comparison 9

© disney enterprises, inc

Advertisement

alfred j.kwak 1990

© van veen, siepermann, bacher

comparison 8

rough small sketches in black/white like the following were done to define the value range, the light and shadow, as well as the staging of the animation in the scene. this is from the disney animated feature BAMBI in 1940. later that step was part of the WORKBOOK, the translation of the storyboard into ‘film-language’, where every single scene is prepared in staging, size and camera movements, as well as rough indication of light/shadow and a floorplan, to go from there into layout and later into the background department. during BAMBI that process was more simplified, because every major sequence had an own art director, who was the one defining these staging sketches, as well as the color script for that sequence. they supervised every single step during production, in a way they were ‘directing’ the visuals behind the animation. you can see little differences in handling the staging in this film. for example the climax of the film, the shooting of bambi and the fire was art-directed by john hubley, a master in cinematography. you get an idea when you look at his personal work later in new york.

here you can compare the initial rough planning of that scene and the final result…

look at the little blue thumbnail on top, it is the rough for the next shot, the reverse camera angle…

© disney enterprises, inc

wilhelm m.busch 41

WILHELM M.BUSCH illustrated this novel written by heinrich seidel – LEBERECHT HUEHNCHEN – in 1962. it’s the life story of leberecht huehnchen in the early part of the last century in berlin, germany. to me it looks like the illustrations were done with a ballpoint pen, some in pen and ink. publishing house is bertelsmann verlag.

© wilhelm m.busch / bertelsmann verlag

balto’s dream

for the designs below I got my inspiration from INUIT ART, the art of the alaskan natives. at one point during the preproduction of BALTO there were ideas of balto having a dream. this chance to add a different style and a bit of art into the film was very exciting – but, it was given up soon. maybe I am the only one who would like to see something else than action and operetta…

© universal / amblin

layout

the layout in traditional animation is the ‘blueprint’ of a scene, the line and tonal version of a background including camera instructions and field sizes, as well as rough sketched key poses of the animation. in the past the dark and light values were drawn with blue or black soft pencils, in the forties ( BAMBI ) the layout was ‘painted’ with graphite dust and gasoline, highlights erased with eraser-pens. all that was done on vellum what made it easier to trace the lines onto background cardboard. a lot of those layouts from the old days are masterpieces, they look like painted in graphite. in the archives they were not treated as well as most backgrounds, folded several times, a lot of them torn because of the vellum thin quality. following I want to show you a few layouts from some of the older disney animated shorts and feature films. they are treasures of a lost art…

1937 clock cleaners

1961 101 dalmatians

1939 the practical pig

1942 bambi

1939 donald’s lucky day

1940 fantasia

1948 melody time – once upon a wintertime

1938 mickey’s trailer

1940 pinocchio

1938 the moth and the flame

1959 sleeping beauty

1947 fun and fancy free – bongo

1940 fantasia

1967 the jungle book

1955 lady and the tramp

2002 lilo and stitch

1999 tarzan

© disney enterprises, inc

lost and found 4

style 12

EYVIND EARLE designed these beautifully styled backgrounds for the 1957 released disney animated short THE TRUTH ABOUT MOTHER GOOSE. the story was based on the MOTHER GOOSE nursery rhymes, directed by BILL JUSTICE and WOOLIE REITHERMAN.

© disney enterprises, inc

lost and found 3

recreated backgrounds

I was asked how the re-creation of long lost backgrounds from DVD material works, below are some of the steps. in this case, a pan from disney’s FANTASIA, NUTCRACKER SUITE, an additional problem besides removing the animated milkweed ballerinas was the multiplane pan, the foreground elements moved in different speeds, what created very complicated overlappings. in the final version I had to add some airbrushed light effects in the sky background, but based on the original source. this is one of the more time consuming pieces, the endresult was worth it though.

© disney enterprises, inc

johnny appleseed

disney produced a 19 min short animated segment THE LEGEND OF JOHNNY APPLESEED in 1948 for MELODY TIME. designed by MARY BLAIR and directed by WILFRED JACKSON, the main animators were MILT KAHL, OLLIE JOHNSTON, ERIC LARSON and DON LUSK, backgrounds by CLAUDE COATS and BRICE MACK, layouts DON DA GRADI, THOR PUTMAN and MCLAREN STEWARD. below are some screen captured backgrounds and a few layouts.

© disney enterprises, inc

lost and found 2

disney in space 4

© disney enterprises, inc

lost and found 1