Animation Artifacts &Layout & Design 07 Mar 2008 09:24 am
Recap Fridays: Steig Lay Outs
- I initially posted these Steig Lay Out drawings in February 2006. They’re important enough (to me at least) for me to re post them. I’ve reshaped the images for better viewing.
These are some of the layout drawings done by William Steig for an Alka Seltzer commercial produced in the early 60′s.
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_________(Click any image to enlarge.)
The commercial was done by Elektra Studios. Steig worked with a bamboo reed cut to form a point. He dipped that in ink and drew. The paper is particularly thick and is designed to absorb the ink. They’re punched with Oxberry peg holes top and bottom. I have one of the “pens” he used to draw these layouts. The final comercial was basically an ink line drawing against a white field.
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9I’ve been a big fan of Steig‘s since my earliest days when I first discovered him in the New Yorker Magazine. By the time I’d made it to college, I’d already seen two art exhibits of his artwork.
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13By the time I saw my third exhibit of his work, I was able to barely afford one of the New Yorker drawings. It’s done on rice paper with the same type of “pen”. Years later, when I told Steig that I’d bought it, he said that it was the only drawing to have sold at that exhibit.
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17It was real luck for me to have been able to adapt a couple of his children’s books to animation. I not only got to meet him and his wife, Jeanne, but worked with his flutist son, Jeremy, on a number of projects.
Bridget Thorne, who art directed the film, did some of her finest work ever on the backgrounds – beautiful pieces that I still treasure. I think this is one of Steig‘s best books, and I think we did it justice. 
I’m rather partial to Abel’s Island as a film. There were only about two dozen B&W pen and ink illustrations in the book, so we had to do quite a bit of designing in the style of Steig
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on 07 Mar 2008 at 1:39 pm 1.Mark Fearing said …
Great stuff. Wonderful read as well. He’s always inspired me and these ‘quick’ drawings are delightful.
-M
http://mfearing.wordpress.com/
on 08 Mar 2008 at 12:17 am 2.Joakim said …
Absolutely delightful this stuff … clear, precice, simple … Cheers Joakim
on 02 Nov 2014 at 11:17 am 3.michelle eastman said …
I love stories like this. It is awesome that you bought the only drawing that he sold at the exhibit (and so cool that he recalled that fact). I discovered Steig’s work via the Scholastic Video Collection. My son loved watching the DVD’s over and over. One of our favorite bits was an interview with Steig, at home, with his wife. Thanks for sharing this piece.
Michelle