The Sullivant book is finally here!! And is is magnificent...and big. 400 pages that show this master illustrator's work in chronological order. Also included are short essays by a few top cartoonists and scholars. You just have to get this book...end of sentence!
The 6 part book series by Didier Ghez titled They Drew as they Pleased is now complete. Disney's visual development artists finally get their due in these incredibly well researched volumes. Insightful information about their art as well as their lives. Needless to say the illustrations are breathtaking, most of them never been published before.
What ended up in the final film version is this scene. Edgar has just let the cats back inside the house, and in this close up he fakes a sense of relief to see them again. Milt has him overact on purpose, because Edgar is giving a performance here toward the cats.
Great perspective drawings, and that typical, subtle head shake between #45 and #51 (on ones).
Here is another restaurant that was popular with Walt Disney and his artists, the Tam O'Shanter in Los Feliz, a short drive from the Disney Studios. The restaurant opened in the early 1920 and still operates today. These days only for food delivery and pick up until indoor dining will be possible again.
I love the sketch above showing Kimball and Disney dining at the Tam. Probably drawn by Walt Kelly.
Over the years I've had many terrific dinners there with Marc and Alice Davis (who's residence is very close by), Frank and Ollie, members of the Disney family and others. It is a very special place.
I love Marc Davis anatomical studies, because they dissect not only the construction of the body but also its motion range. Marc made these illustrations for a planned book, called The Anatomy of Motion. Unfortunately he did not finish the project. There were more drawings to be added as well as text. The main reason why Marc paused was the fact there was no interest in the publishing world for this book, if you can believe such a thing...
He mentioned that he was aiming toward artists and art students, but also physicians. "I wanted to show how things are put together and how they WORK!"
When you combine all that knowledge with a superb sense for design and artistic flair, you are looking at an artist who became invaluable to a place like Disney.
The images are from the 2014 book: Marc Davis, Walt Disney's Renaissance Man
https://www.amazon.com/Marc-Davis-Disneys-Renaissance-Editions/dp/1423184181/ref=pd_ys_sf_s_283155_a2_1_p?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ZH9ZFRS4Y5N2GHK4YZJ
Before King Triton, Gaston and Hercules there was another bodybuilder type I animated.
If I remember correctly, toward the end of production of The Black Cauldron I discovered certain storyboards in the basement of Disney's original animation building. (We hadn't moved out yet to a warehouse in Glendale.) These storyboards looked beautiful, and I found out that Dale Baer had drawn them, and that his studio was producing the animation for an educational film to be shown at EPCOT.
So I contacted Dale to find out if he needed any help with this project. To make a long story short, I ended up animating a bunch of scenes with the character of Atlas, who was the host in this film.
Here is what D23 says about the project:
Animated Atlas of the World, The (film) Short animated film telling of the geological and meteorological aspects of the ocean, for showing in Seabase Alpha in The Living Seas, Epcot. Opened on January 15, 1986. Directed by Mike West.
Dale gave me the film's opening to animate. I also drew a few more scenes throughout the short. I don't recall if there were other animators that helped out, but I don't think so. Dale's Animation shines here, as it always does. He was and is a phenomenally gifted animator, who was mentored by John Lounsbery in the Disney training program during the 1970s.
My own footage still shows some inexperience, I think, but thanks to Dale's guidance it was good enough to be included in the film. A funny thing about a "host" type in an educational film: The focus is on the information being conveyed. But the character himself still needs to be interesting and entertaining to watch. So you are looking for acting patterns that show some personality without detracting from what's been taught here. Jimmy Cricket and Ludwig van Drake are classic examples of that.
Dale was married to Jane Baer at the time. Before I moved to London to work on Roger Rabbit, they presented me with two cel set ups, scenes I had animated. They were both wonderful to work for.
I love this pastel sketch by Mel Shaw for Disney's The Small One. Beautiful composition and color mood. I swear, Mel knocked out illustrations like this, one after the other. I witnessed this during Black Cauldron, Mouse Detective, Beauty & the Beast and Lion King. He was a wizard!
A pretty holiday painting by Disney background artist Art Riley. Probably for a Christmas card. Riley worked on many features as well as shorts from Pinocchio to Jungle Book.
Christmas Carols of the canine kind. Mary Blair painted this image for an early version of Lady & the Tramp. The final version of the film does not show her influence as far as color styling. But Cinderella, Alice and Peter Pan all have a Blair touch.
