Marc Davis Animals

Marc Davis was hired be Disney studios in 1935, and his application portfolio

showed already that he was  an expert at drawing animals.

As an art student Marc would visit the local zoos early in the morning before opening time. He had made a deal with  zoo management, in return for this special treatment Marc would leave an occasional sketch for the animal keepers.

He told some of us much later:" It is during the early morning hours when the animals are most active. They are being fed and move around, and this makes for interesting study of motion and behavior."

In the afternoons Marc went to libraries and studied animal anatomy from books.

When I saw these animal sketchbooks for the first time, I was struck not only by the beauty but also by the cohesiveness of the drawings. 

What I mean by that is,  because of Marc's strong observation and thorough

knowledge of the inner structure of the animal, these sketches look like they are ready to be animated. Just like in good model sheets, everything is worked out.

You can see clearly how the bodies are functioning mechanically, and of course

there is also a feeling for the essence of the animal.

It is ironic that Marc didn't get to animate many animals during his career,

but that's because he had a terrific knack for drawing humans as well.

A big Thank You to Alice Davis for letting me share Marc's work here.

Bill Tytla

Everybody was in awe of Bill Tytla, when he was at Disney.

Ollie Johnston said: " During that time the studio had one artistic breakthrough after another. 

We saw what Tytla was doing with Stromboli and thought, what a great medium this is. At this rate, who knows what Disney Animation will  do in a few years? Of course after the Golden Age we still did some great stuff, but it was more or less a refinement of what had been done."

Tytla animated "from the inside out". For every scene he did, he lived inside of that character. He drew absolutely beautifully, but bringing out  emotion and personality came first.

Even if that lead to an off model drawing here and there.

Walt had Fred Moore take a look at a few of Tytla's Grumpy scenes in order to punch up the "charm level".  Storyman Bill Peet did the same with some of the early animation of baby Dumbo.

Tytla's animation drawings range from very rough to clean, depending on the mood of his characters. When it came to animating Chernabog though, he knew that he had to draw his anatomy with great detail.  Nobody else at the studio was up to that kind of draughtsmanship and animation.

Milt Kahl was reflecting in the early eighties: "Never again has there been anything as powerful as Tytla's devil."

I am convinced that if Bill Tytla had stayed at Disney, he would have kept stirring animation in different directions.

If you want to read up on his life and art, try to get your hands on the catalogue

of the Tytla exhibit at the Katonah Museum of Art, 1994.

As usual John Canemaker's writing is outstanding.

Also, Michael Sporn blog has tons of extraordinary Tytla material to go through.

Following is a Tytla gallery starting with the rooster from "Cock of the Walk" 1935.

There are many great drawings of Grumpy, you can see in every one of them how involved the animator was with that character.

One of my favorites  is the blue rough drawing of Chernabog, covering his eyes.

The agony from the sound of  church bells and the coming of dawn is so powerfully depicted here in one single sketch.

Mary Poppins' Fox

I have always liked the fox in "Mary Poppins".

The design is so appealing and his shapes and forms are very contrasting.

Big ears and eyes, very thin, long nose, skinny neck and legs, huge bushy tail.

Very graphic, but based on real anatomy.

The use of squach and stretch is pretty gutsy, too, as you can see in those few key drawings that show him jump off screen.

Here  Milt Kahl is sketching the character in relation to a tracing of Dick van Dyke.

When this picture was taken Milt's mind was already on "Jungle Book", as you can see from the storyboard on his desk.

Just for Fun

A while ago I wondered what I would come up with, if I animate a scene featuring a cow and a pig sitting at a bar, drinking Martinis and talking about.....things.

I got as far as this pose test, designs were somewhat inspired by TS Sullivant.

The dialogue is borrowed from the movie "Sordid Lives" from 2000.

With apologies to Mr Sullivant.....and some of you!

Do you think I should finish the scene, maybe add a little watercolor effect ?