The Old Disney Guard and our Films

 

I think I mentioned before that I used to ask Disney's original animators about their opinion regarding animated films I was a part of. After you ask the question you kind of want to run for cover, in fear that harsh criticism would come your way. Still, I was curious. 

Here are a few recollections about what the "Old Guys" thought after having watched films from Disney's revival period. Milt Kahl enjoyed The Great Mouse Detective, he thought the film had a fresh approach in terms of storytelling and character development.

The Little Mermaid was pretty much liked by the old guard. The studio invited Frank and Ollie for a screening when the film was about half animated. At one time Frank interrupted with an excited voice: "Who did that one?" He was referring to a little reaction shot of Ariel. Somebody informed him that David Pacheco had animated this scene. When this got back to David he was on cloud nine of course...and probably still is.

Ken Anderson liked Beauty and the Beast very much. He said he couldn't think of a way to improve it. Chuck Jones also raved about the film, particularly Glen's animation of the Beast.

I don't remember specific reactions to Aladdin. I think Frank and Ollie had a few quibbles with the story, but nothing major. Marc Davis objected to the fact that Robin Williams was allowed to improvise his dialogue for the Genie. "We never had our voice actors ad-lib anything!" He thought that this type of dialogue would date the film in years to come. As for myself, I got two thumbs up for Jafar from Frank and Ollie.

The Lion King got a few "not so nice" reactions. Frank and Ollie disliked watching Mufasa's dead body after the stampede. "I think we handled the death of Bambi's mother better by not having her on screen after the gun shot." Frank commented. Marc Davis was displeased with the animation of the lions. "When we drew Bambi, you felt every bone in the deer's body, it was believable!" Our lions reminded him of the appearance of plush toys. 

I forgot one title, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Frank and Ollie despised the concept of animated characters (Toons) being looked at as annoying, and being banned to a ghetto like Toontown. That concept went against their personal philosophy about animation. Ward Kimball thought that everything just moved too fast :"The only one character who held still and I could read was Betty Boop". Who was animated beautifully by Roger Chiasson.

RIP Mom

 

This post is a little more personal than what I usually present here. I just returned from a quick trip to Germany in order to say Goodbye to my mother. Got there just in time, she passed away last Sunday morning at the age of 90. I loved my mother. She was affectionate and loving toward her children and grandchildren. She also had an uncanny sense of humor. The way she observed people and situations around her was utterly unique. We as a family would be rolling on the floor laughing based on her comments, but my mom had no idea where the humor was in what she just said. 

I drew this sketch of her and me (based on a vintage photo from around 1958) just before I moved to America. She kept it on a wall in her retirement home.

The last three years have been very difficult for my mom and for myself. I've lost both of my sisters, Regina and Christa to various cancers. (My dad died in 1997). 

So you find yourself alone in representing your family. Thank God for my awesome nieces, who also showed up at my mom's bedside. I am so proud of them, one is a top notch doctor at a Freiburg hospital, one is a teacher, and the youngest one is a social worker.

My mom was a devout catholic. A little prayer would be much appreciated.

Sullivant Original V

 SOLOMON'S ADVICE TO A YOUNG MAN ABOUT TO BE MARRIED

"The first hundred wives are the hardest."

This illustration appeared in LIFE magazine on January 19, 1922. Sullivant drew several cartoons referring to King Solomon and his many wives. This one measures 23 x 14".

With apologies regarding its outdated humor. But there is a lot to admire here, the composition, simplified anatomy among other things. 

Edgar, Madame and Hautecourt

These Milt Kahl sketches appear in my book on the Nine Old Men, but I wanted to post them here in hi/res. They are the kind of drawings you can look at and study for a while with a cup of coffee. 

As usual, you are looking at Milt's drawing perfection. Such beauty in...everything. The rhythm within the poses, the hands, the feel for the fabric of clothing and on and on. These are masterful sketches.

Sketches of Penny

These beautiful, sensitive drawings are by Ollie Johnston. They predate animation, Ollie was exploring poses and attitudes that reveal Penny's personality. Already you see a sweetness and melancholy that define her character. And look at that light Ollie touch in the line work, so different than -let's say- Frank Thomas, Milt Kahl or Marc Davis. As Glen Keane said in the documentary Frank & Ollie, his pencil seems to be kissing the paper.

I realized that over the years I have posted quite a few times about this character. Turns out that I just have a lot of original material with Penny. 

Ollie is ALL emotion. He knew he didn't draw as well as Milt or Marc, but the fact that he felt for his characters so deeply makes his work stand out. 

 

Here are a few other previous posts on Penny:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/12/penny-and-rufus.html

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2018/03/more-of-milts-penny.html

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2017/12/developing-character-of-penny.html

Lady & the Tramp Layout

I have always loved the inroduction scenes of Tramp. They start with a shot of the "other side of the tracks" as far as Lady's world is concerned. This gorgeous layout drawing depicts a kind of countryside setting. The final version shows the outskirts of a small midwestern town around 1909. 

Again...the artistic caliber at the Disney Studio is astonishing. From layout sketch to background painting to the character animation that follows. Admittedly, during the 1950s other studios were experimenting with more modern graphic styles. Disney had started to dabble in modernism with the terrific short film Toot, Whistle. Plunk and Boom from 1953. And a fresh graphic change would take shape at the studio starting with the release of Sleeping Beauty in 1959.

But you can't knock this old fashioned Norman Rockwell-like styling. At least I can't.

 

Sullivant Original IV

 

From the Jungle Gazette:

Young Wilbur Lion is home from his triumphal tour with the Mammoth Circus. "Welcome home, Wilbur."

Life Magazine, fall 1925

This beauty measures 16 1/2  x  10 1/2". Drawn almost 100 years ago. Sullivant's quadrupeds are walking on their toes here. By contrast Disney would later put the bodyweight of anthropomorphic animals on the whole length of the foot, like humans (Song of the South, Robin Hood etc.) As so often in his work Sullivant keeps the background to a minimum, so the characters read clearly and beautifully. 

Ward Kimball...20 Questions

 

Here is another one of those questionaires that someone sent to various artists from the entertainment industry, years ago. Kimball answers them in typical fashion. 

I posted Ollie Johnston's answers a while ago:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2016/02/ollie-johnston20-questions.html

"Listen Friar..."

"...you're mighty preachy and you gonna preach your neck (right into a hangman's noose.)" The Sheriff of Nottingham is not happy with Friar Tuck's confrontational comments about taxes and the poor.

This is a Milt Kahl scene, and these drawings were photocopied before a clean up artist would erase some of the construction lines and eliminate extraneous ones, on the original sheets. 

But these animation key drawings are pure Milt. The back of the head leads the motion, and when the head arrives at the high position, Milt goes crazy with with the character's dialogue. The word "mighty" is about to come up, and for the middle vowel he just about breaks the jaw for an extremely large open mouth shape (drawing 53).

No other animator at Disney would take it this far. There are people who love this kind of stuff, others resent it. (Ollie Johnston wasn't crazy about Milt's oversized mouth shapes).

To me this works when applied only occasionally to a loud, strong vowel. If you only use big mouth shapes in your dialogue animation, the character will end up grimacing, instead of talking naturally.

Great scene!

 

A Roger Rabbit Crowd Scene

This cel from the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit was recently sold at Heritage Auctions. As if animating the whole movie on ones and following the live action camera wasn't tough enough, toward the end of production we still had a large amount of crowd scenes to do. Filled with characters from different studios.

I animated one early shot in which a huge number of characters come running toward camera to inspect what's left of the villain Judge Doom.

There was Mickey, Minnie, Pinocchio, Betty Boop, the Roadrunner, Bugs Bunny and others. For me this was the first time I animated classic cartoon characters. These scenes were usually split up between two animators. One drew the front rows of characters the other added the back end of the group.

I remember that I needed to study the characters' movements in classic short films on Video Cassettes, frame by frame. They all had to run "in character", so that needed some analysis. 

Betty Boop swings her arms sideways when running, the Roadrunner has these Beep, Beep stop and go moves etc.

I also remember that it took me forever to get those scenes done, particularly the running one. Despite pressure from management I had a ball animating famous "toons" trying to get them as close to the original versions as possible. 

This scene here appears a little later when the gang has already arrived and some of them are commenting on the situation. Here I animated Pinocchio, Daffy, Baby Herman, Goofy, Minnie, Mickey, Bugs, Betty Boop, Tweety, Donald and Sylvester.

101 Dalmatians, Behind the Scenes II

Here is part 2 with production photos and artwork from 101 Dalmatians. We need a coffee table size book on the making of this brilliant film. To this day the most modern Disney animated movie of all time.

A Few Beautiful Rough Animation Drawings

 

These terrific drawings were recently offered at various auctions. Cinderella was drawn by Marc Davis, and technically this is a "touch up" drawing. Marc's rough lines still shine through underneath the clean up pencil definition. This is a clean up drawing on top of Marc's rough. I don't know who did clean up on this character, perhaps Clair Weeks. But look at that face...if you are off by half a pencil width, Cinderella would look like E.T. The immense challenge of delicate Disney realism. 

These beautiful young adult Bambi analytical studies were not drawn by Preston Blair, as you might think. This is the work of Milt Kahl.

John Lounsbery experienced a career high during his work on Lady and the Tramp. Pure genuine character rich depiction. A solid, fun drawing, full of personality. 

Ollie Johnston had always been a "dog person". He raised several of them at his Flintridge home during his lifetime. I love the perspective in this sketch of Trusty, as well as the feel for loose, old flesh on his body. High standards all around in all of these animation drawings. 

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.