Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- The Pastoral sequence of Fantasia is probably the lowest point during the feature. An overly cute sequence in cartoon color glory does the least to support the original score (which has been severely cut by Stokowski from 40 mins down to its 20 min running time.)

The entire sequence can be wrapped up by that one scene where the cupie-doll cupids close out a scene with their fannies forming hearts.

I posted a group of illustrations from this sequence that appeared in the Fantasia book in Sept 2007. You can check that post here if you’d like to compare.

I’ve recently been posting some beautiful model sheets loaned to me by designer/director Bill Peckmann. He has a number of sheets form this sequence of the film, and I thought to post them all together. Here they are:

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The models start by calling the film “The Concert Feature.”
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.They soon call the film the “Pastoral.”
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It’s interesting to see how loose these clean up models are
in comparison to those of the Xerox/digital era.
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They’re probably tight compared to most of today’s assisting.
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These are the first prop models I’ve seen from this sequence.
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Here are two models of hippos from the Dance of the Hours sequence:

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And finally, something to cleanse the pallette, a model for a sequence cut from the Nutcracker Suite:
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Again, many thanks to Bill Peckmann for the loan of these great models.

Bob Cowan, has just started posting some material from Fantasia on his site. His collection is enormous and distinguished. Take a look.

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- I continue with the Art Corner books from Disneyland with the How To Draw Donald classic. I’d received a full set of these books (How to draw Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto and Chip & Dale) when I bought an Animation Kit from them. I’ve started posting these booklets after posting the lecture series that was given to the staff in the 1930′s.

Go here to see the lecture series posts:
Mickey / Donald / Goofy / Pluto
Here to see How To Draw Mickey.
Here to see How To Draw Pluto.
Here to see How To Draw Goofy (Jenny Lerew‘s Blackwing Diaries.)

Here’s the booklet:

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I don’t have a lot of Donald model sheets to add to this, but these three are interesting.

Master of the Hounds

This last model comes courtesy of Bill Peckmann‘s collection. Many thanks.

- Peter Pan was floating around production in 1940. I was reminded of this when I went through the magnificent grab-bag of model sheets that Bill Peckmann has loaned me for this blog. Here are some stunning model sheets which showcase a completely different take on the story before the influence of Mary Blair and the animators

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Surprise! A new character which was, fortunately, deleted.
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Here’s a short bit of 1940 storyboard.
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These drawings of Smee are loving and beautiful.
I’d like to know who did them.

And, in case you’ve forgotten, here’s how the final cast looked.

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Many thanks, again, to Bill Peckmann for the loan of these model sheets.

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- Here are more of the models from Bill Peckmann‘s collection. I’ve chosen to just focus on the one Silly Symphony, Mother Goose Goes Hollywood. The film showcases the genius of caricature that was possible in animation. (The closest we have today is the flash photo montages of JibJab. No beautiful drawing is involved.)

Joe Morgan was a major part of the models and design for these characters. The model sheets were signed by director Wilfred Jackson, storyman T. Hee, Animation Director Bob Stokes, and layout director Terrell Stapp. Other anmators include: Izzy Klein, Ward Kimball, Grim Natwick, Jack Campbell, and Don Patterson. Actual credit for story direction went to George Stallings,with T. Hee, Dick RIckard, Leo Ellis, Peeter O’Crotty, Ed Penner, Webb Smith, and Izzy Klein working under him.

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(This one’s from my own collection.)

To give an idea of the color in this film, here are some frame grabs:

Katherine Hepburn

Hugh Herbert and the Marx Brothers

Hugh Herbert, Donald Duck and Charles Laughton, Spencer Tracy & Freddie Bartholomew

Spencer Tracy & Freddie Bartholomew and Katherine Hepburn

Katherine Hepburn

W.C.Fields and Charlie McCarthy

Oliver Hardy & Stan Laurel

Edward G. Robinson, Greta Garbo and Eddie Cantor

Wallace Beery, Fats Waller and Cab Calloway

Edna Mae Olvier, Mae West, and Zasu Pitts

Edna Mae Olvier, Joan Blondell, & Zasu Pitts and Clark Gable & George Arliss

Chico Marx, Fats Waller & Groucho Marx and Fred Astaire

Joe E. Brown and Martha Raye

For other caricature ID’s you can look at the blog, Random Semiconscious Musings.

- The illustrious NY animation designer/director, Bill Peckmann, is sharing a very large archive of material with this site, so I’ll be posting forever to get it up.

Let’s start with model sheets from some of the Disney Silly Symphonies. You’ve possibly seen some of these, but I like gathering them all in one post.

These are from three gems of films. Among the very best of the shorts.

Woodland Cafe is a beauty released March 1937. these three model sheets are signed by Director Wilfred Jackson, animators Paul Allen, Johnny Cannon, Bob Stokes, Leonard Sebring, and storyman Dick Rickard. Other animators include: Cy Young, Izzy Klein, Dick Lundy, Charles Byrne, Jack Hannah and Ward Kimball. (Story supervision was actually done by Bianca Majolie and I’m not really sure the Sebring animated on this film.) Layout was by Terrell Stapp and John Walbridge.

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Farmyard Symphony was directed by Jack Cutting. George Stallings was the story supervisor. Ham Luske signed the sheets for the animators; he was probably the animation director. Animation was done by Eric Larson, Fred madison, John Bradbury, Ken Hultgren, Milt Kahl, Bernard Garbutt, Don Lusk, Paul Satterfield, Lynn Karp, John Sewall, and Paul Busch. Layout was by Dave Hilberman and Art Heinemann.

Rel;eased April 1939, The Ugly Duckling won the Oscar and stands out from a lot of the Symphonies of the period. Direction was by Jack Cutting and animation direction went to Ham Luske (which may explain why Luske signed the sheets for Farmyard Symphony as well. Layout was by Dave Hilberman and animation was by Eric Larson, Stan Quakenbush, Riley Thompson, Archie Robin, Milt Kahl and Paul Satterfield. George Stallings was the story director.

Many thanks to Bill Peckmann. More to come later this week.

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- When last we left off with the Disney lecture series on the principal characters – Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto – I promised to conclude by posting the How To Draw series that were sold at Disneyland (late Fifties/early Sixties).

Go here to see the lecture series posts:
Mickey / Donald / Goofy / Pluto

So to continue with these How to Draw Books, I naturally start with Mickey. I’m not crazy about some of the drawings, but I guess it’s classic. This is actually a copy of the book that they gave out at the Disney/Lincoln Center event in 1973. They’re identical to the Disneyland books, though they lack the colored pages. (See Jenny Lerew‘s great site Blackwing Diaries for the original How to Draw Goofy book.

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To put a little more zest into this post, here are a couple of Mickey model sheets I have. (copies of copies)

A mixed model with bits from a lot of other sheets.
This was probably put together in the Fifties.

Finally, this is my all time favorite Mickey.

- I’ve recently posted some discussions about Mickey and Donald which were part of the extrawork courses that the Disney studio held in the Thirties. Go here to see Mickey, go here to see Donald.

Here’s the section on the “Goof” which also includes a couple of Pluto models.
Art Babbitt is the lecturer.

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Since there were so few pages to the above document, I thought I’d add the pages of the How to Draw Pluto book which was part of the Disney Animation Kit you once could buy from the Art Corner at Disneyland. It included books on How to Draw Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto as well as a book on Tips in Animation.

Here’s Pluto:

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- A few weeks ago I posted the handout sheets that were given at Disney’s in 1938 to advise people on how to draw Mickey. The same was done for Donald, Goofy and Pluto.

Here are the notes from the Fred Spencer class analyzing Donald Duck. There’s a lot here that even the Disney studio sees to have forgotten about the Duck. He’s a brilliant and unique character, and he hasn’t been done as well as he was drawn in the 30s.

These same notes appeared in a synthesized and cleaned-up form in Frank Thomas Ollie Johnston’s Illusions of Life. Somehow I prefer the slightly browning mimeo sheets from the studio. (Although mine are just a xerox of same.) These are all worth it for the incredible drawings on the last page.

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You can see what the actual pieces look like at Didier Ghez’ Disney History site. He posts two pages courtesy of Gunnar Andreassen.

- Dig was a half-hour Special that was produced by John and Faith Hubley for CBS Saturday morning fare. It was supposed to be one of three programs on the earth around us, but it ended up as the only one of the three to have been completed.

The lion’s share of the animation was done by Tissa David and Johnny Gentilella. Phil Duncan, Vinny Bell and Chuck Harriton also did their share of the work.

The story was about a boy and his dog that accidentally get into a construction site and soon find themselves talking with a rock.

The rock takes them underground to a musical journey through the geology of the earth. The music and songs were by Quincy Jones. Jack Warden plays the lead rock, Ray Hubley was the boy, and plenty of others from the Group theater (such as Morris Carnovsky and Maureen Stpleton) did other voices underground.

Tissa handled most of the boy and a couple of the rock songs and conversations. She also helped construct some of the characters doing models. Here are some of the rough models she put together and worked from.

This was one of John’s earliest drawings (post storyboard). It was
probably done while in conversation about the character with Tissa.

This is Tissa’s first version of the boy.

The dog also takes shape.

Here “Iggy” the rock is formed.

- Back in March 2007, Jenny Lerew, on her excellent site, Blackwing Diaries, posted a couple of the booklets that came in the Disney Animation Kits sold at Disneyland’s Art Corner. Aside from the Tips on Animation booklet and the How to Draw Goofy booklet, there was one on How to Draw Donald and another on How to Draw Mickey.

I’ll try to post these last two books in the next few days. However, for now, I’m interested in posting a professional analysis of Mickey, Goofy and Donald that was done as part of the process in the Disney studios in 1935.

The following is an analysis of Mickey given as a handout to all animators. There’s almost as much writing in it as there is drawing. The piece is introduced by Ted Sears and completes with analysis and drawings by Fred Moore.

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