Lady and the Tramp

I thought you might get a kick out of this article about the making of

"Lady & the Tramp".  It is from the magazine "American Artist", May 1955, and written by one of Disney's great background painters, Ralph Hulett.

The text won't offer a lot of new infos to most of you, but it is a fun look behind the scenes, from an insider's perspective in the mid fifties.

Then more original drawings from the film.

The first six are by Milt Kahl. The rough pre-animation drawings of Lady show how comfortable Milt was with such a realistic character. Potentially complicated anatomy covered with fur is beautifully simplified on this sheet.

The two close ups of Jock might have been drawn for another animator's scenes,

possibly Frank's.  I just love their expression and mood, there is a real essence to them, and great clarity.

The beaver is one of my favorite characters. Those little beady eyes give him so much character. 

I wonder what the story sketch looked like for the scene with Trusty.

An idea for a pose like this one is not easy to stage. But when you give it to Milt it becomes a piece of beauty. The slight variations in the design of the skin folds

is what makes this believable.

Milt redrew these poses of Aunt Sarah several times. She sure looks like a caricature of voice actress Verna Felton here.

Frank Thomas stages his characters beautifully in the first sheet.

He blocks in their appearances, almost like an architect's sketch.

This also solidifies the composition so that they relate very clearly.

The same can be said for the next two close ups of Lady. What's interesting here is  that Frank used straight and curved lines to define the shapes of her ears.

You'd think something so soft would need curves only, but drawn this way, it shows more weight.

The small thumbnail sketches indicate the two main positions in the scene.

More thunbnails on the next sheet as Lady puts her head down.

Following is a drawing where Frank explores how her fur reacts in a frightened attitude.

In the last one Trusty is leaning in on Jock, you can see in his pose that Jock is the reacting character.

Tramp

Walt Disney often paired Frank Thomas and Milt Kahl for the animation of a single character. 

Pinocchio, Bambi (with Ollie), Cinderella's Duke, Tramp, Merlin and Mim as well as King Louie, to give you a few examples.

The talents of these two Super Animators complemented each other extremely well. 

Milt of course would do the final design, and as you know his animation would be 

flawlessly staged and timed, and show inventive acting.

Frank internalized the character, which resulted in very nuances performances.

They often showed their scenes to each other for input. Frank would come up with an idea to plus the acting, and Milt would draw over Frank's keys to solidify his drawings and add charm.

The first sheet below shows some of Milt's early design doodles, based on poses from story sketches. It's interesting to see that a black color area around one eye was considered for a rowdier look.

The next image is a layout/staging drawing for one of Milt's scenes.
Tramp is greeting a puppy through the window of a pet shop. Look how these two characters relate in the way they are posed.

The two key drawings following are by Frank for his legendary Spaghetti sequence.

I call this glorious character animation. See the tied down pencil test here:

http://vimeo.com/4215426

The single Tramp close up is by Milt, done for Frank for the same sequence.

It gives the scene that polished charm.

The last drawing was also done by Milt for a Frank scene.

Team work at it's best!

At the end of the post you'll find a tied down Milt pencil test of Tramp, as he first appears in the movie.

Disney Eye Candy

Some of these sheets with rough Disney drawings have been posted online before, but just in case you missed them, here are three of them. More to follow later.

As I told you before, storyboard size versions of these used to hang at on the second floor of the Disney Animation building.

I had tons of fun choosing the poses from model sheets as well as my own collection of originals. I wanted these boards to show a total mix, with no particular thought given as to when they were drawn or who the artist was.

I call them Disney Eye Candy.

These poses are all worth studying for their clear silhouette, action line, solidity

and overall design.

One of my favorites is Daisy Duck in the lower right corner, being so wonderfully mad and upset. I actually don't know who drew her.

On a different note...for everybody in the US and Canada:

Go see "Winnie the Pooh". It's a very good film, we had fun doing it.

Animal Sketchbook

Here are a few samples from my animal sketchbooks. As much as I enjoy drawing at the zoo, I find it absolutely essential to draw also from TV programs.

Only in those nature shows will you find natural behavior like playing and hunting, feeding etc. 

Sometimes I sketch with the film at full speed, other times I freeze frame in order to study a particular moment closer. 

I have tried to sketch animals during my one trip to South Africa in Krueger Nat. Park a few years ago, but I found myself at the mercy of the jeep's driver. These guys want to show you as much as possible each day and they move on rather quickly,so you end up not having enough time to observe the wildlife for sketching.

For my next trip I'll have to hire a driver for myself.

There are also a few Sullivant inspired animal cartoons.

I tried not to copy him, but instead play with caricature and proportions in ways I hadn't done before.

My friend Stuart Ng published these and other drawings a little while ago in form of a sketchbook.

.........juuust in case anyone is interested, I think he still has a bunch for sale.

Here is the link to his site:

http://stuartngbooks.com/art-books/artists-a-z/last-name-d/deja-a-different-stripe-andreas-dejas-animal-sketchbook.html

Marc & Flower

I  want to follow up on yesterday's post with some of Marc's development work on

Flower, the skunk from "Bambi".

After having done years of story sketch work on the film, it was Walt himself who suggested that Marc should try animation. 

Marc said:" So Walt turned to Milt Kahl and Frank Thomas and said: I want you to make an animator out of him."

Flower became his first character, and to get started he did a lot of research of life skunks. These preparatory sketches are beautiful and show thorough analysis. 

Joints, hip bones, the whole inner structure is observed and understood.

After that  the character's  personality dictates certain poses and attitudes.

What an astonishing start to a legendary animation career.