Madame Medusa

When Milt Kahl was asked in an interview if he had a favorite character he animated, his response was: "Oh I enjoyed a few, I just loved doing Madame Mim,

Shere Khan was a lot of fun, and so were the butler and old lawyer in 'Aristocats'.

But I guess I enjoyed Medusa more than any one of them."

And it shows. His last animation assignment at Disney -just like Marc Davis's- was a tour de force of character acting. It has a "I'm going to give it all" feel to it.

Marc told me that Milt promised him, Medusa will "wipe his Cruella off the screen".

Then he added with a chuckle: "Of course that didn't happen".

So there was definitely a friendly competition going on between these two great animators and their characters. Milt sort of designed Medusa's features opposite from Cruella's. 

Cruella  has a small nose, Medusa's is longer. Cruella's hair parts in the middle, Medusa's off to one side. Cruella has a pointy jaw, Medusa is almost chin less etc.

I have to admit, when I first saw Medusa in "The Rescuers" in a London theater,

I couldn't believe my eyes. So much inventiveness in her drawing and motion.

How on earth can you show an animated character removing her make up?

Wasn't that something only a live actress could pull off...but in animation? Incredible!

I have spent way too much time studying this character, on the other hand I think I got a lot out of it. Dialogue, graphic but dimensional drawing and just being gutsy in general.

These first few felt pen drawings are design studies, done before Milt started animation. They don't differ that much from the final look of Medusa.

These thumbnail sketches show Milt's brain at work, trying to figure out the best way for Medusa to put on her coat. Wonderful stuff!

A lot of these pencil roughs were drawings that Milt threw away, because he changed his mind about the drawing or the acting pattern. 

But again, they show his thought process beautifully.

What a fantastic pose!!  Unfortunately Medusa moves right through it, so you barely register it. It would have been nice to see it for four or six frames longer, before she rises up with the suitcase.

You just feel the physical pressure when Medusa tries to close the suitcase.

Lipstick half wiped off. What a great graphic statement!

Here are a few very loose roughs for the scene where Medusa uses a chair as a prop when approaching her dressing table. These are so full of character, and done without the help of live action reference. Takes your breath away!

Here are the final key drawings for that scene.

Medusa might not benefit from the kind of rich story material that Cruella had,

but she sure steels every scene she is in. A true animated masterpiece!

Cruella de Vil

It's kind of fitting to have a post with Cruella de Vil on Halloween.

She is one of the best villains in film history, and she is Marc Davis's final animation assignment at Disney. I asked Marc way back: "How could you leave animation after having done such a strong statement with Cruella?"

He just said:"It was time to move on, and Disneyland gave me many new challenges."

I still wonder though how Marc might have influenced films like "Sword in the Stone" or "Jungle Book" if he had stayed in the animation department.

I put together some great pre production art, that shows the development of Cruella. Milt Kahl once told me that he thought Marc would do fantastic drawings right from the start, when designing a new character. He himself would have to struggle and draw a lot of bad stuff before finding what he wanted.

These early drawings still show an influence by the "101 Dalmatians" book illustrations. Those were done by Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone.

Original book illustration

Eventually Marc found his own distinctive style for continued development.

He experimented with different hair styles and fur coat designs.

This is a key drawing from an experimental scene.

Character actress Mary Wicks provided live action reference for Cruella.

These are keys from a production scene, where Cruella throws a bottle with booze into a fireplace in an effort to scare Jasper and Horace. As it turns out she scares herself quite a bit, too.

Look at how graphic and gutsy Marc draws her in this scene. Some of those faces are completely crazy, insane and wonderful!

He once told me: "Maybe I went a bit too far with Cruella's caricature, she kind of stands out from the rest of the cast." I immediately responded: "No way, perhaps

the other animators should have shown more "Avant Garde" in their design."

The color model cel Marc is holding in the photo.

Cruella de Vil is a creation for the ages. Color stylist Walt Peregoy said: "There 

will never be a character like Cruella!"

I say, let's admire and look at her as a challenge to match. All we need is top story material like Bill Peet's, a way out character design with animation that is rooted in realistic observation. 

Oh yes, and -to quote Milt- the determination to have super high standards.

A Couple more Character Panels

I won't have any new posts for one week. I will be on the Disney Wonder cruise ship, where I'll give a few talks on Disney animation.

In the meantime  here are a couple more character panels.

Among personal favorites would be the pre production drawing of Wart. He looks more caricatured here than he does in the movie. I really like this version of him, and I had the chance to ask Milt Kahl about this early design. He said, Walt made me change it, he thought it wasn't appealing enough.

Hmmmm.... personally I prefer this drawing of Wart, it just has more character and personality in my opinion.

I also like the Marc Davis drawing of Aurora next to him. The angle of her head would be very difficult to pull off, but she looks beautiful here.

Across the page is a funny drawing of Pongo and Roger. They are reacting to the news of all those newborn puppies, and their expressions make them both look alike. 

Pecos Bill on Widowmaker is by Ward Kimball, who must have had a ball doing this character. 

I  don't know who drew the centaur for "Fantasia",  but I sure like the boldness in this pose.

I'll be back in a week with development art for Cruella de Vil and Madame Medusa.

Woolie Reitherman

I only knew Woolie Reitherman a little bit during the early eighties, when he was still at Disney. I remember him working with Mel Shaw on ideas for a couple of animated features. One was called "The little Broomstick", based on a book by Mary Stewart.  I thought the story was utterly charming, and Mel's pastel sketches for the film were incredible.

The other project was "Musicana", a sort of follow up to "Fantasia". It used some classical music for its story segments, but there was also World music from all over the globe. I had the chance to see a slide presentation of Mel's artwork which was synchronized to music. It was sensational. Unfortunately both projects were dropped after Disney changed management.

The first time I met Woolie I thought I was looking at John Wayne.

He told me that he saw my application portfolio and that he liked the work in it.

When I asked him to sign my copy of  "The Illusion of Life" he wrote:

To Andreas - Carry on! Take  animation a step farther - Woolie

Those are mighty big words, I thought. But that should be the goal, shouldn't it?

Woolie said he was born in Munich, and I thought it was cool to have that German background in common. He also invited me to come to his house for dinner sometime, whenever I wanted.

Unfortunately I never had the nerve or courage to ask him....darn it !!

Woolie died in a car accident on May 22, 1985.

His career at Disney is legendary. His first feature assignment was he Magic Mirror for "Snow White". He did super dramatic animation like Monstro in "Pinocchio", and the dinosaur battle in "Fantasia". But he could equally well handle funny and sweet characters like Timothy Mouse in "Dumbo".  After animating a whole bunch of great Goofy shorts Woolie started to specialize in exciting action sequences.

During an Academy tribute to his work in the early eighties, his chase with Ichabod and the Headless Horseman was screened. Afterwards he turned to the audience and said

"You know, this stuff is holding up pretty good after all these years".

And it still does, might I add!

I want you to take a look at one of his earlier efforts, Gus Goose in "Donald's Cousin Gus" from 1939. I just love this character.

The animation has great comedy, awesome timing and fantastic WEIGHT.

It is fun to study, whether you are doing 2D or CG animation. Weight is always a big issue, as you know.

Woolie also did the dog fight in "Lady & Tramp" and the dragon fight in "Sleeping Beauty".

After that he turned to directing. He co directed "101 Dalmatians" and was the single director on all animated features up until "The Rescuers".

So how can I not love Woolie Reitherman....the guy directed "Jungle Book"!!!