Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- We’ve currently been working hard to raise a little money to finance completion of a sampler of our proposed animated feature, POE. This is the biography of Edgar Allan Poe, and it’s a project that I’ve been working closely with for the past five or more years. A lot of research, writing, drawing, planning, boarding and – the hardest and most fun part – thinking about the shape of the film has been ongoing. It’s been a lot of work, and we haven’t really started yet. This has made me think often enough about the Big Picture – the shape of things to come.

When I was a kid, I used to wait with baited breath for any Disney animated feature. Actually, I should say ANY animated feature. The theatrical release of The Snow Queen or Mr. Magoo’s Thousand & One Arabian Nights kept my juices flowing almost as much as did Lady and the Tramp or One Hundred and One Dalmatians. All of those films came off as “Special” and they stayed within my head. I tried to imitate them as a child filmmaker with my 8mm animated films, always producing 15-30 secs of my own version of these films before ultimately quitting on most of them.

Gay Purr-ee

Then, in the ’70s, things really started to change. Animated features started to come at us fast and furious. Fritz the Cat, Secret of Nimh, Heavy Traffic, Rockadoodle, American Rabbit, The Adventures of Mark Twain, and too many others to mention. I stopped imitating the work; then I stopped going to the films. I still haven’t seen Treasure Planet. But I did see The Iron Giant, Balto and The Triplettes of Belleville, all of which might not have been made except for the glut of animation as the studios tried to cash in.

Eventually, we moved to the current era with all those cgi movies. I have to admit that I’m not sure I see anything “Special” about The Tale of Despereaux or Despicable Me. Monster House was a mess, and the same for The Lorax, Arthur’s Christmas, Cars 2, or even Up and Finding Nemo, Bolt or Chicken Little, nevermind Dinosaurs. None of these are memorably important to me. Maybe The Brave will be. At the moment, who knows. It all rolls past so quickly and with very little value.

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I loved Spirited Away. Persepolis came and went as black and white as it actually was. I was completely rapt with Ponyo, and the animation in Arietty was something I wanted to see again. But the film was gone before I really had the chance. Sure I can get the DVD, but it’s not the same. I want the theatrical experience. The Illusionist, a favored film, was received with such a lack of enthusiasm, despite an Oscar nomination, that I was sharply disappointed.

I could keep going, but I think you may have gotten the point. There are just a lot of films, and nothing feels special anymore. They come, go, and are forgotten.

Where the Wind Blows

So now I’m about to do POE. What a lot of work, and I have to wonder how quickly it’ll be off the shelves. I haven’t even started making the movie and already I’m mourning its disappearance from theaters. Bill Plympton works his butt off to make his features, and he doesn’t even get a proper distribution. How does that feel, I wonder. I’m not sure how I’d take it.

But then, I suppose this is the lament for all movies, in the big picture. Only when a film rises above others will it be cherished. I may be in the minority, but I do cherish The Illusionist. I do remember the animation, and the filmmaking choices; the complex and delicate story. Circumstances aren’t right for it, but it does have its supporters. I can only hope for the same for a film I make and hope it sits at a theater for more than a weekend. However, I do have to wonder about the job I do and the disposability of it.

I suppose in some ways I’m reminded of theater. Those people put all their energy into a show that takes very hard work, indeed. Then they put on their show, and it’s gone. Only the few hundred in the live theater have seen it and will remember it. If it’s great, it will become legend; if it’s horrible it will become a different kind of legend. The original Follies or Carrie. If it’s mediocre, it doesn’t even become memorable.

Keith Ward is an illustrator whose work was highly admired by Rowland B. Wilson who introduced it to Bill Peckmann. Bill introduced it to me, and I’m posting this sampler here. We’d originally posted xerox copies of some of these, but the following material comes directly from the printed page. Here’s Bill to take over the post:

Here’s a treat for all fans of illustrator Keith Ward. It’s with of the kind generosity of knowledgeable collector Denis Wheary that we can scan some of the pages of Ward’s children’s books that were done during the period of 1930 to 1952.

Born in 1906, Keith Ward is one of the stellar illustrators of the 20th century. A true renaissance man, he touched all the bases of art, whether fine or commercial. In the field of illustration, he deftly rounded the bags with his book, editorial magazine and advertising art. His 1945 book illustrations were said to be the inspirations of a Disney feature. (More of that in the second post.) Borden’s “Elsie the Cow” was Keith’s unsigned classic for us kids growing up in the ’40′s and ’50′s.

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The following pages of “Jolly Animals” is from 1930,
done when Ward was only 24 years old, amazing!
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Even KW’s inside end covers of “Jolly Animals” are worth studying!

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“Muggins Mouse” from 1932. We posted this book already, but
those were color photo copies and harsh Xerox copies of the B&W pages.
So here are a few cherry picked B & W pages to show
what the softness of the original book looked like.

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“Muggins Mouse” inside end cover.

Here are two pocket sized hardcover books also from 1932.
Here are a few beautiful chapter headings and pages from these two tiny marvels.

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- An interesting aspect of Disney’s Alice In Wonderland, deserves some attention, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone write about it.

Once Alice is in Wonderland, she immediately comes upon the woods, and from there she steps in and out of the woods to meet up with new crazies and her peculiar adventures. The effects department was used to signal this move in and out of the dark world of wonderland. She constantly steps in and out of shadows.

This, as anyone who did animation in the pre-computer age, knows that it was a complication to add shadows. Not only the shadows under the characters but the shadows over and around the characters. It meant filming the scenes twice, just for the shadows. Since the camera, during the filming of Alice, was not computerized this double shooting had to be done by hand VERY CAREFULLY. Every frame had to exactly match.

Hence, this was an important part of the design. The directors and Disney took these shadows seriously; after all they cost twice as much – just to photograph. Never mind animating them, coloring them or planning them.

I’ve put together a number of frame grabs which illustrate the move into or out of shadows, and I’d like to share them.

Here, Alice steps out of a shadow for the first time, and meets up with
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. They’re partially covered, themselves, by shadow.
This variant of the shadow is a hard line of darkness that moves over her.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

Soon, Alice moves toward the Duchess’ house. We cut from her
standing dark in shadow, to her walking in a brighter light.

As she moves toward the Caterpillar, Alice is covered with shrubbery and shadow.
She is next seen struggling through the foliage to talk to the Caterpillar, in full light.

This variant of the shadow is a total shift in color as her entire body moves into darkness.
It was done by dissolving one Alice into another – meaning the cels were painted twice.

In the woods, Alice walks into and out of and into shadows.

She slowly moves toward the Cheshire Cat who directs her to the tea party.
As she does she moves from shadow and cuts into light as she appears at the gate.

This is a particularly nice effect wherein the entire area gets spotlighted -
led by the character. The area outside of the spot darkens slowly and beautifully.

Once leaving the tea party, she wanders around the Tulgey Wood trying to find any direction. Shadows aplenty as she moves endlessly through the woods.

Alice moves into and out of shadow via dissolves.

Alice passes by many crazy characters, going in and out of darkness.

Just prior to meeting up with the Cheshire Cat, and has an extended conversation
which just about ends her stay in the woods.

Finally, Alice steps into the Cheshire Cat’s tree and
into the light of the maze of cards to meet the Red Queen.

Check out our POE Project on Kickstarter. We’re almost 100 strong! Thanks to everyone for their support! Kickstarter

Today’s Post:

- Mickey goes down. This is a very rough scene (sc. 49) animated by Preston Blair for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Ugo D’Orsi did animated water effects.
It all comes from rough rough copies of copies.

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______________________

The following QT includes all the drawings posted above.

The registration is a bit loose. Sorry but, these are obviously
copies of copies and there’s plenty of shrinkage and distortion.

Click on the right side of the lower bar to watch it one frame at a time.

We’re still kicking, so to speak, in a Kickstarter sort of way. So, why am I passionate about POE? I read his stories and poems in high school and they made an indelible mark on my life as an artist. For me, the name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and bloody corpses walled within false chimneys. Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured my imagination, so too has Poe himself. Was he some morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles? Or is this the Poe of legend? I think that this fascination with Edgar Allan Poe, the legend and the man behind the legend, extends far beyond my own personal and artistic interest. Poe’s life and stories would make a fantastic and fascinating animated feature and I think there is a large audience out there waiting for it. Please take the time to check out the Kickstarter page, and if you can contribute anything, thank you. If not, tell your friends. It’s the friends and the friends of friends who will help us move forward.

We’re still kicking, so to speak, in a Kickstarter sort of way. So, why am I passionate about POE? I read his stories and poems in high school and they made an indelible mark on my life as an artist. For me, the name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and bloody corpses walled within false chimneys. Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured my imagination, so too has Poe himself. Was he some morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles? Or is this the Poe of legend? I think that this fascination with Edgar Allan Poe, the legend and the man behind the legend, extends far beyond my own personal and artistic interest. Poe’s life and stories would make a fantastic and fascinating animated feature and I think there is a large audience out there waiting for it. Please take the time to check out the Kickstarter page, and if you can contribute anything, thank you. If not, tell your friends. It’s the friends and the friends of friends who will help us move forward.

I can’t resist re-posting this one from 2007. It was the same time of year; it just hasn’t snowed at all this year.

- This Sunday’s photo features the only pictures I have of my very first studio. If you remember, from past writngs, originally I set up in an apartment leased by Richard Williams. I took care of his apartment while he was out of town (most of the time), and we did Woman of the Year out of that space. (You can see photos of that space here.) Once it became clear that I needed my own space, I found one in a building at One West 30th Street.

It was an historic building and a very interesting site. Every floor was decorated differently, and except for the second floor it was completely housing. The second floor had about half dozen office spaces. Two of them were Persian rug dealers with whom we spent time drinking a lot of Turkish coffee. (This area of NY features quite a few rug sellers.)

My office looked like something out of Sam Spade. All these steel and glass partitions broke the space up into two parts. In the photo above, I’m standing in the larger space (maybe 20 foot squared) which leads into the back area, my space. This was possibly 10×20. I loved it.

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The B&W photo above left is the only other picture I have from that space. The framed cels are from Woman of the Year; it sits above the end title image from Morris’ Disappearing Bag. Both of these were done in 1981-82. Hence this photo dates back to 1982. The color image above was taken this morning from the vantage of our current studio’s front door. The flowers are on the front desk.

Last week we saw a day of heavy snow/rain/sleet which left the City covered with 3-4 inches of iced snow. A week later it still covers most of the town. Garbage is piling up a bit more than usual and construction has slowed down – just a bit.

This is the front of my building. A gypsy fortune teller sits just atop the entrace to my space – down a dozen steps. There’s a knitting shop (red for Valentine’s Day) next door. They have a cafe wherein many women seem to gather to knit. (I’ve only been in the store once, but it’s usually filled into the late hours.)

This is the actual entrace down some icy steps.

Once you go down these steps you have to walk down an icy, outdoor corridor. On the left you can see this corridor from the street side. On the right it’s from the studio side.

Finally. from the front door of this studio you see this space. (I’m literally standing in the doorway.) This room has four stations equipped with drawing tables and computers as well as two other computer setups. Paul Carrillo, my editor, works all the way in the back right. Matt Clinton, our principal animator on staff, works to the back left. Christine O’Neill, my assistant, sits behind the flowers, up-front.

My room is in another room to the right.

- Jerry Van Amerongen is a cartoonist whose work seems to be unfamiliar to many people. However, those who do know his work search out his cartoons. Bill Peckmann sent me this CARTOONIST PROfiles article about him and followed it with select cartoons from the pages of his book, Ballard Street. Bill wrote:

Because of not having access to a newspaper that ran Jerry’s “Ballard Street” comic strip, this great talent flew under my radar for way too long of a time. Fortunately a good friend of mine sent me this book/collection a while back and I’ve been a fan ever since.

Here’s a sampling of the way that Amerongen can freeze hilarious moments in time as only he can.

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Book Cover

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Back Cover of the book

- This is the remainder of the book “The Last Dandy, Ralph Barton, American Artist, 1891-1931” by Bruce Kellner. Last week, thanks to the contribution and scans of Bill Peckmann, I was able to post the first half of the book. Today we complete it.

Barton served as an advisory editor to Harold Ross for his new magazine, The New Yorker. He was a major contributor to Judge, Collier’s and Vanity Fair Magazine. He was one of the most popular cartoonists of his day, and he illustrated many covers for books from Balzac to Anita Loos. He committed suicide in 1931.

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Gun Glory is a 1957 film starring Stewart Granger and Rhonda Fleming. Alex Toth in one of his adaptations to comic book brought some small beat of immortality to this movie, directed by Roy Rowland.

Here is the first of two installments of Toth’s magazine. Many thanks to Bill Peckmann for sharing this cowboy classic.

Comic book cover

Inner cover

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