Woolie Reitherman

I only knew Woolie Reitherman a little bit during the early eighties, when he was still at Disney. I remember him working with Mel Shaw on ideas for a couple of animated features. One was called "The little Broomstick", based on a book by Mary Stewart.  I thought the story was utterly charming, and Mel's pastel sketches for the film were incredible.

The other project was "Musicana", a sort of follow up to "Fantasia". It used some classical music for its story segments, but there was also World music from all over the globe. I had the chance to see a slide presentation of Mel's artwork which was synchronized to music. It was sensational. Unfortunately both projects were dropped after Disney changed management.

The first time I met Woolie I thought I was looking at John Wayne.

He told me that he saw my application portfolio and that he liked the work in it.

When I asked him to sign my copy of  "The Illusion of Life" he wrote:

To Andreas - Carry on! Take  animation a step farther - Woolie

Those are mighty big words, I thought. But that should be the goal, shouldn't it?

Woolie said he was born in Munich, and I thought it was cool to have that German background in common. He also invited me to come to his house for dinner sometime, whenever I wanted.

Unfortunately I never had the nerve or courage to ask him....darn it !!

Woolie died in a car accident on May 22, 1985.

His career at Disney is legendary. His first feature assignment was he Magic Mirror for "Snow White". He did super dramatic animation like Monstro in "Pinocchio", and the dinosaur battle in "Fantasia". But he could equally well handle funny and sweet characters like Timothy Mouse in "Dumbo".  After animating a whole bunch of great Goofy shorts Woolie started to specialize in exciting action sequences.

During an Academy tribute to his work in the early eighties, his chase with Ichabod and the Headless Horseman was screened. Afterwards he turned to the audience and said

"You know, this stuff is holding up pretty good after all these years".

And it still does, might I add!

I want you to take a look at one of his earlier efforts, Gus Goose in "Donald's Cousin Gus" from 1939. I just love this character.

The animation has great comedy, awesome timing and fantastic WEIGHT.

It is fun to study, whether you are doing 2D or CG animation. Weight is always a big issue, as you know.

Woolie also did the dog fight in "Lady & Tramp" and the dragon fight in "Sleeping Beauty".

After that he turned to directing. He co directed "101 Dalmatians" and was the single director on all animated features up until "The Rescuers".

So how can I not love Woolie Reitherman....the guy directed "Jungle Book"!!!

Hidden in the Crowd

A while ago I re watched a sequence from "Rescuers", it was the section where Bernard and Bianca are at the airport on their way to find Orville.

The human crowd scenes are not particularly well drawn or animated here, but all of a sudden I noticed a young couple moving up the escalator. It was just one held drawing, yet those two were drawn exceptionally well.

I knew this was a Milt Kahl drawing, but what was it doing here amongst all the other human characters, who were handled by a lesser animator?

This is what I think probably happened:

Milt saw the scene in a sweatbox screening and "objected" to the original drawing of the couple. So he re drew them....beautifully!

It is a solid illustration, done with a lot of care. Both seem lost in their own thoughts, probably thinking about the flight ahead. I just love the way her right hand holds on to his arm, it's sooo nicely staged.

Her whole figure looks simple and elegant, with the weight on her right leg. And look at how heavy her hand bag feels. 

His pose is equally balanced, the body weight is on his left leg. There is a nice feeling of thick fabric for his jacket and thin fabric for his pants.

I could go on....

Yep, I do love Milt Kahl drawings, and I know you do, too.

Milt Kahl Crowd Scenes

Hi everybody, I'm back in town.

I have one more short trip coming up next week, other than that new posts will appear regularly again.

In August I posted a few Milt Kahl key drawings from two scenes that were cut from "The Rescuers". They showed an audience watching the performance of a bear at a zoo. The whole sequence never made it into the film.

I do wonder why Milt ended up animating these scenes, which I would consider

of secondary importance as far as top character animation for the movie.

My guess is that Medusa wasn't ready yet for production.

And I remember Dave Michener, one of Milt's assistants, telling me that occasionally, when a film had to get finished toward the end of production Milt animated minor characters or crowd scenes, just to help out.

And he didn't mind at all.

What I love about these scenes is how clearly they are choreographed and synchronized. Milt sure knows when NOT to move a character, or parts of a character, because your eye will always go to whatever IS moving in the scene.

The path of the purchased soda bottle is easy to follow, and of course it ends unexpectedly.

I get a big kick out finding Kahl animation that you didn't know existed. It leaves you with a feeling that the old master is still around and just finished his latest animation.

A big thank you to David Kuhn who sent me the files of the scenes.

In case you are wondering if there will be any posts on Madame Medusa coming up, the answer is YES !!

Two Weeks Break

I won't have a new post for the next two weeks. I am off to Vienna to give a talk at 

the Pixel Animation Conference. Feel free to leave comments on any post you'd like, I will be checking them.

When I get back I will have some very cool material for you, pencil tests as well as artwork.

Like the guy on public radio over here says: "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch."

African Cats

Early this year I was asked by my buddy Don Hahn, if I would be interested in being the featured artist for the DisneyNature film "African Cats". I didn't quite know what that meant at first.

So, this is what it meant:

Producing wildlife illustrations, inspired by the film, which would be showcased and offered for sale within an exhibition at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood, when the film opened.

The proceeds would go to the African Wildlife Foundation to help save the big cats.

Sounded like a fun challenge to me, and it did turn out to be a great experience.

I received a rough cut DVD of "African Cats", and started to look for specific scenes that intrigued me. Well...where to start...! This movie is magnificent.

The story follows a family of lions as well as cheetahs, and you are hooked from the first few scenes on. Among favorite moments of mine are one scene where the old lion Fang challenges a crocodile. Another sequence shows a cheetah mother deterring male lions from the hiding place of her cubs. You'll hold your breath, I guarantee.

Amazing photography, mesmerizing storytelling. (Don had a lot to do with that, and he helped with the final edit, too).

This film really picks up from where Walt Disney left off with his "True Life Adventures". 

 "African Cats" was filmed by BBC camera men, the guys who did "Planet Earth"

(which is a series I could watch once a week!)

The movie comes out on DVD/Bluray this week in the US, it will be shown in theaters internationally in a few months.

Below is a selection of my artwork, inspired by DisneyNature's "African Cats".

Prince John

Prince John as a tiger?

Milt Kahl considered this for the villain from "Robin Hood" at least momentarily,

as you can see in some of these early design sketches. 

But his brother King Richard "The Lion Hearted" obviously had to be portrayed as a lion, so the tiger idea was dropped.

Ollie Johnston of course animated this character. I remember Ollie talking often how much he enjoyed animating Prince John (as well as Sir Hiss), and he thought that Peter Ustinov for his voice was just great.

Here is a funny story Ollie told me about Milt Kahl and the issue of screen credit for "Robin Hood":

" Milt liked what I was doing with Prince John, he was very complementary about my animation. One morning he came into my office and said that I should get top billing this time within the "Directing Animators" credits. Milt usually got that honor,

because he designed all the characters. Milt was going to talk to management that afternoon. So I said OK thanks, and almost forgot about it. The next morning Milt stormed back into my office, this time with an agitated attitude. 'You know, I am the character designer around here and do all this extra work. I should get top billing on this film.'

I just said, that's fine by me, Milt, no problem. I later found out that he had discussed the credit issue with his wife the night before, and she wasn't  too happy about it."

There you have it, 1970ies politics at Disney.

That being said, I find all of these drawings just beautiful!

Tinker Bell

Here is a little gallery of Tinker Bell roughs by Marc Davis. A few scans are from originals, others from photographic reproductions. 

I really enjoy studying some of these doodle sheets, where Marc is figuring out the character's structure and is dealing with drawing issues. Then again some of the scribbles look more like telephone doodles. 

He is definitely establishing that the top of Tink's head is a straight line and the back of her head is a curve. The combination of those two helps to make the drawing look solid.

To me Tinker Bell is perfection. Her character arc in the story is very strong. Because of her affection for Peter Pan she is jealous of Wendy, which gets her into trouble. But toward the end of the film she saves Peter's life as well as the other kids.

Her animation throughout is flawless. Occasionally based on live action reference,

Marc animated her beautifully. She always feels like a small figure, but the acting has great range and subtlety.

Marc said he really enjoyed the challenge of a mute character, where pantomime 

is the name of the game.