A Frank Thomas Birthday

 

Yesterday was Frank Thomas' 112th birthday. His work and the films he worked on have become timeless masterpieces. When reflecting on his animation career Frank said that he always felt lucky to have been at the right place at the right time. Aptly called "The Laurence Olivier of Animation" he set himself very high standards when it came to creating a performance. Someone asked Frank once about now he felt about his accomplishments. He responded by pointing out that 2 or 3 scenes (out of all he had done) met his standards. He did not say which ones. 

People who worked with him said that he was impossible to please. There was always...always room for improvements. Disney was so lucky to have such an animator who helped elevate the art form. 

The first photo shows him in his office working on Miss Bianca for The Rescuers, around 1976.

In the next pic we see Frank at the premiere for the film in 1977 along with actress Eva Gabor, who voiced Miss Bianca. 

Frank at his home in 2001. 

Just a handful of drawings that show Frank's versatility, his love for the performance, his sense for appeal and many other things. Genius.!!!

Much more here in this early post from 2011:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/06/frank-thomas.html

Eric Larson, Post 1500

 

Today is Eric Larson's birthday. This is also post # 1500. I am re-posting the first blog image from June 6, 2011. The pic was taken by Hans Bacher (I believe in 1980) as I am paying attention to Eric's animation demonstration.

 

Eric is reviewing a pencil test on an old Moviola. From left yo right: Bill Frake, Kathy Zielinski and Matt O'Callaghan.

Eric with Lisa Davis, late 1950s. Lisa is the voice for Anita in 101 Dalmatians. 

Cinderella's King and Duke

I am not sure who the actors are who provided live action reference scenes for the animators here. But I do know Milt Kahl animated this section of the film. 

When asked about working on the two characters Milt said that they weren't too much fun, but that they worked ok for the story. The earlier introductory scenes of the King and Duke were animated by a different animator, and at that time Milt felt compelled to re-draw all of those scenes in order to improve the poses and overall draughtsmanship.

King Triton Moments

These are various bits and pieces from scenes that show my first rough animation pass. After approval I redrew the animation in light blue and graphite for a more detailed version that would help clean up artists tie down their final drawings.

Probably animated late in 1988.

 

New Busch Originals

I am thrilled to add these two relatively small original drawings to my modest Wilhelm M Busch collection. Two centaurs, ball pen, and a circus backstage scene, pencil and color pencil.

Pure draughtmanship, a feast for the eyes.

John Lounsbery's Robin Hood

I have written before about John Lounsbery's involvement in the character of Robin Hood. He started him off by animating a few scenes, before Milt Kahl took over Robin. 

Early designs by Ken Anderson showed Robin with a thin neck and long nose. Then Milt added a bigger neck for a spiffier appearance.

The first three drawings are Lounsbery's. They are available at:

https://www.animationartgallery.com/category-s/18702.htm

This is Milt's version of Robin from a scene in the film's opening sequence.

The Horned King

I have written plenty about The Black Cauldron over the years. This was my first project at Disney when I started there in August of 1980. The studio was finishing The Fox and the Hound, and I was asked to help design characters for the next feature film. At first it was just Tim Burton and myself, then Phil Nibbelink joined the the design unit. 

After a while management decided that Tim's style would not work for this film, and that a more conventional look was in order.

I came  up with the final design for The Horned King (as well as Creeper, his little henchman.)

But I did not animate any scenes with those characters. The problem was with the concept. The Horned King was just bad, that's it. In order to make your villain interesting though an only evil personality isn't enough. There need to be eccentricities, sarcasm, a weird sense of humor...or even intelligence. 

Later on for future projects we would craft more rounded villains that became interesting because their personalities were richer and unique. 

Ursula is the ultimate camp, Gaston is ridiculously vain and Scar really enjoys being cruel.

Actually this applies to any character in an animated film. In order to connect with an audience the main personalities have to be complex and multifaceted..like real people.

 

Henn/Deja Sequences

Congratulations to Mark Henn for receiving the Disney Legend Award!

I worked with Mark on the same sequences from time to time. Here are a few of my favorites.

King Triton argues with his daughter Ariel.  I said this before, I was practically animating my own father when he gave my teenage sister Christa a hard time for returning back home late after an evening out. James Baxter also drew a few scenes here toward the end.

Jasmine confronts Jafar to find out what is going to happen with Aladdin. By this time Mark had relocated to the Disney/Orlando studio while I was working on Jafar in Burbak. It might sound strange but we never felt the need to discuss things over the phone. Everything was laid out so clearly in the story sketches, it was obvious who would do his animation first and who would follow. 

Scar sets up Simba on a rock just before the wildebeest stampede. With such great voices to work with, it was almost easy to come up with interesting performances. Again, Mark animating Simba in Orlando, I animated Scar in Burbank. 

Jessica Rabbit Roughs

Russel Hall animated  most key scenes with Jessica. His take on the character is unique as you can see in these two spectacular rough drawings. Her sensual qualities could have been portrayed in a cliche, overly cartoony way. But Russel developed a brand new animation style, based on realism and American pin up. He was the perfect animator for this character. 

If you know Russel's work, you find that he was equally capable of handling broad exaggerated designs as well. 

Early Hercules

As mentioned in my previous Hercules post, I recently re-discovered early character designs which I thought had been lost. These marker drawings are less stylized than the final version, and Herc has longer hair. My thought here was that these curls would add follow through movement, and this sort of thing always loosens up your animation. But...he ended up with a haircut, because in all of those ancient Hercules statues the hair is pretty short.

After such a long time it's kind of funny to see how I started the character off. 

 

Olympic Chanteuse

These days the world is talking about the return of Celine Dion. 

Ever since her song for Beauty & the Beast (with Peabo Bryson) I have been a fan of hers. 

In 2011 I had the great pleasure of meeting this superstar before her show in Las Vegas. Her musical program at that time included songs for movies, and I thought she might enjoy a sketch which puts her into the world of Titanic as well as Beauty and the Beast. I am happy to say Celine was thrilled.

In the end she suggested that we re-enact the staging in the drawing I brought. 

Her performance last week in Paris from the Eiffel Tower was one of the most breathtaking things I have ever seen.