MUSHKA at HollyShorts

 

 

Sorry for the late notice. For those who live in Los Angeles, MUSHKA will screen tomorrow, Monday as part of the HollyShorts Film Festival. At noon. Click here for tickets:

https://hollyshorts2023.eventive.org/schedule/64adede12bd7ad00402fd24c

 

Josef Pallenberg

Josef Pallenberg was a German animal sculptor. I only discovered his beautiful work recently while browsing the internet. Great poses, strong knowledge of anatomy as well as motion. 

Pallenberg kept a "tame" lioness and a wolf at his home. He enjoyed taking them on a walk occasionally as he watched people freaking out.

I tried to get this book, pictured above, but it is out of print. Hopefully it will pop up on Ebay one of these days.

Here is the link to his Wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Pallenberg

More of Garbutt's Amazing Sketches

Bernard Garbutt was a master when it comes to quick sketch life drawings. There is so much life in each sketchbook page. Top notch observation. Disney was lucky to have him teach animal drawing at the studio during the Golden Age of Animation.

MUSHKA at San Diego Comic-Con

 

We look forward to presenting MUSHKA this Saturday at the San Diego Comic-Con. After the screening there will be a panel discussion. 

To me this is a big honor, because of my own history with the Con. I started visiting in the early 1980s. It was always fun to meet comic strip artists, run into animation peers and occasionally purchase original artwork. (Those beautiful Milt Kahl wolves designs for The Jungle Book...San Diego Comic-Con, https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/08/jungle-wolves.html).

I hope to see you on Saturday!

 

MUSHKA Industry Screening

 

Last Tuesday we invited the animation industry to attend a special screening of MUSHKA. 

The old Fine Arts Theatre on Wilshire Boulevard turned out to be the perfect venue because of its superior sound and picture quality. 

We showed the film in 4K with full blown surround sound. 

With Dave Bossert, my friend and colleague. We both started at Disney on the Black Cauldron.

Checking sound and picture quality just before the actual screening.

We had a full house, about 400 people. What an amazing feeling to share the film with industry colleagues.

Two standing ovations...I was literally flabbergasted. What a lovely reaction.

The guest of honor was of course Richard Sherman who loved connecting with old friends that night.

The musical dream team behind Mushka..Richard with composer Fabrizio Mancinelli.

Richard and Bruce Reitherman. These two go back to the original Jungle Book!

Richard with two amazing friends of mine: Leslie and Mike Iwerks.

The lovely and super talented Holly Sedillos, who sang Mushka's lullaby for the film. The song was written by Richard.

Two old friends who both worked on the Jungle Book. That's story man Floyd Norman.

One of the best nights of my life.

Disney Villains

Variety recently rated Disney animated Villains. These kind of lists always vary according to who does the rating. But it does feel mighty nice to find Gaston, Jafar and Scar in this top 10. 

But....no Stromboli, Chernabog or Shere Khan?

Here are a couple of very rough animation drawings of Scar. My assistant John Ramirez posted them a while ago. I wonder what other kinds of roughs John keeps in his garage....  ;)

 The link to the Variety article:

https://variety.com/lists/best-disney-movie-villains-ranked/gaston/

Mushka - Official Animated Short Film Trailer

Here is an easy access to my film trailer MUSHKA. 

I am very happy to say that we recently won a Kids Choice Award at Palm Springs international short film festival. Reviews for the movie are starting to show up. This one tells me that MUSHKA has the potential to touch people in all the right ways:

https://btrproductions.medium.com/tiger-kin-mushka-d2c670f9fa91

Clemens Pasch

I had never heard of this artist until I watched a Youtube video from the German TV show "Bares fuer Rares" (Cash for Rare Things). The US equivalent is "Antiques Roadshow".

Someone brought a Pasch sculpture into the TV studio for evaluation. The style is somewhat typical for the modernism of the 1950s-1960s. A realistic but simplified design with an almost two dimensional graphic approach. Pasch's work also includes humor in the way his human and animal sculpts are proportioned and staged.

I found this delightful work by him called Adam & Eve (The Apple) online.

Pasch lived from 1910 to 1985.

Lilo Pre-Animation Sheets

 

As I continue to organize my archive, I keep finding things that actually should be back with Disney. Like these sheets I drew before I started animation with Lilo. At that time I tried to analyze Chris Sanders' drawing style and make it work for animation. Of course the character evolved over time visually as I began animating production scenes. But this is how I started. 

I am kind of proud of my work on that film. And I will return these sheets to Disney.

Happy Birthday, Richard M. Sherman!

 

Last night I had the pleasure to join a group of friends, singers and the family of Richard Sherman to celebrate his 95th birthday. The venue was a small cabaret type theatre, but the mood in the room was filled with great affection and love for this man. Who does not know a Sherman Brothers song?

Everybody visiting a Disney Theme Park is familiar with what has become the most played song of all time "It's a Small World". Richard is amused by the fact that some people love this tune, and others are annoyed by it because they can't get it out of their head. It is an ear worm for sure. Once in a while, at parties or other gatherings,  Richard plays "It's a Small World" in a slow tempo. It is then when you realize how meaningful the lyrics actually are. This is an anthem for peace.

So many great songs over the years. We even got to listen to some that were outtakes, as well as songs written for never performed stage musicals. 

I can't say enough about Richard's talent, his enthusiasm and curiosity (for life), his generosity and kindness. The fact that we have a Sherman song in MUSHKA is because Richard offered to write one...not because I asked him to. That just didn't cross my mind way back, after all...this is Richard Sherman. He was so collaborative with composer Fabrizio Mancinelli and me, always encouraging about storytelling and music. I remember telling him about the ending of the film, mentioning that there is an A and a B version. He immediately shouted: "It's version B, you've got to do version B!" Version B was the more emotional ending, and of course that became the final version.

It was so much fun growing up with Sherman Brothers songs, and I still pinch myself today as I realize that I got to work with the great Richard M. Sherman.

That's of course his wife Elizabeth with him in the photo. And who offered them this specific kind of beverage?? Elizabeth is equally wonderful, she can tell stories in a way that will have you rolling on the floor, she is that funny. I love the way they are holding hands. The two of them got married the year I was born.

By the way, in the far back right, you see me talking to Maestro Mancinelli.

To finish off this post, here are those lyrics for "It's a Small World":

It's a world of laughter
A world of tears
It's a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There's so much that we share
That it's time we're aware
It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small, small world

There is just one moon
And one golden sun
And a smile means
Friendship to ev'ryone
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small, small world

Bernard Garbutt Cows

Cows are a lot of fun to draw. It is fascinating to watch their "boney" anatomical structure in motion. The hip bones alone are so unique and great to analyze. These wonderful sketches are are by Bernard Garbutt, who worked at Disney as a an animal drawing instructor for a few years during the Golden Age of Animation. I love these pages from his sketchbook because of the loose quality combined with astute observation.

Makes me want to visit a farm and do my own cow life drawings.

 

Here's a link to a previous post on Garbutt's art:

https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/02/bernard-garbutt.html