Frame Grabs &UPA 07 May 2012 05:36 am
Julian’s Georgie
- Well, I’m following my fancy. I’m into Paul Julian‘s beautiful painting style, and have found a treasure trove in the UPA collection DVD, Jolly Frolics. Here I have one of the better UPA films, Georgie and the Dragon. It’s a rather simple story, beautifully directed by Bobe Cannon and animated by Rudy Larriva, Bill Melendez, Grim Natwick and Frank Smith. The exceptional script is written by three strong, animation pillars: John Hubley, Bill Scott and Phil Eastman. Paul Julian and Jules Engel seem to have done the backgrounds together.
1The tartan BG with the yellow type sets up
the Scottish location for the film.
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For the second card they reverse the scheme:
yellow BG with a tartan filled type.
The credits dissolve as the BG pans
and the camera slowly moves in.
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I think you can distinguish between the Paul Julian Bgs
and the Jules Engel bgs. Julian was more apt to use
drybrush in his work, and it gives it a singular look.
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Just look at these wild poses even though
the characters are at rest.
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UPA didn’t just introduce a new kind of design,
it brought a new style of animation that made
that design work.
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Bobe Cannon was the perfect animator to direct
the animators in this new looseness and sense of
graphic movement in animation.
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As evidenced in many of these wild poses.
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Go here to see the comic book adaptation of the cartoon.
I found the following model sheets on Stephen Worth‘s excellent site, AnimationResources.
on 07 May 2012 at 6:42 am 1.Stephen Macquignon said …
Funny, smart and nicely designed
on 07 May 2012 at 11:01 pm 2.The Gee said …
It is gorgeous stuff.
The poses and the designs are all great.
Admittedly, the colors have my eye. It continually amazes me how that electric, brilliant blue is never too powerful. The use of shadows and light in the BGs and the staging is also great to see.