Two Key Drawings of Maleficent

 

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.......

Fred Moore's Cuban Caballero

 

These absolutely stunning design drawings by Fred Moore depict a Cuban bird character that never made it to the big screen. He would have been the fourth caballero for one of Disney's South American feature films. This is Moore at his best! Here is a great write up on this character by the late Jim Korkis, animation historian:

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-cuban-cabellero/

Runaway Brain at 30

Later on in the year the short film Runaway Brain is turning 30. It premiered on August 11, 1995. A few things come to mind when I reflect on the film's production:

At the time the French animation crew in Paris was so ready to take on a project like this one. These were the artists who had previously animated the beautiful Goofy Movie. Not much tutoring on my part was needed to get the crew ready for a potentially classic Mickey Mouse short (which I think it is.) All of the animators had done "their homework", they knew how to produce top notch Disney animation.

When the film was released I wondered about the tempo in which the story was told. It seemed a bit too fast to me. But looking at the short now, it looks perfect. A dynamic, fresh and entertaining short which echoes Mickey's early gutsy personality.

Last not least I met quite a few French people who became lifelong friends. What more can you ask for from an animated short film production?

Here is a write up from the time of the film's release in Disney's internal news letter.

Here is a blog post on Runaway Brain from 2012:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/12/runaway-brain.html

A couple scenes of mine.

 

A couple scenes of mine. 

 

  

John Macallan Swan

John Macallan Swan (1846-1910) was a British painter and sculptor. He is particularly known for his exquisite depiction of wild animals. His drawings and paintings with big cats are outstanding. Powerful and graceful at the same time. 

An artist worth taking a closer look at. 

Painting Milt Kahl Cels

 

Many years ago, after I had started at Disney, I toured the studio's Ink & Paint department. At that time here was still a large group of artists who painted cels for productions like The Black Cauldron and Mickey's Christmas Carol. 

I remember talking to a painter who was busy adding paint to a scene of mine featuring Taran and Eilonwy. My scene had been cleaned up very tightly, and the lines on the cels were very thin.

I wanted to know what it had been like a few years earlier, painting cels for scenes by Milt Kahl.

As many of you know, Milt's drawings were often left alone, and the xeroxed cels maintained the sketchy quality of his rough drawings, which he was very proud of. That's why during those "Xerox Years" Milt's animation had that loose line quality on the screen. 

The painter let me in on a little secret:

First she said that Milt's cels were a bit more challenging to paint because a determination had to be made as to which of the multiple lines was the one to paint to. "You just use your judgement" she said.

She recalled an incident regarding one Milt scene with Robin Hood. (It might have been the scene shown in the first image.) 

That finished scene in color on film had been viewed by director Woolie Reitherman. Woolie then asked for the cels to be altered and re-photographed, because to him the linework looked to rough when seen in motion. He feared that some audiences might be bothered by this.

Woolie went to this painter in the Ink & Paint department and asked that she'd use a q-tip and with some alcohol remove some of the loose xerox construction lines from all of the cels. Basically clean them up.

Woolie added, but don't tell Milt!

Of course my question was: So DID Milt notice later that some of his line work was missing?

NO, was the answer. He never noticed.

Here are a few more cels that show Milt's rough lines. 

Happy New Year

I adore this Christmas themed illustration by the great TS Sullivant! I hope you had a nice holiday, and I wish you all the very best for 2025! May your creativity soar to new and unexpected heights.