Fred Moore

Fred Moore's talents baffle me. How can someone so young show so much skill

as an animator? He was 19 years old when he started at Disney in 1930.

I heard the story that he submitted drawings done on grocery paper bags, I wonder if that's true.

In any case, this kid changed the Disney animation style forever.

And not just Disney, you can see his influence on all the other studios as well.

Fred had a knack for a variety of things. He perfected squach and stretch, characters now showed real mass and therefor looked more believable than ever  before.

And drawings with charm....oh boy ! No wonder Walt put him in charge of the dwarfs in "Snow White". Look at these rough doodles below, fantastic intuition for personality.

Where did all that come from ? He hadn't had the time to observe and experience much at that young age. (Or do a lot of bad animation before becoming great).

He was just gifted like crazy.

Frank, Ollie, Marc and Milt all told me what a nice guy he was. "Couldn't do a drawing without appeal!" And Fred helped everybody, looking at their scenes and

drawing over their animation. He really WAS the Disney style at that time.

I will not get into the tragic aspects of his later life here. Let's just look at some of his stuff and get inspired.

Old European Masters

Occasionally when I travel  back to Europe, I revisit the great museums over there

and sketch the work of old masters. Particularly the periods of the late Renaissance

and Baroque are interesting, because figures in sculpture and painting show movement.

I find it useful to study classic art and to absorb the sense of anatomy, composition

and general aesthetics.

The funny thing is that when I was living in Germany as an art student, I took all this art for granted. I had always been there and it was always close by.

After moving to LA and spending years away from  "Old World Culture",

I now look at Bernini, Barye and Michaelangelo with American eyes.

With a bigger sense of Awe, I suppose. And that's a good thing.

The following sketches were made in places like the Musee d'Orsay and the Vatican Museum.

I often use a brush pen, which somehow helps to avoid stiffness in your sketch,

yet bad drawings on the whole are entirely possible.

Marc & Milt

Marc Davis and Milt Kahl were the best of friends.

Milt often raved about Marc's incredible draughtsmanship and his artistry in general ("He makes me look sick"), while Marc admitted that his favorite animator was Milt Kahl.

But the two got along on a personal level as well.

Together with their wives Alice and Phyllis, they socialized, went to ball games,

and they all shared an interest in fine art.

Marc once said of his friend: "Milt is the kind of guy who , if I would go up to him and say, Milt I need $20.000, would not ask me why or what for, I know he would just give it to me."

The two often animated characters that interacted in the same sequences.

Milt did the Fairy Godmother to Marc's Cinderella, he did Peter Pan to Marc's

Tinker Bell, and Roger and Anita to Marc's Cruella de Vil.

It must have been in 1975, when Milt gave Marc this amazing oversized drawing,

which celebrates their friendship. It shows a caricature of the both of them in a 

sort of Picasso-esque drawing style. 

It's a very unique piece, and Marc treasured it.

I want to thank Alice Davis for letting me post the drawing. (She is also kind enough to let me show you some of Marc's gorgeous animal sketches in a later post).

Following are scans of animation rough keys  with Aurora and Prince Phillip ,

(I'll let you guess, who animated who).

Can you believe how tight these are drawn ? When you enlarge them you can see wonderful subtleties in their faces, hands etc.

They were animated on two different levels, I combined them here on to one.

Enjoy the pose test as well. There is an animated camera move toward the end of the scene, that's why they seem to pop over toward screen left.