Tuesday, March 10, 2015

101 Dalmatians Background Styling


If you think that creating backgrounds for Disney's 101 Dalmatians was a piece of cake compared to the preceding film Sleeping Beauty, think again. Sure, Eyvind Earl's renaissance styling is rich with sharp detail, but look at this layout from 101. Layout supervisors Don Griffith, Collin Campbell and Erni Nordli had their hands full, creating settings in accurate and finessed line drawings. It really was the layout department that took the brunt of the work to present meticulous backdrops for the animated characters. The background artists added simple washes of color, suggesting the overall mood of the scene in a sketchy way.
It's my guess that the layout folks were doing overtime, while the background artists took long lunches.
Below a screen grab from this gorgeous scene, just a truck in without characters.


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7 comments:

  1. NicoToonZMarch 11, 2015 at 2:38 AM

    I'm surprised that Jock from "Lady in the Tramp" was in this movie. Nice to see the sketchy backgrounds clean without characters.

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  2. Brian MitchellMarch 11, 2015 at 9:54 AM

    I really like the look of the Disney films from this period. The graphic look of the sketchy layouts with Walt Peregoy's background styling really made a statement.

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  3. Jim AthertonMarch 11, 2015 at 11:47 AM

    Disney background art is so impressive. Worthy of a gallery show!

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  4. John CarterMarch 11, 2015 at 3:48 PM

    Done. Dropped into my "inspiration" folder. Thanks Andreas :-)

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  5. Uli MeyerMarch 12, 2015 at 12:04 AM

    Rowland Hilder tree tops and Ronald Searle tree bark. Great stuff.

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  6. Gianmaria CaschettoMarch 12, 2015 at 4:56 AM

    I've been obsessing about the style of the "Dalmatians" backrgrounds for over ayear now. I just ADORE it, especially the way it fits the look brought about by the XEROX process. I've written extensively about it in my blog, in occasion of the departure of Walt Peregoy, color stylist of the film. HEre's the article: http://downtheguts.blogspot.be/2015/02/rip-walt-peregoy.html

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  7. UnknownMarch 17, 2015 at 2:17 AM

    What sequence is this background from? The color styling looks like it's from the twilight bark, but the scene doesn't look familiar.

    Dalmatians is definitely in my top 3 for animated films. I've loved everything about it since I was a kid. Now as an artist I appreciate it in a whole new way.

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