Online Talk, Walt Disney Family Museum

I will be giving a virtual talk/presentation about my work at Disney Studios on Wednesday, August 25 at 5:30 pm PT in connection with the Walt Disney Family Museum.

For anybody who might be interested in joining me, here is the official link:

https://www.waltdisney.org/education/talks/my-career-disney-animation-andreas-deja

Bianca

 

I always feel flattered when art students compliment me on my work at Disney, and when they tell me what it means to them. I can sympathize because I gave Frank and Ollie and the others earfuls of praise. I know they appreciated it, and I do, too. 

Bianca gave me this precious illustration during the last CTN Expo. The way she stylized the characters I had worked on is super charming. I just noticed the somewhat sad expression of Mickey on the left. I wonder if this might be a subtle statement about me leaving Disney. 

Bianca, wherever you are, your artwork made me smile and happy!

101 Dalmatians, Behind the Scenes

These images are scans of book pages from an Italian booklet that was published to promote the DVD release of the film in that country. I happened to be in Rome for Disney at that time and snatched it up right away. There are great production photos, Bill Peet story sketches, final film frames and more.

I will post more pages in the coming weeks.

A Ward Kimball Talk

 

Here's a publicity pic of Kimball when he was involved with the cat sequence in Lady & the Tramp. In the end his animation footage was considered too wild to fit the overall film. And wouldn't we all love to see those scenes that were cut. Wild or not, I am sure they were brilliant.

On August 6 and 20, 1956 Ward gave a talk to upcoming animators (I presume at the studio) on various topics of character animation. Everyone in class is being asked to produce a 28 foot long test scene...which is extremely long, considering these were junior artists. 

I got a copy of these notes from Dick Williams way back during my Roger Rabbit days. It's interesting that Kimball covers technical as well as philosophical aspects. I'm sure he was a tough teacher to please. But that goes for any of these guys.

Fairy Godmother by Marc Davis

 

Heritage Auctions are currently offering an original model sheet of Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. Their description doesn't include the name of the artist, but it is clear to me that this is the work of Marc Davis. 

This character started out originally as a realistic figure during the storyboard phase of production. Compatible to the look of the Stepmother. Milt Kahl lobbied for a screwy, eccentric, funny concept, but Walt didn't see it that way. These Marc Davis sketches show a compromise. There is realism with potential for some eccentricity. So Milt took it from here. I do like Marc's abandoned idea of the Fairy Godmother hovering above ground (sketch #3).

Here are a couple of links to earlier posts about Milt Kahl's Fairy Godmother:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/04/fairy-godmother.html

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2016/03/cinderella-live-action-reference.html

A King Triton Issue

 

The first sequence I animated in The Little Mermaid shows King Triton interacting with Sebastian as they discuss Ariel's character. Actually this might be the very first scene issued to me. After completing this section it dawned on me that there was something that doesn't feel right. Triton seemed to be sitting on his "throne" on dry land. The scenes lacked a sense for being underwater. It was his hair! I drew it resting on his back, his beard positioned on his chest. Shoot!!

In all of the following scenes I animated I made sure that the hair was drifting almost weightlessly...like underwater. Sometimes you don't get it right at the start of production. It bugs me to this day...

On a different note:  Most of my Youtube videos can't be accessed at the moment. We are working on resolving this. Thank you for your patience, ladies and gentlemen. 

A Milt Kahl Ballerina

That's Brad Bird admiring a Milt Kahl wire sculpture during the 2018 exhibition "Walt Disney's Nine Old Men: Masters of Animation" at the Walt Disney Family Museum. I recall seeing this and other ballet sculptures at Milt's condo in Marine County, just north of San Francisco. 

Milt asked me if I knew Brad. I said I didn't, we're talking early 1980s. He called Brad "a cute, talented guy". Milt referred to people he liked as "cute" including Walt Disney.

A few of these masterful sculptures did not survive, the moist San Francisco air made them rusty.

Brad kew Milt personally more than any of the other geeks, myself included. He sought his advice as a teenager. The wonderful thing about Milt was that once he found out that you were a serious student of character animation, he gave you all the time in the world. 

There are people who claim that the old Disney guys wanted to take the secrets of greatness into their graves. Milt was not one of them. 

Here is an earlier post regarding Milt's ballerinas with some filmed footage:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2016/09/milt-kahl-wire-sculptures-footage.html

 

Tom Oreb Designs

Here are a few sheets with character design studies by Tom Oreb dating back to the 1950s. Looking at the Aurora drawings I have to say that Marc Davis and Iwao Takamoto had it fairly easy when it came to finalizing the character for animation. Everything is already there in Oreb's sketches. Overall styling, line and shape language, hair and costume, all of it.

He also drew rough concepts for many characters in 101 Dalmatians. These were based on story sketches by Bill Peet, who single handedly storyboarded the entire movie. 

Milt Kahl and other animators referred to these drawings while adjusting the designs slightly for final animation. 

Go to Howard Lowery Auctions, where you'll find Oreb's work for sale once in a while.

https://auction.howardlowery.com

 

Much more on Nanny's design in this previous post:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2013/05/nanny.html

Robin Hood for Sale

Heritage Auctions is currently offering this terrific sketch of Robin Hood by Milt Kahl. He gave it to Don Duckwall, who was production manager on the film. (It was Don who would later help me with necessary paperwork in order to join Walt Disney Productions in 1980.)

This is a beautiful drawing, and if it looks a bit familiar to you, that's for a reason. A while ago I posted a rougher version of this pose, a sketch Milt gave to a gentleman called Leonard. While I like the looseness of that sketch, I have to say that Milt made significant improvements when he re-drew the image for Don.

It really is fun to compare the two versions and find out what parts of the drawing Milt changed.

 

Creative Shortcuts

 

Images © Mushka Productions

Here is an example of a scene from the upcoming film MUSHKA that shows how we were able to cut corners, and still end up with superior results. The first image is basically a story sketch. Matthieu Saghezchi drew the scenery, I added the character poses.  Courtney DiPaola animated this emotional scene beautifully. We have NO rough layout and NO clean up layout on this production. We are going from story sketch straight to final background (which is crazy.). That background was pained by Craig Elliott. Craig added beams of moonlight, which create a multiplane effect during the camera move. 

You can do this sort of thing with top talents only. Everybody is trying to plus what's been given to them.

My team on this movie is tiny...but extraordinarily talented.

Did I mention that we are almost done?

Sullivant Original III

 

This one dates back to October 9, 1924 in LIFE magazine. It shows a little bit of water damage, but the piece has been treated to stop any further discoloring and deterioration.  It measures 20 X 14".

I don't know of any other illustrator/cartoonist who depicts a bear this way, weighty on top and thin around the bottom. It is usually the other way around (Yogi Bear, Baloo etc.) Beautifully designed human characters, and the hounds are priceless. 

Milt Keys a Bagheera Scene

Another example that shows how Milt Kahl helped his fellow animators with improved draughtsmanship in their scenes. Here Bagheera is trying to communicate with Baloo about a plan how to get Mowgli away from King Louie. Of course Baloo does not pay attention, he is about to join the "jungle party".

This is a short dialogue scene, animated by Ollie Johnston. In an earlier scene Bagheera said: "Now, while you create a disturbance, I'll rescue Mowgli.", followed here by: "Got that?" 

Actor Sebastian Cabot read the line in a hushed tone, not to be heard by the monkeys. I love how Bagheera speaks through one corner of his mouth, in the direction where he thinks Baloo still is.

I am not sure if Ollie had this in mind in his rough animation, or if this is a Milt Kahl addition. 

After the panther hears Baloo proclaiming: "I'm gone man, solid gone!" he quickly turns the other way to see what crazy stuff the bear is up to. 

Happy Birthday, Kathryn Beaumont!

 

June 13, 1949: "DISNEY SIGNS THE 'VOICE OF ALICE, BURBANK, CAL....Kathryn Beaumont, 11-year-old English girl, is shown as she signed a contract as the voice of Alice in Walt Disney's lavish cartoon feature production of 'Alice in Wonderland'. Kathryn is the daughter of British actor-singer Kenneth Beaumont. Disney (who stands beside her) gave her a voice test and was immediately captivated. It was originally intended for Margaret O'Brien to play the voice."

Today is Kathryn Beaumont's birthday. I was lucky enough to celebrate with her and a few friends while enjoying a wonderful brunch at one of her favorite local restaurants in Studio City.

Kathy is doing great. She was happy that our LA pandemic lockdown has recently been lifted, and that it is now possible to socialize with -vaccinated- friends again. (Here's hoping it will stay that way.)

At the restaurant we witnessed a few teens being completely consumed by looking at their cel phones. We had a giggle when I asked her if she, as a former school teacher, would be able to have her pupils put down their phones in class and pay attention. Her answer was: "I don't know...I really don't know."

Happy Pride Month!

 

I drew this poster for a party in Paris many years ago. (The paper is showing its age). And a great party it was. To be clear: this image of affection between Herc and Gaston is imaginary. There is no doubt that Hercules is pursuing Meg, and Gaston is insisting on marrying Belle.

But it's fun to play around once in a while...

Muzzle Off

 

This is a beautiful example of classic Stretch and Squash. The beaver opens his mouth extremely wide as he holds the top part of Lady's muzzle right between his upper and lower teeth. This is top notch staging because you want the audience to focus on the upcoming bite. The beaver's stretched open mouth is an anticipation in animation terms, but the viewer is also left anticipating and wondering if the bite will be successful. And you guessed it, the animator is Milt Kahl.

To see a few rough animation drawings of this character by Eric Larson, go here:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2015/02/eric-larson-on-lady-tramp.html