Experimental Yzma

As I mentioned in a previous post about the character of Yzma I had something to to with her early development, when the movie was called "Kingdom in the Sun".

The one and only Eartha Kitt had been chosen as her voice, but at that time I didn't have any recordings yet.

So I picked a line from one of Eartha's last movies, Boomerang, in which she played opposite Eddie Murphy.

I tried to find a piece of dialogue that would epitomize Eartha Kitt's sultry image and …just have fun with it.

Actually I thought I had lost this footage, but recently a tape with the scene resurfaced.

The character design was still in progress, but I needed too move Yzma around, just to see what I had at that point.

So here is the lost experimental scene, Yzma is responding to the Inka figure Pacha, who just let her know that she is "over the hill".

After the Tango...

…these two characters show different states of mind.

Madame Bonfamille is a little exhausted and relieved that the frolic has come to an end, while Georges Hautecourt keeps on boogieing.

The dance was his idea anyway, and you can see Madame's initial reaction on the xeroxed cel above. 

Xeroxed scenes, especially when drawn this rough, only work for me when draughtsmanship and animation are outstanding. That's certainly the case here, because the artist is Milt Kahl.

Milt portrays Madame with elegance and French charm while the decrepit lawyer is still very much young at heart. 

Their degree of caricature might vary, but there is a unity in the character design that makes them work together. And of course the contrast in their personalities allows for interesting character animation.

Sure, here and there Milt might have overused a head nod or shake in his acting, but on the whole this is a remarkable sequence within the opening of The Aristocats. 

The idea to have these two seniors break into dance while they reminisce about old times is wonderful to watch.

Below are copies of key drawings from the scene that shows the tango coming to an end.

The characters were drawn on different levels, I combined them here to show the full composition. There is a lot of goodness to study here: 

The definition and overlap of clothing in the lawyer's jacket as well as Madame's dress and boa. 

Hautecourt's knee wobble after each foot contact, and some daring facial perspectives. 

All this was done without any live action reference.

Bre Melvin created this pose test:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/9f793b05fac5061b497e557e848c6e80/tumblr_mj27iyhUZM1qdbhwwo2_500.gif

Just for Fun

Another watercolor study of Lilo and Stitch I did last year.

It always fascinates me how subtle as well as bold you can be when applying watercolors.

Brings back fun memories from a film that has the chance to become a classic.

Hook and Smee II

Here are a few more of Frank Thomas' rough character layouts for the second half of the scene. The sketch above establishes the size relationship between Hook and Smee.

Hook anticipates a reach toward the bewildered Smee.

He then extends his arm to get a hold of Smee.

Hook reacts to the crows nest announcement that Peter Pan is approaching. 

His attention now lees with Smee, instead he is processing what he just heard.

He then drops Smee , turns toward the crows nest  to give an order.

All this is so carefully staged and timed out in the animation, that you are never in doubt about what the characters are thinking.

Hook and Smee

What a terrific photostat!

The actors are Hans Conried as Hook and Don Barcley as Mr Smee.

This is an absolutely crazy scene. Smee believes that he cut off Hook's head while giving him a shave. Then, when he finds the head under the chair, he tries to pick it up while informing Hook's body toward screen right about his luck. 

Character animation doesn't get any better than this! This stuff is right up there with Chaplin and Marcel Marceau. A nutty situation performed in a completely believable way. You don't even sense any live action reference, because the broad animation totally stands on its own. 

Here's to Frank and Ollie!!

They went back and forth animating this scene. Frank started out by staging Hook. He threw in a few poses for Smee, but Ollie did his own acting for that character.

These clean up keys are scans from "The Illusion of Life". 

I just love the fact that while Smee tries to pull out Hook's head, his attention is toward screen right, because that's where he last saw Hook's body.

One of my favorite animated scenes, Animation Gold!!!
Drawings from right to left:

More on the second half of the scene in the next post.

Fritz Hug 2

It has been a long time since I posted any wildlife art from the great Swiss painter Fritz Hug.

Here is the link to my first post on him:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/search?q=fritz+hug

These charming spot illustrations were published in the 1966 book "Tiere, meine taeglichen Gefaehrten" (Animals, my daily Companions).

The technique is brush and ink, and I see a combination of confidence and carefully observed subtleties. There isn't an animal he couldn't draw or paint with great believability.
The angularity in his work helps to bring out the specific anatomy of the animal. And those ink splashes are a trademark of his.

I purchased an oversized print showing a tiger recently, would love to own an original sketch sometime.

Jungle Book Recording Session Break

There aren't many people I recognize in this casual setting. In the back is Milt Kahl, arms raised, in the center smiles Ollie Johnston, arms crossed, and I believe Ken Anderson sits on the right with his head half obscured by someone else. (Perhaps Floyd Norman can identify the rest.)

The boards show Anderson's designs for King Louie and Baloo, dressed in drag disguise. 

So the voice artists being recorded that day might have been Louis Prima and Phil Harris, who performed the Sherman brothers' song "I wanna be like you!", one of the highlights of the film.

It looks to me the location could be Sound Stage A or B on the Disney lot.

In later years I was present for many recording sessions there, which involved my characters.

Seems like we had better catering than what I see in the photo. Beside coffee there was never a shortage of fresh fruit, bagels, cookies and sandwiches.

And that was necessary, because those recording sessions could last for many hours.

For final dialogue directors and animators prefer to choose from a number of takes, to pick out the one that sounds just perfect.

Looking at this photo is like time travel, a moment during early production from a film that would change my life.

A closer look at some of Ken Anderson's character designs for this hilarious sequence.

More Jungle Book production art can be found in Pierre Lambert's wonderful coffee table book,

Le Livre de la Jungle:

http://www.amazon.com/Le-Livre-Jungle-Pierre-Lambert/dp/2732439231/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361253078&sr=8-1&keywords=lambert+le+livre+de+la+jungle