Tim Burton

I am not entirely sure who drew this caricature of Tim, but it most likely is a Glen Keane sketch.

After I passed the training program at Disney in 1980 I was asked to help out with character designs for the upcoming production of "The Black Cauldron."

"The Fox and the Hound" was still being finished by the animation crew, and there was a need to come up with visuals for the next feature.  Producer Joe Hale told me."There is this other young guy who draws in his own unique style, maybe the two of you can come up with a new look for Disney".

That other guy turned out to be Tim Burton, and I moved into a nice roomy office with him. 

Tim's stuff was amazing, and it seemed odd that I was asked to "disneyfy" it.

But I did try to go over his drawings, and each time I altered them to make them look closer to the Disney conventional style, I noticed that the essence of Tim's designs got lost. Tim went over some of my drawings as well, but the whole thing became somewhat frustrating.

Nevertheless the two of us got along well, we just found ourselves in this strange

predicament.

I remember one time Tim told me he was going to take a class in children's book illustration. One of his assignments was "Fun with Numbers", and he showed me what he had come up with. I told him how funny they were, and he gave me some of the out takes. Over time I ended up with a few other gag drawings or illustrations, Tim didn't have use for.

In the end the studio decided not to use his ideas and concepts, and understandably Tim moved on. He started producing stop motion as well as live action films which all reflected his artistic vision, (as you all know.)

I had lost touch with him over the decades until last March, when I visited the set of his upcoming stop motion feature "Frankenweenie" in London. Tim happened to be around and he gave me a warm welcome. We reminisced briefly about our year together, and then he said the funniest thing: "You know, I just had a dream about you and me being back in that Disney office." I replied: "I hope it wasn't a nightmare."

And by the way..."Frankenweenie" is going to be fantastic!!

Wire Sculptures

It is difficult to photograph these wire sculptures, because a photo doesn't give you the third dimension. Nevertheless I wanted to post a few images here in order to give you a rough idea what these things look like.

I first time I saw wire sculptures was when I visited Milt Kahl and had lunch at his condo near SF. Those things blew me away, Milt Kahl drawings that take up space.

For years I thought, don't even bother to try something like this. But eventually I wondered, what would happen if I do these sculptures MY way.

Milt used soldering to connect pieces of wire, I just made knots to hold them together.

My first two pieces were a small horse and a cow. It got me excited enough to keep going and develop my style into something presentable.

Most of these photos were taken by Hans Bacher, he actually produced a left and right eye slide of the object, and with the help of a sort of a view master  they can still be viewed in 3D.

A lot of these sculptures were part of a charity exhibit at Disney quite a few years ago (my second exhibit at the studio, not the one Miss Audley saw.). The proceeds went to the World Wildlife Fund to help the black rhino from extinction.

Miss Audley

Before I start I would like to tell you that I am going to give a talk at the Pixel Animation Festival in Vienna this October. I'll be there for a week, the festival takes place from Oct. 7-9.

It would be great to run into some of you guys over there, if you are nearby, see if you can make it.

Here is the link to Pixel 2011:

http://www.pixelvienna.com/6/

Eleanor Audley  was a great character actress, her roles were mostly in TV.

She could be seen in shows like "I love Lucy",  "Green Acres",  "My Three Sons"

and many others.

Her most famous film roles were with Disney. She voiced and provided live action reference for two classic female villains, the stepmother in "Cinderella" and Maleficent in "Sleeping Beauty".

Frank Thomas and Marc Davis couldn't say enough good things about working with her. She was a perfectionist.

I met Eleanor Audley in the early eighties through a friend, who told me that she lived next door to his family in North Hollywood. I couldn't believe it, what a coincidence!

Soon after I got invited to the family's Thanksgiving dinner, and I was thrilled to see that Miss Audley was a guest as well. Imagine...dinner with the stepmother.

I never forget when she asked me: "Andy, pass the gravy!" She totally sounded like the stepmother, with that crack in her voice. I immediately passed the gravy.....

A few weeks later I visited Miss Audley in her house, she knew I was interested in hearing about her work at Disney. Apparently the voice acting was a lot of fun for her, but the live action was....work!

"Oh, that Ham Luske!" she reminisced, "sending me up and down those stairs on the set, up and down!"

In 1985 I invited Miss Audley for a visit to the old animation building at Disney.

At that time I was exhibiting some of my wire sculptures in the studio library.

She arrived in her old Chevy, and I greeted her at the studio's entrance.

We got to the second floor of the animation building, and I asked her how she's been. "Not too good at all" was the answer.

Miss Audley was 80 years old by then, and she talked about her failing health often. I found out that she might have exaggerated here and there.

"Andy, look!" she said (many people called me Andy in those days). "I have these terrible spots on my hands." She showed me her hand, and when I said, I couldn't see any spots at all, she insisted :" Here, take my glasses, you will see them."

I did the above sketch of that situation the way I remember it, especially her bright red coat.

When I asked Miss Audley how she liked my wire sculptures, she responded:

"They are interesting, but keep your day job!" 

What a fantastic line...too funny.

Here are a few photos showing Eleanor Audley at work as the stepmother and as Maleficent.

Look at how beautifully Frank Thomas translated her intense expression into a character drawing.

Marc Davis used this live action reference when Maleficent confronts the prince.

Note the prop of a milk carton being held by Eleanor Audley as a stand in for a lamp.

The final version shows Maleficent holding a candle instead.

If you are interested, here is a Youtube clip from a "Dennis the Menace" episode,

starring Eleanor Audley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz5OPw3NM5c

Strong Silhouette...or not?

I am sure most of you know about the value and importance of a strong silhouette

when it comes to key poses.

Some of the old Disney masters said that your silhouette should give the audience an idea about the character's overall mood, and that it also might reveal the business and the acting.

The first two examples prove that point very clearly, the last two are somewhat of an exception in this regard.

Milt Kahl animated these scenes, and as usual they are worth a closer look.

Pecos Bill and Widowmaker show a very clear silhouette. Everything points outward, it's almost like an explosion. The emotion here is definitely exuberance.

This scene with Tramp interacting with the beaver also reads very clearly.

The staging connects the characters beautifully. Tramp leans forward and his paw pushes on the beaver's belly. There is just enough negative space between the two so that both poses are easy to recognize in silhouette.

Here we have a case of staging where the main business happens within the character's silhouette, not out in the open at all.

Robin Hood is wiggling his finger through a shot hole in his hat. So why does this read so well after all?

Milt made sure that your eye goes right to that subtle motion, look at the arrows.

And then the importance of  color. Robin's brown finger is moving in front of the WHITE  part of his fur.

It becomes a silhouette within a silhouette. 

Check out the frame grab below.

One of the great scenes in Disney animation.

But you couldn't tell from Medusa's silhouette what's going on here.

Again, the important subtle action of the false eyelash being pulled is staged within the main shape.

But to me there seem to be a hundred lines pointing at her left eye area.

No matter which part of the drawing you start looking at, your eye will end up at the stretched eyelash. The bend of every finger, the folds in her towel, even the shape of her lips help the viewer to focus on this one  particular part of the drawing. 

Of course all this looks so simple, but it took a lot of artistic brain power that made results like these possible.

Follow the Trail

This is a scene with Jafar on his horse, which  I animated early on during production.

I remember being a little apprehensive getting started, this was the first time I animated a horse in a Disney film. As far as Jafar, I had only done a handful of scenes with him prior to this one. So I was still trying to work out drawing issues.

It is sort of an action scene, and you can see that my drawings look pretty rough, especially the blue under drawing. But the graphite lines gave my clean up assistant Kathy Bailey enough information in terms of what I wanted the characters to look like.

As far as the action, it was clear to me as what needed to happen.

The horse is spooked by the bright light, it rises up, at that time Jafar says his line and points forward, and off they go screen right.

There were quite a few things to track, overlap wise. The horse's mane and Jafar's sleeves and cape. I messed with the whole thing for a little while, as you can see in the erased areas and the re pegging on some sheets.

Nevertheless I had fun animating this scene. It was painted dark for the final version, because the sequence takes place at night. Probably for the better, any drawing issues disappear in darkness.

These are most of the rough key drawings from the scene.

PS. I just noticed after all these years, the first few frames were CUT from the scene! WELL....