More of John Lounsbery's work, this time undisputedly brilliant.
The crocodile in Peter Pan is for the most part a comedic villain, even it he ate one of Captain Hook's hands. Lounsbery animated the introductory scenes, as the croc approaches the ship in hopes to get the rest of Hook. This little sequence of beautiful rough animation drawings is not complete, it misses the pose above. Nevertheless, you can see the brain work that went into animating the scene, as the croc moves upward toward Smee, who is trying to shoo it away.
Look at how the reptile body raises up, back first, then neck, then the head. All to the musical tick tock beat. This is a complex scene, gorgeously executed. That's why we love Lounsbery!
The magic of pencil animation!
Here is a fun Milt Kahl pre-production drawing, the crocodile with bulging eyes.
Its funny, as much as I love Peter Pan and the other classics, I actually prefer the post 101 Dalmatians films when the Xerox was introduced. In those films the characters have so much life because you are seeing a direct copy of the artists' drawing. Was it Milt Kahl or John Lounsbery who demanded his construction lines stay in? I know I read that somewhere.
ReplyDeleteThat was Milt Kahl.
DeleteI love that you see that he changed his mind about the tail. Great drawings.
ReplyDeleteThe crocodile has always been my favorite character in the film. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteUgh!! Man, those are beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteThis crocodile seemed to fit the humorous qualities of the film, particularly as an antagonist to Hook. Why were the crocodiles in The Rescuers criticized? I always thought they were pretty well done too.
ReplyDelete