Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Amazing Artistic Range of Marc Davis



Marc Davis was the most prolific and versatile artist I have ever met.
He never saw himself as only an animator, he was an artist first. And to him that meant exploring art in many different ways. His Fine Art alone shows such variety that I often thought, how can one man  master all these styles and approaches? There wasn't a medium Marc didn't enjoy.
Painting in oil, watercolor, or gouache. He drew with pen and ink, charcoal and pastels. 
Realistic depictions or abstract experiments, his range was breathtaking. 
He subjects were animals, portraits of women, dancers, bullfight scenes and Greek Mythology among others.
I remember him telling the story that as an art student he dreamt of painting Sistine Chapels, but  during the Depression nobody was ordering any.
One day Marc found out that Walt Disney was looking for artists, so he stopped by the Hyperion Studio, and the rest is history.

Here is a very small sampling of Marc's Fine art.








Marc said that when he applied at Disney, Walt was impressed with his ability to draw animals.
We are impressed, too. 
Thoroughly observed these poses read very clearly and already showcase a certain charm.





Most of you know about Marc's enormous contributions to the art of character animation.
Early on when Walt Disney saw his design work for Bambi, he asked Milt Kahl and Frank Thomas to make an animator out of Marc, because he wanted to see his drawings on the screen.
I still wonder what kind of animation we would have seen from Marc, had he not moved over to Imagineering after finishing work on Cruella DeVil.







"I intended to bring more humor to Disneyland" Marc said. He was referring to his ideas and concepts for rides like The jungle Cruise, The Haunted Mansion and The Pirates of the Caribbean.
Look at the way Marc staged these pirates. The final audio animatronic situations HAD to read very clearly, because visitors only have a few seconds to observe what is in front of them.







22 comments:

  1. WOW!!! :O
    So inspirational!! Thanks a ton! :D

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  2. Great artist indeed. Second painting have awesome colors. Love that little "MD" stamp :D.

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  3. Wow, talk about versatility...
    This post--Mr. Davis's work--totally emphasizes the importance of experiment and range. :)
    Thanks!

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  4. WOW! This man needs his own art book pronto!

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  5. That's utterly magnificent ! Thanks for sharing this . Awesome !

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  6. Thanks again Andreas. It's great to read such interesting stuff! I have a shelf full of books about the Disney artists, but your blog shines a different light on things.

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  7. Thank you so much for posting these! Marc Davis is my favourite of the Nine Old Men (Milt a close second) and I just love how versatile he was. I recently bought the flipbooks that The Archive Series released and his Tinker Bell test is so precise and fluid, but all the acting is there as well. Also read once that he was known for his fantastic "Marc martini" that he would create in his home for guests. What a hospitable and talented man!

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  8. Oh my god, those paintings have movement inside them. He was a genius. Is there a place or a book where I can look at Mr. Davis art? Wonderful post!

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    1. If you can be patient, there just might be a book coming up!

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    2. Really? I can wait without problem! Count on me as a sure buyer!!

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  9. The paintings at the top are stunning! But my favorite sketches from this post would have to be the ones for Pirates -- they never fail to raise a smile.
    Thanks a ton for posting these and continuing to pay due tribute to Marc.

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  10. Deja, I thought Grim Natwick was the one who taught Marc Davis how to animate, If I recall correctly.

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  11. Wow, these Pirates of the Caribbean sketches are amazing!
    Wonderful post, thank you so much!

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  12. This makes you question why so many people are fighting themselves to find their style, when we should all focus on mastery of drawing! Wow, Marc was a master!

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  13. Without a doubt Marc Davis was a master draughtsman, he could draw anything they asked for, would love to see some more illustrations he did for the never built attraction western river expedition, I saw a couple of really low res images and there were some pretty funny gags!
    Thank you so much Mr. Deja por posting this

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  14. Very impressed by this post! Amazing how Marc's art can go from bold and powerful to so delicate and fluffy. :D

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  15. Staggering! A book? hmmmmm . . . interesting

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  16. Simply breathtaking... I'm speechless. Impatient to see that book.

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  17. Fantastic post! Say Andreas, do you happen to have any of the art Marc did for The Haunted Mansion?

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  18. I was right down the hall from Marc when he began sketching on Pirates. We had just completed "101 Dalmatians" and Marc hadn't yet made the move to WED. So, for weeks I was privy to the wonderful work Davis was doing. Absolutely brilliant stuff.

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