Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Whose Pinocchio is this?



There have been a lot of drawings up for auction lately featuring drawings from an early Pinocchio scene. This is what the character looked like before Walt Disney voiced his displeasure over his design. Then, of course, Milt Kahl came on board and re-drew Pinocchio for the final appearance in the film.
These four drawings are from a very long scene (hundreds of frames). Unfortunately the whole scene was broken up (which breaks my heart) into small groupings before being sold. How great it would have been to scan all drawings in order to create a pencil test!! But with multipole owners now, that won't happen.
I have been messing with the question of who the animator might have been. Either Frank Thomas or Ollie Johnston. After taking a closer look I am now sure that this is Frank's work. The overall line quality is vintage F. Thomas. The way he drew hands and feet reminds me of his animation of Mickey Mouse in shorts like The Brave Little Taylor and The Pointer.

Here is the link to a rough Thomas Mickey drawing from The Pointer:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_DSa1aC02NU/Tf2FQyS1nRI/AAAAAAAAAIs/QgWvmuCg4oo/s1600/F_4.jpg

Images Heritage Auctions

11 comments:

  1. Nice piece of artwork of Pinocchio Andreas, i will like to ask you a question Andreas can I leave my email address so I can send you a message. 😮

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    Replies
    1. Ok its jeremylelay@Hotmail.com

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    2. I will like to talk about my artworks Andreas, that I did at my house and at the Art University.

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    3. Is there a link to your artwork online?

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    4. No Andreas, I don't know how I have to ask to my mom, but she finish her work late.

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  2. I just watched the clip on the Making of Pinocchio bonus feature, and the movement felt very Frank to me.

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  3. Dear Andreas,

    My name is Nikolay Nikolov, I'm a journalist with Mashable and I'd really like the opportunity to speak with you with regards your current and your past work. I unfortunately was unable to find another contact for you, so I hope this is OK.

    Please let me know if you require any additional information about this,

    Best,

    Nikolay Nikolov
    https://twitter.com/Nikolay_Nikolov
    nikolay@mashable.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was quite impressed with Pinocchio's use of angles, especially since I haven't seen those types of shots from live action movies during that time period.

    Was Pinocchio the last Disney movie before Lilo and Stitch to use watercolor backgrounds?

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  5. "How great it would have been to scan all drawings in order to create a pencil test!! But with multipole owners now, that won't happen."

    It really is a shame that these scenes get broken up and sold off drawing by drawing. Although potentially if all the owners could be located and would all agree to send in high-resolution scans of the drawings they purchased (scanned with the peg holes visible for reference) , the entire scene could be assembled into a pencil test ... unlikely , but possible.

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  6. I agree that it's a shame that a scene like this gets broken up. On the other hand: breaking it up allows more Disney fans to have a real piece of vintage Disney artwork to enjoy (instead of one very lucky and affluent one). So there are two sides here...

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