Maleficent locks the door to the dungeon cel in which she holds Prince Philip prisoner. Here are the two main rough key drawings by Marc Davis that define this particular piece of action. You can see her hand turning the key, while the rest of her body moves very little as not to distract from the subtle motion.
Both hand positions for the key turn are perfectly chosen. What impresses the heck out of me is that in the second drawing Marc shows a slight flexing of the character's lower arm muscle called brachioradialis (I had to look that up.) This is not something he would have gotten from studying the live action reference because of its minuscule nature. This is something Marc KNEW from studying human anatomy his whole life. When an arm turns THIS happens.
As an animator the more you know about anatomy and motion range, the more you can apply that knowledge to your work and make it that much more believable.
A lesson from Marc Davis brought to you by.......
I have been following your blog for years and examples like these are the EXACT reason I get so excited when you post.
ReplyDeleteMarc Davis is easily one of my favorite animators and draftsman for reasons exactly like this. Just breathtaking.
Thank you so much for sharing. These posts mean so much.
What a coincidence you posted a "Sleeping Beauty" post since I've just been rewatching this film, along with a DVD ballet production of the Tchaikovsky ballet of the same name. After 66 years of being released to the public, the animation of this movie still holds up. Unbelievable!!!
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