Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- Did I ever mention that I was a model-sheet Junky? I love them, no matter where they come from or how big they are. I enjoy looking at notes on them, how they were constructed, and signatures. The whole package.

They come in so many sizes, forms and designs.

This is why I get off on a couple of sites that post some beauties. The ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archive has done this frequently, e.g here, here and here.
The Disney Informer also offers quite a few models.

Here are a few from from my collection representing different studios. Of course, I’ll start with Disney, the classics:

The three models I have are matte photostats, though I believe the handouts were copied onto Disney’s large 5-hole animation paper. On one of these you can see traces of the pegholes.

I have a large cel of Gepetto from the pose on the left, hands akimbo. I’m not sure it was ever in the film.

What a beautiful Dumbo. I think I could look at these drawings all day. It’s one of my favorite films. No tricks, no pretensions. Just a great cartoon to make you cry. This is the top of their game.

Unfortunately, this one is a photograph I have of the model on a bulletin board. It’s not the best focus.

Terrytoons had a beautifully composed model sheet with some fine poses. I wonder how much this helped Jim Tyer. Another Terry model sheet, one of Mighty Mouse, follows. I suspect that Connie Rasinski drew both of them.

At Paramount, they were a little different. The stats they made, at least those I have, were high gloss. This one has some damage to it where it must’ve gotten wet.

I have a couple of the original models which were compiled on animation paper from cut-out drawings. The glue has had a hard time holding up. I gave examples of this last year with an Indian film. See here and here.
The animators received these glossy stats.

For this Campbell Soup commercial a lot of effort went into drawing the girl. No doubt they were out to please a client. This is the best this character has ever looked.

By the time we get to Fritz the Cat, the Xerox machine was in use to make hand-outs for the staff. They didn’t bother with photostats.

The drawings look like different artists were at work. No wonder the character shifts about on screen. I actually enjoy watching that shift. There’s something alive about it.

I keep thinking these last two are from The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, but I’m sure they came from the original film.

- May I suggest you go to a couple of other sites today, while they’re still fresh. Good work from both of these regular must-read writers.
- Floyd Norman‘s essay over at Jim Hill Media is as great a read to me as anything else he’s written, and I love reading all of his pieces.
- Mark Mayerson has a great piece on his site today whcih certainly got me weathered up. He definitely has some of the most thoughtful, provocative and interesting material on the web.

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