Animation Artifacts &Story & Storyboards 26 Apr 2007 08:02 am
Last of the Wind in the Willows board
- Here are the remaining images I have of the storyboard from The Wind In The Willows. They come courtesy of John Canemaker and his extraordinary collection, and I have to thank him for sharing.
Though the images come from an early version of the feature that was truncated for the final Adventures of Mr. Toad, you can see that even at the start, Mr. Toad was the focus of the animated adaptation. It’s understandable considering how much of the action sits in Toad’s story. However, the charm and beauty of the brilliantly written book comes from other points, and it’s obvious that the Disney studio was always going to miss that.
There are some beautifully drawn images here, though, and I like how they lay out the action. Check out the drawings on the last board; beautiful poses throughout that sequence. There’s something that didn’t work quite as well in the final version done for the compilation film. That film has an overenergetic breathlessness that is so unlike the book.
(Click any image to enlarge.)
on 26 Apr 2007 at 12:13 pm 1.R.Dress said …
Thanks Michael!!!
on 26 Apr 2007 at 10:01 pm 2.Eddie Fitzgerald said …
Wow! Great stuff!
on 21 Jul 2007 at 6:35 am 3.Henrieke Goorhuis said …
Wow, I’m so glad I came past this website! You have no idea how happy you make me with these images… I’ll check out the rest of your blog now, thanks for sharing all this.
on 02 Nov 2007 at 10:38 am 4.steve woods said …
great piece of storyboarding this an excellent example of well timed work…I had the pleasure to be the assistant to an old Disney animator on Watership down ..Phil duncan,, he said get it right get it right get it right…secret to animation…. this era of animation was fantastic for sorting out ideas… to see this in one’s mind and time it like the final film turns out really great …thanks