looking forward to your blog.
    It will be a success.
    Congratulations!

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  5. Can't wait to follow your blog. Thank you for starting one. Congratulations to you (and all of us as well)!

    Michael

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  6. Andreas,
    I'm very glad to see you starting up a blog. I'm excited to see what you've got in store. Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge and experience.

    bob

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  7. I agree with everyone else and respect your passion for hand drawn animation. Best of luck on your personal projects!

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  8. Awesome!!! Thanks soo much for taking the time to share your experience and works of art with us Andreas!. Looking forward to your posts!!.

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  9. Excellent to see you blogging Andreas! Perhaps you'll scan & post your Searles?

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  10. Congratulations on the blog, Andreas! Boris and I have been looking forward to it ever since you mentioned it to us!
    See you around!

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  11. Awesome! I love the way the web is opening communication channels between today's true masters (that would be you) and the hordes of aspiring animators (of course, me and so many others who love your work). I suscribed as soon as I read you were blogging. Dunno if you remember the brief chat you gave in Mexico City a couple months ago.. I met you walking down the stairs to your car... I SO enjoyed that little chat.

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  12. Welcome to Andreas, I even feel embarrassed to comment on the blog of a teacher like you. Thank you for bringing all your fans now. I hope to return to 2D animation its rightful place one day. Greetings from Brazil

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  13. I'm really looking forward to the different stories and artwork that you'll share with us.

    Welcome to Blogland Andreas!

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  14. Welcome! Looking forward to your posts.

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  15. Hurray! Your presence will enrich the online animation community TEN-FOLD! I can't wait :)

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  16. Excellent Mr. Deja. I'm very excited you've started a blog and will actively follow it. I myself have my own blog the 50 Most Influential Disney Animators (http://50mostinfluentialdisneyanimators.wordpress.com/). I'd be honored for you to check it out and expect you to eventually be one of the honorees.
    -Grayson Ponti

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  17. Welcome to the Blogosphere. Yours will surely be a regular stop. Looking foreward to everything you'll share.

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  18. I am following you! (only your blog, don't worry!)

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  19. Absolutely thrilled to have you join the ranks of the bloggers. This is very good news for all students and fans of classical animation.

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  20. Thrilled indeed - your posts will be an inspiration to many, no doubt. Thanks in advance for taking the time and effort. I shall return interphrastically...

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  21. I am so happy you created a blog, specially because I am a big fan of yours and it's just exciting to follow a blog of a person with such talent and experience like you! I'm looking forward to your posts!

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  22. !!! This is incredible news!!! Sure to go down in history as one of the great blogs of the world...very excited to see and learn more from the Disney masters!!!

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  23. Andreas

    You continue to be a huge inspiration for my own animation career.

    All the very best with your new ventures.

    Cheers
    --Phil

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  24. Hey Andreas!

    When we meet at CTN last year we spoke about animation art and you mentioned the idea of this blog. Soooo happy to see it come to life and can't wait to start seeing some of the amazing examples from your collection.

    Out of interest - I just got this piece - A Preston Blair from the MGM cartoon Swing Shift Cinderella!

    http://mikeamos.blogspot.com/2010/08/swing-shift-cinderella.html

    Look forward to many blog posts.
    Mike

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  25. I'm a huge fan! Welcome online !

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  26. Welcome to the blogging realm! It's so wonderful that you've decided to join up and share all your knowledge and artwork. Best wishes in this new endeavor, and I look forward to seeing what wonderful *hand drawn* artwork you come up with to share!

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  27. moin andreas,
    werde sicher oefters vorbeischaun.
    gruß, tobias

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  28. Congratulations on your New Blog! Look forward to reading it.

    Tom Sito

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  29. fantastic! glad to have found this!! blog away my friend, blog away!

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  30. Congratulations on your new blog!!!

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  31. Incredible inspiring blog! You where one of the first, if not the first, idols in animaiton :) Thank you for taking the time!

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  32. looking forward to the rough animation!

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  33. Thanks, I've been waiting for this blog for a really long time!

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  34. It's so awesome to see you've started your own blog. I look forward to future posts. :D

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  35. Great !!! Congratulations for being so talented, and for share with us all this in this blog !!!
    Best regards from Spain !!!

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  37. This is so exciting! Glad to add you to my blogroll, Mr. Deja.

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  38. I am sooooooo glad that you made it Andreas.....it would be a great treasure for us especially who are so far from Disney and its teaches....great step and congratulations to you for it...will be always look around to learn more .....take care...
    Greetings from Bangladesh.
    Arif.

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  39. Let me add my congratulations to the pile, Andreas. Marc is smiling down at you from heaven, I'm sure.

    You have a gift for explaining the more difficult concepts of animation in an easily-accessible way. I'm beyond overjoyed that you're sharing that gift online.

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  40. Damn you Andreas! Just what I needed, another bookmark to check daily in the morning... procastination, come to me!
    Haha, just kidding. You´ve got yourself a new reader. Hope you enjoy the good ol' bloggin' life.

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  41. To quote Parker Lewis: »We’ve achieved awesomeness!«

    Saved for good :)

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  42. Thrilled to see you here and I look forward to following you! :)

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  43. Hey Andreas, this looks like it'll be great! Can't wait to see the artwork and hear the stories from our 'teachers' We were SO lucky to be around when they were passing along their words of wisdom to us. Good luck with the blog!

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  44. Congrats on the new blog Andreas! Hope all is well these days! Looking forward to the drawings and stories!

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  46. Wow, this is a really nice surprise. I'm just a random student with a strong drive for animation so I look forward to have some insight to your wisdom and experiences.

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  47. Andreas, this was the best news to wake up to this morning! The Nine Old Men never cease to amaze me. I've been returning to some of the movies I hadn't seen since I was young and oooh they just give me goosebumps!

    And that it is your blog! Your commentary has continued to pop up in my studies, and I love the knowledge and excitement you bring.

    you are making me overuse the exclamation point!

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  48. I had the honor of seeing you speak at a convention sponsored by the NFFC a long, long time ago. You were very gracious. I am excited to follow your blog! And maybe, one day when you are bored, you can take a peek at mine! *grin*

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  49. Welcome to blogspot Andreas!
    I am (among hundreds of others) a huge fan of your work! I look forward to all the cool stuff you post on here!
    -Matt

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  52. OK let me try this again!
    It was awesome reading your blog, seeing the artwork and seeing your youthful picture!!! What a babe!!you rock
    Love Jacquie

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  53. This is fantastic Andreas!!!!! I'm happy you're doing this... I love it!!

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  54. Jacquie, awesome to hear from you !
    But you rock more!

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  55. I'm a big fan of you since I was a kid in Thailand. I went to CalArts and met you a few years ago. I'm happy that you have a blog!

    /Boat

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  56. Sooo excited for this Andreas! I've been looking forward to this.

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  57. So excited to see you on here! You were always a huge inspiration to me growing up! I loved talking to you over the phone my junior year in high school! Thx for everything you've done for animation!

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  58. Andreas, you continue to impress with your willingness to share and teach and foster the spark in others. Thanks for blogging and in a way introducing us to these other legends of animation, as you have had contact with them that many others have not. Im looking forward to learning more about Marc, Ward, Milt, Frank, and the rest! Thanks again!

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  59. this blog is truly amazing!!!!!
    I wish I could watch 2d animation again...Andreas, this is my deviant art gallery

    http://kuzco87.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24

    I would be thrilled if you could enjoy my works.

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  60. Hey Andreas, great blog. Keep it up and I am looking forward to see more great stuff. Cheers!

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  62. Interesting for a new blog - looks like this is going very well.

    Do you have any animation drawings by Woolie Reitherman - he's one of my real inspirations in Disney animation.

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  63. A post on Woolie is coming up, Steven.
    With drawings.

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  64. Hey Andreas! I just became follower no. 1,025! Looking forward to visiting your blog regularly!

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  65. Well, you told me you were going to do it and, gawsh sakes, if you haven't gone and done it!

    Congratulations and looking forward to following what I know will be a great many interesting blogs containing some wonderful artwork! :)

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  66. Absolutely love the blog. Thank you so much for doing this service to animation geeks around the world! :)

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  67. I am so happy to see you have started a blog and am looking forward to seeing some great animation work and learning some insights about the nine old men.

    Thanks for the inspiration over the years!!

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  68. Some yars ago I thought that something like that was impossible, but we can have now a direct link with an artist like. It is very important to me because your art and all others Disney's artist always inspired me!

    This blog is very important for us who loves 2D animation.

    Sorry for my english errors.

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  69. Hello Mr. Deja my name is fernando gomez i´m from mexico city, i am an illustrator and i am studing traditional animation, but i have a web site and an online magazine, i would like to make u an interview if this is not too much to ask, i´ll leave u a link to my site, it´s in spanish but it would be a great honor. The site is www.pegsmagazine.com.
    Thanx for your time.

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  70. thanks for sharing your experience i learn a lot of thing by reading your blog

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  71. Hi, Mr. Deja,
    My name is Tyler Lee Jewel from 4612 Chelsea Place, Rocklin, California, I am an artist and I am studying for Pluto, I was on the website called, "Google" and I'm an Gmail. I would like to ask you and I can tell you about for some drawings of Pluto from Disney studios. So, draw the pictures of Mickey's dog, Pluto for me. I have drawing for Pluto from Disney character on YouTube.
    Thanks for asking.

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  72. This Blog is a very inspiration for me. Thank you for share your precious collection of art and personal experience. It's a great honor. I'm an amateur illustrator, no rule, no study, only my eyes. I would be honor if you can visit my blog. Best wishes for all from Italy.

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