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.
