Thursday, September 23, 2021

Lady & the Tramp Layout

I have always loved the inroduction scenes of Tramp. They start with a shot of the "other side of the tracks" as far as Lady's world is concerned. This gorgeous layout drawing depicts a kind of countryside setting. The final version shows the outskirts of a small midwestern town around 1909. 

Again...the artistic caliber at the Disney Studio is astonishing. From layout sketch to background painting to the character animation that follows. Admittedly, during the 1950s other studios were experimenting with more modern graphic styles. Disney had started to dabble in modernism with the terrific short film Toot, Whistle. Plunk and Boom from 1953. And a fresh graphic change would take shape at the studio starting with the release of Sleeping Beauty in 1959.

But you can't knock this old fashioned Norman Rockwell-like styling. At least I can't.