Animation &Animation Artifacts &Disney 02 Jan 2010 09:09 am
Lady and the Tramp poses
- These are drawings were published in rather small sizes in the Frank Thomas/Ollie Johnston book, The Illusion of Life. I have photos which are somewhat larger and felt that it’s worth calling some attention to them. There’s so much charm in every one of them. Frank Thomas animated the scene.
(Click any image you’d like to see larger.)
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Now lets take a look at frame grabs from the sequence. (I followed the drawings above and eliminated some scenes – mostly of the two restauranteers playing music.
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on 02 Jan 2010 at 1:58 pm 1.Bill said …
Michael, what a great presentation, outstanding.Seeing the finished art
in still form brings out the beautiful
art direction of the times, looks like
it’s become a lost art.
on 02 Jan 2010 at 4:42 pm 2.Grant said …
Isn’t it wonderful to have a scene be MORE IMPORTANT TO THE STORY than the animation? And isn’t it great when animators restrain themselves to be a PART of a brilliant layout provided by other brilliant artists, instead of hogging the layouts with their animation?
Thank you Tom Codrick, Claude Coates, Oliver Wallace, Peggy Lee, Sonny Burke, Frank Thomas, Dale Oliver, Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, and Walt Disney.
on 02 Jan 2010 at 4:43 pm 3.Grant said …
OH lord, and John Lounsbery!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd68A7A-9Dg
on 03 Jan 2010 at 11:01 pm 4.Ignacio Carlos Ochoa said …
Sorry about my ignorance.
This drawings are from Frank Thomas animation, or are layouts, or storyboard drawings?
At any rate, thanks, they are fabulous.
From my point of view, Lady and the Tramp is one of the Disney’s films better drawn.
on 04 Jan 2010 at 1:57 am 5.Matt Jones said …
Masterful!
on 04 Jan 2010 at 8:42 am 6.Michael said …
Ignacio, these drawings are clean-ups of some animation (of the dogs) by Frank Thomas. I think John Lounsbery did the humans. The drawings were assembled and photographed (how I got them) for publication as part of a book – “The Illusion of Life.” The photographed images are larger than the printed book, which is the reason I posted them.
on 04 Jan 2010 at 9:34 am 7.Ignacio Carlos Ochoa said …
Thanks Michael.
The pins on the corners confused me. Usually the storyboards have pins.
on 04 Jan 2010 at 9:36 am 8.Ray Kosarin said …
Thanks, Michael. Bill (above) is right–your presenting the frames like this is really valuable and helps us see what’s so good about this sequence.
Seeing these full-size frames now I’m more than anything struck (not having seen TRAMP in Scope since it was in theaters around 20 years ago) at how beautifully the layout uses–and tames–the huge aspect ratio. If I remember right, this was Disney’s first Scope feature, and so they would have been figuring out how to use the new format. This falling-in-love sequence needs to be intimate, but the huge 2.35 ratio is anything but that. Yet these layouts brilliantly carve up the frame into much smaller spaces: the compositions of Lady, Tramp, and (an important touch) the candle in virtually every shot, create a warm and cozy space for the couple.
To balance the composition across the rest of the wide and mostly black frame, simple, lit negative spaces–the slice of alley, the lit kitchen door, both add atmosphere and keep the frame a comfortable mix of more comfortable, squarish spaces. But the cool hues in the background never compete with the warm hues of the candle and dogs, so there’s noquestion of our eye’s being distracted by these other details–however beautifully painted. Smart, wonderful work.
on 04 Jan 2010 at 9:52 am 9.Michael said …
Ray, take a look at Hans Bacher’s post on the backgrounds of Lady & The Tramp. It’s quite informative.
on 04 Jan 2010 at 11:11 am 10.Ray Kosarin said …
Great post from Hans Bacher. Thanks, Michael, for the steer!