Thursday, June 5, 2014

Rabbits


The development of Sleeping Beauty’s animals followed a certain path, from one artist to another. Character stylist Tom Oreb started out by defining these characters with definite, clear shapes.
As you can see in these rabbit drawings, the triangle seems to be the one shape that dominates the designs. Beautiful modern graphics that have very little to do with the round, chubby look of Thumper from Bambi.

Milt Kahl maintained Oreb’s shape language and translated the rabbits into a linear design, that could be animated. The sharp edges of these shapes remind me of sophisticated paper cut outs.



John Lounsbery animated most scenes that involved the rabbits. He was able to follow the strict design style, but he also added a personal touch of charm to his drawings.

Here one of the rabbits performs a perspective jump into one of Prince Philipp’s boots.
























13 comments:

  1. Thanks very much for sharing these, Andreas! The more I see from "Louns," the more I like him.

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  2. Danke fürs posten! Die Szene mit dem Kaninchen im Stiefel sieht unglaublich gut aus!

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  3. Thank you so much for sharing!

    These are roughs or cleaned-up drawings?

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  4. This is so beautiful! I saw Maleficent the other day and I can really see Marc Davis' designs throughout the movie. I always wonder if Walt and the Nine old men were still around I wonder what they would think of this movie. I can really see the animators through each character. I mean when I watch the scene of the Jungle Book where one of King Louie's servants is whistling and dancing, I can see Frank Thomas dancing in the scene. I feel like out of any Disney movies that Walt made when he was still alive I think Sleeping Beauty was his best. The color schemes and designs on the background are so amazing to look at every time I watch the movie. I am hoping by the time I get my degree in animation I hope I can be a great story teller just like Walt Disney and his team.

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  5. Clearly the film was a labor of love and the end of an era. We would never again be this good. I consider it an honor to even have worked on this Disney masterpiece.

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    1. without the dedication of the crew and the imagination of the "old maestro" this would have never occurred! Those were the days, from all point of views.

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  6. Sleeping Beauty designs are always a treat.

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  7. It makes me think how tremendous evolution of design has taken place from Snow White animals through Thumper till Sleeping Beauty rabbits. Milt Kahl has taken part in all of them, and the way of handling them evolved so much on the way!

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  8. Such beautiful flow. Now you've got me curious as to whether there is anything that stands out in the timing chart(s) beyond perhaps 1/3 spacing throughout. At first I assumed there may be only one key for the entire sequence we see here. There does seem to be some speeding up of the movement as the rabbit comes down. I sense that there is some subtle secondary timing such that a timing chart would track. I perceive by the numbering the sequence is on ones which suggests Lounsbery is capturing subtle detail of movement throughout. I'm conflicted though... is there only one timing chart... three... oh to be such a master at animation art that from the drawings alone I could deconstruct that! .

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  9. There's so much charm in every drawing! I really want to know what lies on the left side of these pages...

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  10. From the hands of the masters ... Thank you for sharing!

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