Character Design Lecture

Character Design, and where to look for inspiration, will be the topic of my next online lecture with Virtual Animators. It will take place this Saturday, March 21. 

I will point out and demonstrate several approaches to achieving interesting, cliche free designs.

Here are works by just a few artists, who I admire, and who constantly remind me of high standards when it comes to visualizing unique graphic versions of human and animal characters.

In case you'd like to join the live lecture, here is the link to Virtual animators:

http://www.virtualanimators.com/index.php/animation-insights

I consider character designs for today's animated projects an important topic. Let's see how we can deviate from the sort of sameness that seems to have crept into today's animation.

Long Before...

...Lily James and Richard Madden starred in Disney's current hit film Cinderella, and even before Disney's animators drew scenes with the heroine and the Prince for the 1950 classic movie, there were actors Helene Stanley and Jeffrey Stone, who provided life action reference footage.
Beautiful photo stat, what a charming couple!

Thanks to all of you who responded to my previous post. I will get back to you in the next few days.

Mushka Teaser Poster Ideas

I was determined to hand out some kind of teaser poster at last year's CTN Expo. Well, I did, but not before exploring several visual ideas that would represent the overall mood of the film. Here are some of the outtakes. I am not going to post the two final designs, it makes owning one of the two posters a little more special. (on the poster there is a tag line missing, because I haven't copyrighted it yet.)

As a general Mushka update:
I just about finished work on the story reel/animatic, even though some changes and improvements will happen as production continues. I am in love with this story, it is emotional, exciting (as in action) and funny.
I am extremely thrilled to announce that the one and only Richard Sherman has written a song for the film!! I'll tell you later how this came to be, but I am pinching myself knowing that Academy Award winning Richard Sherman, who cowrote the songs for Jungle Book with his brother Robert, among many other groundbreaking films, is a creative part of my film. As King Louie says: "Craaazy!"
As I am getting into full production on Mushka, I am looking for local LA 2D animation artists.

- Effects animator, experienced or new. But with high standards.
- Inbetweeners, experienced or new. But with high standards.
- Animators, experienced or new. But with high standards.
- Interns

If you are interested, leave your email, and I'll contact you. I won't be able to pay studio rates, but I WILL pay independent film $.

Bacchus

Ward Kimball didn't really enjoy the assignment of animating the character of Bacchus for the Pastoral sequence in Fantasia. And I really don't know why. I do know that he had his eyes set on the segment Dance of the Hours, featuring dancing hippos and alligators, but he didn't end up being cast on that part of the film.
It is kind if fun to discover though, that there WAS a Disney artist who provided inspiration by having his expressive face photographed as an inspiration for story artists and animators.

Caravaggio's painting of the Roman God of wine had no influence on the Disney artists at all.

Story artist James Bodrero developed a cartoony version of the character, that started to show some  a resemblance to a certain Disney artist.

Even the beautiful maquette from Joe Grant's design department
was modeled after a particular Disney employee.

 

And that artist it is Dick Huemer, who co-wrote the movie Dumbo with colleague Joe Grant.

See for yourself, if you think that there is any resemblance  between Bacchus and Dick Huemer.

Boy, I sure think three is.

101 Dalmatians Background Styling

If you think that creating backgrounds for Disney's 101 Dalmatians was a piece of cake compared to the preceding film Sleeping Beauty, think again. Sure, Eyvind Earl's renaissance styling is rich with sharp detail, but look at this layout from 101. Layout supervisors Don Griffith, Collin Campbell and Erni Nordli had their hands full, creating settings in accurate and finessed line drawings. It really was the layout department that took the brunt of the work to present meticulous backdrops for the animated characters. The background artists added simple washes of color, suggesting the overall mood of the scene in a sketchy way.
It's my guess that the layout folks were doing overtime, while the background artists took long lunches.
Below a screen grab from this gorgeous scene, just a truck in without characters.

Tiger Inspiration

During my research about tigers for my film Mushka, I came across some remarkable art and other resources, that helped me develop an anatomical understanding, but also an artistic appreciation of this magnificent animal. Paul Jouve created this outrageously beautiful panel above. This complex casual pose, drawn and painted with such ease.

There are endless intriguing photos of tigers to admire online.

My friend Olivier sent me countless photos he took at the zoo. You learn something from each image.

I got a few well crafted Tiger figurines, they were inexpensive and help with certain drawing challenges.

Fine artist from around the world show various possibilities in depicting tigers.

Austrian artist Nobertine Bresselern-Roth (1891 - 1978) created amazing animal illustrations using the linocut technique.

Animal expert Wilhelm Kuhnert was great at drawing any type of wildlife, including big cats.

Another terrific illustration by French artist Paul Jouve.

Pinocchio, Age 75

Walt Disney's film Pinocchio turned seventy-five years old last month. We have come a long way from this type of soulful, personal, compassionate, warmhearted and noble type of animated film making.

Facial Expressions & Dialogue

...will be the topics of my next lecture with Virtual Animators this Saturday, March 7.

Over the years I've had the chance to animate characters with a variety of facial configurations. Each one of them required a unique approach to the way they talked. It was always fun to try and come up with new mouth shapes and expressions I hadn't used before. 

That's part of being an animator, putting your own personal stamp on your character, and doing it differently than your colleague next door would. That's the stuff I'll be talking about.

If you are interested in joining the lecture, here is the link to Virtual Animators:

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/You-re-invited-to-a-LIVE-ANIMATION-INSIGHTS-SESSION-with-Andreas-Deja.html?soid=1111314412804&aid=Cv9Wg89xh8w

Marc Davis, Fine Artist, Animator

I have written before about Marc Davis' many artistic talents. Here are a few more examples that showcase the wide scope of his skills. I just love the nude study above which goes all the way back to 1939. Marc had finished clean up animation on Snow White, and here he shows his expertise for depicting the female form. Come to think of it, that type of pose is actually quite ordinary, but loose brush strokes, gorgeous color and a semi abstract back drop make this an extraordinary image. I think Marc did about a handful of these bold, quick sketch nudes.

The confrontation of a bull with a big cat is not dated, but my guess would be the mid 1950s.
A beautiful composition in which the animals are pictured with "decorative anatomy", for lack of a better word.

At the studio Marc had no problem switching over to realistic animation. Many of you might not have known that beside his astounding portrayal of Tinker Bell in the film Peter Pan, he also animated Mary Darling.
An amazing man, who continued to experiment throughout his life as a fine artist as well as an animator.

Think Magazine 1959

A brief, but nice article on Walt Disney from 1959. I like the personal approach in the write up, you get to know Walt a little. What I don't understand is that there is no mention of Disney's latest animated spectacular Sleeping Beauty, which was released in theaters about three months before the article was published.
I enjoy the candid photos as well.

Some poster art from only a few of so many Walt Disney Productions.

Disney/Heritage Auctions