The Genius of Frank Thomas

Frank examines storyboard sketches of a sequence from Robin Hood. He would later animate those very scenes. Not very thrilled with the way the film's story was coming together, Frank still did the best he could with the material given to him.

Following are just a few examples of animated moments in Frank's long career. To my eye there are zero formulas to detect in his work. Every one of his characters moves and acts in a unique way. 

That way of working takes not only great analysis but a ton of passion.

Prince Phillip

I know I posted about this character before, but there are many fascinating aspect to his development for the film Sleeping Beauty. As I mentioned before animator Milt Kahl didn't like the assignment of animating him from the beginning, not the kind of animation you could get your teeth into. Being the professional Milt was, he did the best he could with the story material given to him. Just imagine how much more interesting this prince could have been if he had a more important role in the film. It's a mystery to me why the studio in those days always underplayed the part of a prince, from Snow White and Cinderella to Sleeping Beauty. It seems they saw no potential or entertainment value in the male hero at all.

So it is amazing to see that Prince Phillip comes off as well as he does, but I do believe that this is mostly due to Milt's hard work.

Here are a few images that show Phillip's visual development.

Beautiful early costume research, possibly by Mary Blair, but I'm not sure.

Marc Davis was the first animator/designer to work on Sleeping Beauty. This is his version of the prince. Milt thought he didn't look masculine enough.

Live action reference was provided by actor Ed Kemmer, who was known for his role in the 1950s science fiction TV series Space Control.

Milt's original version of Prince Phillip. Walt didn't care for his sharp facial features   and asked Milt to alter the design.

Phillip argues with his father King Hubert. Milt animated both characters in this scene, but for some reason he only tied down the prince with pencil, the king was finalized by somebody else.

Milt didn't animate any action scenes, but he helped other animators to keep the prince on model.

A photo stat and the corresponding animation drawing. They reveal how Milt was able to look at live action reference and find the essence for his animation. Looking at this drawing, Frank Thomas told me once that only Milt Kahl could simplify the human body this way.

His part might have been small in the movie, but Prince Phillip made the cover of a few beautifully illustrated story books as well as promotional material.

Disney Trains

Most of you know that Walt Disney was a train enthusiast. 

Trains show up in some of his feature length as well as short films. Often a train would become a personality like Casey Jones Jr., or they just functioned as the real thing, like the train that almost ran over The Aristocats.

Walt put a train into Disneyland, and named it after his wife, the Lilly Belle.

He also installed train tracks around his home in Holmby Hills, Ca. This was a 1/8 scale miniature train, called the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, which ran for 1/2 a mile.

Here are a few images of Disney trains from various films.

The drawings of Dumbo's Casey Jones Jr. are incredible, the artists developed such a fantastic motion range for something that is basically made out of solid iron. Just wonderful!

A magazine article from October of 1965.

Wart

Milt Kahl is showing off a pencil test on his moviola. (A moviola was a specifically designed contraption for the purpose of running pencil tests on a loop. You could also view a whole reel of film on it.)

If I am not mistaken, the other person in the photo is assistant Stan Green. Someone might correct me on this one. I only knew Stan in his later years, so I don't know what he looked like when he was younger.

I have been meaning to post some development art for the character of Wart from the film The Sword in the Stone. 

Bill Peet drew this great story sketch, which inspired Milt to restage it slightly as part of his final design research. So much personality in both drawings.

These drawings show a slightly different looking Wart. His nose in particular is more caricatured, which gives him a bit of a nerdy look, but it is still a very appealing design. (I actually prefer this version over the final one).

When I asked Milt way back, why these facial changes were made, he said that Walt Disney didn't think Wart looked attractive enough and made him alter the design.

Milt redrew many scenes in an effort to keep the look of the characters on model. The drawings below show Wart attending to the "Jousting Machine". Cliff Nordberg animated this scene based on live action, and Milt polished off the key drawings.

Not everybody enjoyed working on such a stylized looking character. I remember Eric Larson reminiscing about working on Sword in the Stone. "Boy, that kid was so skinny, tough to draw."

Ken Anderson's Doodles for The Rescuers

Ken Anderson did a ton of loose character design sketches and background studies for The Rescuers. He was not concerned with the final look of the film, instead he presented valuable ideas which layout and background artists as well as the animators could put to good use. There is always a good dose of charm and personality in his work.

These drawings show how Ken staged the mice with objects from the human world in order to make them look small. Fun stuff!

See Milt Kahl's version of the following sketch here:

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A couple of line ups showing the swamp folks.