looking at the trailer of the new disney/zemeckis production A CHRISTMAS CAROL I was reminded of the character scrooge in a book that came on the market in 1979 – ‘a christmas carol’ with puppet characters and scenery created by PETER FLUCK and ROGER LAW, the same artists who did the puppet versions of famous polititians and other celebrities in their tv-series SPITTING IMAGE. the famous english advertising photographer JOHN LAWRENCE JONES created the amazing photographs of the CHARLES DICKENS christmas-world. in case someone is interested – ISBN 3-88420-008-9, penguin books london.
© peter fluck / roger law / john lawrence jones
© penguin books
© disney enterprises, inc / bob zemeckis + image movers
my name is hans bacher, – I work as production designer in the animation film industry. for the last 45 years I lived and worked in exciting places around the world. after 7 years of teaching in singapore I am back at my homebase in manila, working on a few more books.
One1more2time3's Weblog 
Wow! Not a fan of “spitting images” but these are GREAT! Nothing in the trailer for the movie looks as alive as these beautifully produced stills. The characters are wonderfully caricatured and appealing (well, most of them!).
Reminds me of the work of James Christensen the 3 dimensional form. Very alive and a little creepy. Beautiful stuff!
Absolutely Stunning!
unbelieveble…UNbelievable
yes – these are incredible.
wow they were so alike lol!
from hans –
you are the first to notice…
I think if the Zemeckis film had the same degree of caricature to it as these Fluck & Law pieces then he might have something. To me the clips I’ve seen of the film are not very interesting . It appears to be another “mocrap” mess of soul-less creatures grimacing and gesticulating unconvincingly. How does one mocap an expressive face like Jim Carrey’s and actually take the expression out of his face ?!
Too bad the movie isn’t like this. They are disturbingly superb.
Here you can find drawings by a guy who used to do caricatures for Spitting Image. Chris Sharrock, great guy, superb artist:
http://sharrock.wordpress.com/
from hans –
great stuff on his blog. had never heard of him
Thanks for turning us onto these Hans!…..beautiful images, so alive and filled with a wonderful texture and richness.
I love that book, and SPITTING IMAGE in general. The resemblance to Carrey is remarkable…I’ll bet the motion capture won’t look as animated as the clay.
Roger, along with Pat Gavin were the most inspirational tutors I had when I was a student at the Central school of Art.
I remember fondly a visit to Roger and Peter’s studio in Cambridge in the early eighties, with a generous Indian lunch to follow!
Roger was always supportive and his wisdom and advice was extremely helpful
in my early career.
His artistic legacy (particularly the Sunday Times work) is there for all to enjoy.
….My signed Thatcher tea pot, I unbelievably gave to one of my sisters years ago!
The Scrooge character in the movie is identical to the Fluck illustrations. I am sure they had a hand in the film, or were paid for their work.
I have had this book since it was released, it is wonderful.
from hans –
you said it. that’s why I posted it. and I haven’t heard that they were involved in any way…
Ronald Searle wrote to me recently stating that he thought the Zemeckis version looks rather like his illustrations for the 1961 edition of A Christmas Carol:
http://ronaldsearle.blogspot.com/2008/01/more-dickens.html
The illustrations in the book were originally part of a pitch Searle made with Dave Hilberman for an animated version of the tale in the late 50s.