More Shere Khan...

Even Milt Kahl erases his lines once in a while, as is evident in this small staging sketch. The upper fielding dimensions are 5 x 3". Shere Khan is leaving Kaa behind, he is done interrogating the snake. It's time to go searching for the man cub.
I love this drawing. Shere Khan seems to be walking out of the screen. It is only a doodle, but the tiger's body is beautifully carved out like a sculpture. Dimension, clear silhouette and brilliant anatomy. It's all there. The smaller sketch below indicates a  position a few frames later, as both rear feet touch the ground. Milt reverses the spine to show the animal's rear in a low position.
A master mind at work.

Who should Voice Shere Khan?

Director Woolie Reitherman was looking for actors who might voice the villain in Disney's Jungle Book. This document comes from Woolie's archive, and it gives us an idea about how many candidates were thought of before George Sanders finally was chosen for the part. I don't know how many were actually asked to come to the studio for a test, but I do know that animator Milt Kahl was elated and thought that Sanders was just perfect.

Here are the first five choices listed on Woolie's sheet.

Don Adams was an actor and comedian, who is remembered for his role as Agent  86 in the TV show Maxwell Smart.

Neville Brand was a TV and film actor, who appeared on shows like Bonanza and The Untouchables.

John Carradine was famous for his roles in horror films and westerns.

William Conrad narrated the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show, and became famous as TV detective Cannon.

Hans Conried was no newcomer to Disney, earlier he had voiced Captain Hook in the film Peter Pan.

I am sure you know a few other actors from the list. It's interesting how Woolie categorizes their talents right after the names.

Here is one of my earlier posts on Shere Khan:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2014/03/kens-and-milts-shere-khan.html

Lounsbery Wolves

Disney all-round artist Ken Anderson drew concept designs for all characters in the film Robin Hood.
I have posted quite a few of them in the past. Usually Milt Kahl would then take over and polish Ken's original ideas for final animation.
Here a few sheets featuring the Sheriff of Nottingham's henchmen as wolves done by animator John Lounsbery. Some of the sketches are reminiscent of the wolf from Sword in the Stone, a character Louns animated about a decade earlier. He works pretty rough here as he focuses on poses and expressions that reveal the personality of these sub-villains.
In the end Milt's approach of the wolves made it to the screen. I will post his designs next.
Louns's drawings might not have the graphic sophistication you find in Milt's work, but there is an energy as well as charm in these sketches that is unique to his character research.

A couple of beautiful rough animation outtake drawings, showing the Sheriff of Nottingham, who is portrayed as an overweight wolf.

Thanks to Rick Farmiloe for providing these images.


Milt Kahl's work on this character can be seen in this earlier post:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-sheriff-of-nottingham.html

It's Tough to Be a Bird

Ward Kimball accepted the Academy Award for best short film in 1970 as the director on behalf of Walt Disney Productions.
The main character is a wise-cracking bird voiced by Richard Bakalyan with a New York accent.
Here is what IMDb has to say about the film:

A street smart red bird with a heavy New York accent serves as the narrator, who tries to explains why it's tough to be a bird. This edutaining animated short with documentary segments explains the common evolutionary origin of birds, how various cultures have perceived the birds throughout history, how some species have become extinct or endangered due to human activity, how people like birdwatchers or townsfolk of Hinckley, Ohio, where the annual Buzzard Day is celebrated, enjoy the birds in a friendly manner and what a monty pythonesque cutout animation collage with birds looks like.

Story artists were Kimball and Ted Berman, animation by Eric Larson and Art Stevens.
The bird is fully animated while some of the visual gags are presented in limited animation, and very effectively so.
It's a great film, vintage Kimball, full of inventive and surprising graphics and situations.

Kimball posing with Richard Bakalyan, who voiced the red bird.

A sheet with a bit of story continuity.

Lead character and voice actor publicity photos.

Kimball publicity photo.

See Ward Kimball's original model sheet for the bird here:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-last-time-i-saw-kimball.html

Here is the youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al_Zxx6HUG0

Snoops and Penny

This scene from The Rescuers appears toward the end of the film. Snoops pulls Penny up a rocky terrain toward an opening which is the passage way into a dangerous cave below. Snoops has no patience, he is rough on the girl, yanking her by the arm. You can see by Penny's body attitude (leaning back) that she wants nothing to do with Snoops or the idea to be lowered into the cave to search for a big diamond.

Milt Kahl animated this section of the film. I love the clear compositions he gets involving the two characters. Snoop's roly-poly motion and design as Medusa's partner in crime is sheer genius.

Here are just a few key drawings from the scene.

FOUR different timing charts for various parts of the characters. That's a lot, even for a Kahl scene.

More on the character of Snoops in this earlier post:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2014/07/mr-snoops.html

The Amazing Story of Walt Disney

This (Part 1) article was published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1953. It gives you an idea how far Disney had come until then, and how he was perceived by the media at that time.
When I look at photos of Walt's workshop in the photos below, a story comes to mind:

One day, way back in 1988 or perhaps '89 when I was working on King Triton for The Little Mermaid, my office phone rang. It was an outside local call from a lady who I didn't know. She spoke in English with a German accent, and phoned just to congratulate me on my early career at Disney.
Hmmm...strange I thought, but then things became interesting. She had read about me in a German newspaper, and it turned out that her mother knew my mother, they happened to be neighbors in my small home town. When I asked her wether she was in California on vacation she replied that she actually lives here, and that she works for Mrs Disney. "Walt Disney's daughter?" I asked. "No, Mrs Walt Disney." She informed me that she does the cooking as well as supervising the gardening for the house in Holmby Hills (near Beverly Hills). She also lived there in the maid's quarter.
To make a long story short, I was invited to come to the house for a home cooked German dinner.
Twist my arm....
When I arrived a few days later , I not only had a German meal, I got a tour of the house. Mrs Disney was away to spend the weekend in her Palm Springs home. So it might not have been the proper thing to do, but...I got to see the house.
I remember vividly walking into the workshop, pictured here. There was an old phone hanging on one of the walls with a label that said Kansas City.

A Little Man with an Egg Head

That's what Ward Kimball once called his early creation of Jiminy Cricket from the film Pinocchio.

He also said that the only reason we know he is a cricket is because we call him that. No resemblance to the actual insect whatsoever. 

What gets me, when I look at the clean up drawing above, is the lack of any straight lines. It's all curves. As you might know, straight lines add strength while curved lines give you rhythm. Usually you see a balance of both in a solid drawing, but in this case curves alone define this dimensional pose of Jiminy. 

Kimball's model sheet below blows me away. Look at the insane range of expressions he got out of this egg shape. Incredible, and so appealing!

I believe these earlier design sketches are Kimball's as well. Here he looks a little bit more like an insect.  There were plenty of different versions for this character before Walt Disney approved the final appearance.

A photostat of an actor as he performs a scene for the animators. A perfect example for how to use live action. Pick out acting patterns you like, and incorporate them into your animation.

This model sheet from 1955 shows a re-designed Jiminy Cricket, the way he appeared as a host for  Disney TV shows and educational films. This is a more graphic (two dimensional) design with plenty of straight against curved lines, but somehow he lost some charm during this transformation.

A beautiful cel set up from the movie. The "Rembrandt" of Disney animated features!

GO SEE the Pinocchio Exhibit at the Walt Disney Family Museum! It is a once in a lifetime chance to study and admire hundreds of original pieces of art from the film:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2016/05/pinocchio-at-walt-disney-family-museum.html


Here is more on Jiminy from an earlier post:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2015/05/jiminy-cricket.html


And one more:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2015/05/jiminy-cricket-ii.html

Wilhelm M. Busch, The Little Hero 1977

More beautiful book illustrations by Busch for Dostojewskij's novel, titled The Little Hero.
In the past I have posted samples of his work that show a linear, graphic quality. The following images are much more rendered and define a certain mood through intriguing light and shadows.
As always I love the compositions, the depth and the life in his drawings.