more illustrations HEINZ EDELMANN did during the eighties for the FAZ – FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE MAGAZIN.

© edelmann / FAZ

a few interesting compositions collected from live action feature films.

another beautiful russian soyuzmultfilm production is the 1957 released THE SNOW QUEEN, directed by LEV ATAMANOV. the traditionally animated feature film follows the hans christan andersen pretty close, what slows it down very often. but overall it has a real fairy tale athmosphere and the animation is beautiful. following are some recreated longer pans and captured scenes. there will be more…

© soyuzmultfilm

SIR KEN ADAM was born 1921 in berlin, germany. being jewish/german he relocated in 1933 to england with his family. after the second worldwar he started to work in the film industry, educated as an architect. in the mid-fifties he worked in hollywood on AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS and BEN HUR. it was there where he met his mentor WILLIAM CAMERON MENZIES. the 1957 released and directed by JACQUES TOURNEUR – NIGHT OF THE DEMON ( one of my favorite films ) was his first major hollywood credit. it was in 1962 when his long lasting work on the JAMES BOND films started, with DR. NO. he designed all BOND films until MOONRAKER in 1979. inbetween in 1963 he was the production designer for STANLEY KUBRICK’S – DR. STRANGELOVE: OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB. as well he was responsible for the look of another favorite of mine, the 1965 THE IPCRESS FILE. later GOODBYE MR. CHIPS, and – again with KUBRICK – BARRY LYNDON, for which he won his first OSCAR. these are only a few of the highlights I mentioned. ken adam is an amazing drawing artist with an unlimited imagination as you can see in the following sketches.

© ken adam

more recreated backgrounds from disney’s 101 DALMATIANS

© disney enterprises, inc

the studio SOYUSMULTFILM was founded in 1936 and became soon the soviet union’s premier animation studio. in it’s best years over 700 people were employed and in 1973 the studio released 47 films. some of their most famous directors were IVAN IVANOV-VANO, FYODOR KHITRUK and YURIY NORSHTEYN. some of their most well known productions are – 1954 THE GOLDEN ANTELOPE, 1957 THE SNOW QUEEN and 1887 THE TALE OF TSAR SALTAN.
THE NUTCRACKER, a 27 min short, was released in 1973. featuring a part of the music of PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY’S ballet and based on motives of the E.T.A. HOFFMANN fairy tale the SOYUZMULTFILM production was directed by BORIS STEPANTSEV and BORIS LARIN. art directors NICOLAI YERYKALOV and ANATOLY SAVCHENKO. following are some captured scenes from the beautiful film.

© soyusmultfilm

FEDOR ALEXIS FLINZER, 1832 – 1911, got his art-education at the kunstakademie in DRESDEN, germany. one of his teachers was the woodcut illustration master LUDWIG RICHTER. FLINZER became a drawing-teacher and wrote a book about art education, what made him quite well known in europe and even in the U.S. he was a typical artist of the BIEDERMEIER and the ROMANTICISM, with traces of JUGENDSTIL in his later work. his favorite illustration subjects were animals, especially cats, what gave him the the nickname – ‘katzen-flinzer’ ( cat-flinzer ). similar to WILHELM VON KAULBACH and GRANDVILLE he specialized in the satirical world of humanized animals. following are some illustrations from the book KOENIG NOBEL, published 1886.

© fedor flinzer / heyne verlag

just in case you are bored with all this animation stuff, I have another blog with wordpress, just photographs I took over the past decades. it’s the first link on the right – or click H E R E in case you are interested.

folon

ziraldo pinto’s ‘guernica’

loran speck

horst haitzinger

alex nino

daan jippes

heinz edelmann

peter de seve

robert bateman

© ziraldo pinto / folon / loran speck / horst haitzinger / alex nino /
© disney enterprises, inc/daan jippes
© heinz edelmann / peter de seve / robert bateman

the following recreated backgrounds, painted by PAUL JULIAN, are from the 1951 released TWEETY & SILVESTER WB short – TWEET TWEET TWEETY.

© WB

following some illustrations HEINZ EDELMANN did for the FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE FAZ-MAGAZIN, for TWEN and WDR, all published during the eighties.

© heinz edelmann
© FAZ magazin / TWEN / WDR

four more recreated disney watercolor backgrounds, the first two from the 1936 SILLY SYMPHONY – THREE LITTLE WOLVES, directed by DAVID HAND. and the 1939 color remake SILLY SYMPHONY classic – THE UGLY DUCKLING, directed by JACK CUTTING.

© disney enterprises, inc

WOLFGANG ZNAMENACEK was one of germany’s most important theatre stage designer in the last century. born in 1913 his carriere started in 1932 at the theatre in cologne. he worked until his tragic death in 1953 at the most prestigious theatres throughout germany and as a film-set designer as well.

the pictures are from the book KULISSEN, published by sternoffizin verlag die brigg, augsburg
© wolfgang znamenacek

some more production designs for the AMBLIMATION production BALTO, released in 1995. all designs are 21 x 11.5 cm, painted with AD/pantone-markers and gouache between 1992 and 1993 in the london studio.

© amblin/universal

PAUL JULIAN painted these backgrounds for the 1950 released and by FRIZ FRELENG directed WB-cartoon CANARY ROW.

© WB

these screencaps are from a chinese animation masterpiece - MUDI, or – ‘the boy with the bamboo flute’. animated in 1963 by TE WEI and QIAN JAJUN, produced by studio shanghai. when I was teaching in china two years ago I had a chance to meet several of the animators of studio shanghai’s past. most of them are now teaching animation to the new generation of artists. the animation technique of the above film is very interesting. when I was visiting studio shanghai I saw a few originals. some of the animation was done in the traditional chinese watercolor technique on special watercolor paper. the backgrounds were painted with cel paint and ink on cels and then photographed on top of the animation. the other way around. beautiful watercolors!

© studio shanghai

PAUL FLORA, 1922 – 2009, was born in tyrol in austria and studied in munich, germany, at the academy of fine arts under the famous norwegian illustrator and painter OLAF GULBRANSSON, who worked for the political magazine SIMPLICISSIMUS. FLORA works first as a caricature artist, later he illustrates books with his very own technique, a very well composed ‘criss-cross’ nib/ink-drawing technique, that makes him famous. following are some illustrations from his 1966 published book ( diogenes publ.) KOENIGSDRAMEN.

© paul flora / diogenes verlag