Discover More at Auctions

Hercules

Released:  June 27, 1997

Worldwide Box Office:  $252,700,000

One of my favorite films from Disney's contemporary time period in the 90's was Hercules.  I have always been a bit of a fan of Greek mythology anyway from watching some of the Sinbad movies from mid-20th century and of course there was the Clash of the Titans released in 1981.  So when Disney decided to do their first feature film with mythological characters I was excited to see what they had in store.  

As I had mentioned in previous posts Disney would typically sell selected production pieces from their films during this time at Sotheby's.  Hercules was no exception and I was lucky enough to attend the auction and walk away with a piece that I liked.  On June 20, 1998, the sale offered the fewest number of lots for sale for a Disney animation auction (total of 125). This film enjoyed similar success as experienced with Hunchback and the auction prices again reflected this. 

As I perused the pre-auction viewings at their York Avenue showroom, what was particularly interesting with the lots offered from Hercules was the field size for most of the backgrounds and corresponding cels.  The majority of the pieces offered were larger than the typical 12 and 16 field sizes.  Many in fact were 25 field with many being pan sized backgrounds.   The cover piece in particular was huge. I can only imagine what the animator had to go through creating such large drawings!   I have often wondered if the field of size was in relation to the production designer, Gerald Scarfe?   Mr Scarfe is known for his very fanciful and linear illustrations that frequently appeared in the New Yorker magazine.

Here is my piece, lot 64 on the exhibition wall at Sotheby's offset location during the pre-auction viewing.  My piece measures 19 1/2 by 25 inches....quite a sizable key master and the framed piece is even larger.

What was a lot of fun as well was to see the maquettes.  They were beautifully painted and were very large in scale.  I particularly love Pegasus and Zeus.  As some of you may know I love to collect these as well.  More to share in this space in another post.

With my more limited budget at the time, I was very happy to pickup a multi-layered production background as I had an idea for how I wanted to frame and ultimately display the piece.  I was successful with lot 64 that included both Herc and Phil.  It is comprised of a character cel, 3 underlay cel levels and a single temple on the painted on crescent board (back-most top middle above Herc).

  

                             Original Key Master Setup, gouache on celluloid and board

                             Acquired:  June 20 19, 1998
                             Sequence 11, Scene 44, 45 & 46

                             Artist:  Various

What I particularly like about this piece is that it had the different layers that added depth and dimension  as well of course featuring a funny scene with the main characters.  The piece is also feature in the "Art of Hercules" book and can be see on page 168.   This piece depicts a key place in the film and I also like to have backgrounds that can speak for themselves without the character cel.  There is a lot to view in this very detailed background of what looks like a "New York" version of the city of Thebes.  One of the other fun features of this background is that it appears in the film in three separate scenes (as noted above).  It is a fun piece and has more film time than most backgrounds.

                             Original production background, gouache on board

                             Acquired:  June 20 19, 1998
                             Sequence 11, Scene 44, 45 & 46

                             Artist:  Unknown

Part of your world.....

Little Mermaid

Released:  November 17, 1989

Worldwide Box Office:  $211,300,000

Well, recently I just got back from vacation in Hawaii and was inspired to share this next piece of animation art for two key reasons.  I love the ocean and it made me think of the Little Mermaid, one of my favorite disney films.....and Howard Lowery.   

A few years back I was lucky to win at auction from Howard this wonderful rough drawing of Ariel from the "Part of Your World" sequence where she sings "has everything....!"  Ariel in this piece is large, expressive and beautifully drawing by Glenn Keane.  I just love how expressive her eyes are.  One of the best drawings that I have seen of her in all of my years collecting.

                             Original Production Drawing, graphite on 16 field animation paper

                             Acquired:  February 19, 2012

                             Artist:  Glenn Keane

As many of you may already know, Howard Lowery used to operate the Howard Lowery Gallery in Burbank, California for many years was instrumental in helping to establish the modern collecting market for animation art.  His gallery is sadly no longer around but he does still dabble in selling animation on his website with weekly auctions.  Just recently he listed a piece from the Little Mermaid of a rough production drawing of Ariel by Glenn Keane from her "Part of your World" sequence.  What was remarkable to me was the interest (11 unique bidders) and the selling price.  The recent drawing sold for over $1500!

                                              Original Production Drawing, graphite on 16 field animation paper

                                              Artist:  Glenn Keane

Over the last several years, I have noticed a trend with art from the Little Mermaid rising higher in value and more in demand.  I guess with Howard's recent sale we are continuing to see strength in the contemporary films as the generation around the time of Little Mermaid is coming into the market.  What do you think? 


 

Farewell Genie....now you are truly free!

Aladdin

Released:  November 25, 1992

Worldwide Video Sales:  $504,050,000

As a tribute to one my favorite contemporary animated films of all-time, I thought it was only fitting to share a piece from my collection that would honor Robin Williams.  When I learned last week that Robin Williams had passed away it was quite a shock and unfortunately the world has truly lost someone very inspiring.  It is really hard to believe that someone who gave so much of himself to make others feels wonderful and smile through humor found it difficult to do the same for himself.  He was truly an artist that deserves our respect and honor.  He will be missed.

                      Original Production Maquette, cast resin with primer paint, No. 10

                      Acquired:  February 23, 2006

                      Sculptor:  Kent Melton

                      Reproduction Artist:  Doug Hild

My nephew earlier in this week shared this video that featured a nice section on one I believe was one of his best roles.  A nice look into his unique spirit. 

The Genie is truly free....may he rest in peace and smile from up above for all to remember and see.

The World is out there....Find your Pride Rock!

Simba's Pride

Released:  October 27, 1998

Worldwide Video Sales:  $465,000,000

Well this past weekend was a momentous one for my youngest and favorite niece, Marissa.   Or should I say only niece!  In early August she turned 18 and now this past Sunday she has officially moved out onto her own to start college.  She is attending a great school and will be studying education to hopefully spark a career in teaching.  

So to kick off this week's catchup blog I thought I would share a wonderful background setup from one of her favorite Disney movies, "Simba's Pride" from the Lion King series of films.  I am not sure what exactly what piqued her interest in this film, but I do remember that she would love to watch it over and over again.  I think it had to do with the fact that the main character was Simba's daughter.... a girl through and through in a sense but just in a lion cub form!  Free spirited and wishing to chart her course, Kiara had a way to connect with Marissa at an early age.  The fact that the film was also entirely animated African animals I am sure helped.

        Original Production Background Setup, watercolor on board,gouache on celluloid

        Acquired:  May 5, 1999

        Background Artist:  Unknown

        Sequence 1.02, Scene 13



This shot which is prominently featured in the opening sequence of the film is a beautiful multi -layered background of Pride Rock in the distance.  The scene features a variety of African animals (including my favorite --giraffes!) walking toward Pride Rock for the offering of Kiara on Pride Rock by Rafiki upon her birth.   One of the aspects of collecting animation that I look for is to find key places the signify the essence of Disney animated films.  Considering that no backgrounds from Pride Rock were may available to the public from the original theatrical release, this scene really captures "the place" where it happened.  The background measures approximately 3 feet wide by 13 inches tall and is full of amazing details.  I love discovering pieces like this.  It looks wonderful even without any character animation!

Approximately one month later from a different source, I found the matching layout drawing from the scene that depicts the animals marching toward their tribute.  This wonderful pencil drawing displays nine different animal species with some great details.  Considering that there were no production cels made for this film, perhaps someday I will have a custom cel made to match the background.

         Original Production Background Setup, watercolor on board,gouache on celluloid

         Acquired:  June  18, 1999

         Layout Artist:  Unknown

         Sequence 1.02, Scene 13



So as my niece ventures out on her new journey, I thought she would enjoy these pieces as she looks to find her own Pride Rock!

Snowflakes in summer?

Fantasia

Released:  November 13, 1940

Worldwide Box Office:  $83,300,000

Over the years of collecting I have also tried to find great books on the subject.   This has served me well and helped me to learn and understand this genre from people who have worked directly with the various films and to see art that I would never get to view up close.  Additionally, I love to learn about the production techniques and processes that create the visual magic.

After reading Andreas Deja's blog a number of weeks ago, I learned about a new book he shared on Herman Schultheis. The book titled, The Lost Notebook: Herman Schultheis and the Secrets of Walt Disney's Movie Magic is based upon some notebooks rediscovered in his own home at the time of his wife's passing a few years back. I have yet to read through but the notebook is a fascinating collection of his notes on how he worked and influenced animation process in the 30's & 40's. I would highly recommend it and I am only through the first chapter.

One of the biggest thrills for me is getting to see up close artwork from other collector's and studio files. This book so far has proved to meet my expectations and then some. As I managed to read through the first chapter and as I turned to page 69, I was greeted with a wonderful surprise. One of the pieces in my collection was unknowingly included in the book and lavishly displayed!  So up on the blog this week is the beautiful concept cel setup of the Snowflake Fairies from the Nutcracker sequence.

                              Original Production Background Setup, watercolor on paper

                                gouache on celluloid

                              Acquired:  December 14, 2011

                              Background Artist:  J. Gordon Legg

                              Sequence 5, Scene 43

Comprised of two cel levels and a watercolor background, this piece was conceived to help the animators and studio staff visualize just how the scene should appear on camera.  The piece is composited with a cel level of the fairies on an overlay and the 2nd level being just the snowflakes with sparkling effects.   The image below shows the setup without the Fairies.

The background was done on heavyweight paper and and is marked 43 which I believe indicates the scene number in the overall sequence.  It appears to be renumbered/moved from a later scene.  As you would expect for a piece from Fantasia, the overall piece has the 5 hole punch paper strip adhered to the piece to allow for the proper line-up of the cel levels to the background.  When I actually received and cataloged the piece upon receipt I was surprised to learn that the background was painted by J. Gordon Legg.  Unfortunately, I am not aware who the cel artists were.  But the hand-inking on the cels levels includes lots of sparkle effects and airbrushing along with the all of the intricate hand-line work.

As I love to collect art from Fantasia, I have been on the lookout for a piece from this sequence for well over 25 years and it wasn't until 2011 that I actually had seen a setup.  I thought none survived.  This piece is simply beautiful and really shows the extent to which the studio went to create fantastic and somewhat artfully realistic images from nature for this sequence.  

What do you think?

But I wanted it blue!

Sleeping Beauty
Released:  January 29, 1959
Worldwide Box Office:  $51,600,000

I have my first memory of watching Sleeping Beauty in Fairbanks while I was in college and renting a room from a classmates family.  My friend Nancy who was also attending the University of Alaska at the time, had pointed out the film to me for some reason while it was on the Disney Channel one weekend.  She knew I was interested in Disney animation and wanted to point out somethings in this film that she thought were interesting.   Her mother was there at the time and also remarked on the music in the film.  She was a big classical music fan and loved the score in the film.  So they piqued my interest and I sat down to watch.

As I got know the film better and as I learned about the artistry that went into the movie, it became increasingly apparent to me the quality of the workmanship that the Disney studio put into the film.  As mentioned on earlier posts, if you look closely you see the precision with the hand-inked lines in the cels to the wonderfully detailed backgrounds in practically ever seen.  One scene in particular was the sequence where the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather have sent Briar Rose out to the forest while they make the her 16th birthday cake and dress.  I love this sequence and think they story works really well.  The fairies are adorable and they were portrayed with such great character.  They add a magical element to the story that works really well in animation.  I have always loved Merryweather's practical personality and how she played against Flora's somewhat dominating lead. 

Today's post, I am sharing two different Art Corner setups.  First up is a great piece that really displays the attitude between Flora and Merryweather.  You can really hear Merryweather saying, "...but I wanted it blue!"

                              Original Production Cel Setup, gouache on trimmed celluloid

                              Acquired:  October 21, 2004

                              Cel Artist(s):  Unknown

Over the years of collecting animation I had always longed for a cel setup of the dress and the magic that brought it life during its making.  Unfortunately, in my nearly 30 years of collecting animation, I have had never seen a single cel come up in the market ....that is until recently!  Next up is Flora using her magic to make "a dress a princess can be proud of!"

                              Original Production Cel Setup, gouache on trimmed celluloid

                              Acquired:  April 15, 2012

                              Cel Artist(s):  Unknown

This is an amazing art corner setup.  The over piece is actually a four cel setup with Flora on the top level and the magic thread & spools on their own 2 levels and a separate level with the dress.  It is placed on a lithographic background as prepared for sale at the Art Corner in Disneyland.  If you look closely you will even see the blue sparkles post Merryweather's "make it blue" fight!    I wonder how many of these cel setups are still out there?

Summer is in full bloom!

Out in the Garden in July...thinking about trains that connect with Animation Art

Well summer has fully arrived in Alaska and I thought I would share some pieces that keep me inspired as I spend more time outside away from my collection.   July is one of the best times of the year to have fun in my own little Disneyland in the backyard.  The past couple of weeks, I have been busy working in the garden and in particular tending to my G scale train garden that takes up a prominent place in the backyard.  

This garden is my little oasis during the summer and I love to find plants in scale and create a real living world in miniature.  It is a lot of fun.

So how does this relate to animation?  Well I have a love a trains and it is always interesting to find my love of trains in animation.  In 2002, Disney released to theaters the film Return to Neverland and also sold at auction 11 unique backgrounds and numerous production drawings.   Shown below is one of the backgrounds that was sold and depicts a train station in London.  I did not purchase this at the original sale but years later at an animation auction.  This beautiful hand-painted production background is from an early sequence in the film which pans from left to right and shows Line 4 and cast of people awaiting to send the children of London off to the countryside during World War II.   The background displays a wonderful scene of a classic British steam engine loosely based on the famous Flying Scotsman, with an overlay of a brick wall on the left side.

                              Original Production background, gouache on board

                              Acquired:  September 8, 2008

                              Layout Artist:  Adrian Thatcher

                              Background Artist:  Barry Dean

                            

If you watch the final film you will notice that Disney manipulated the sky to include military blimps flying above.  This background is huge and measures just over 4 feet wide and a full 12 inches high.   This piece reminds me of the station that I built in the garden years before.  

A few years after I purchased the piece, I stumbled upon a blog by Adrian Thatcher.   He just happened to be the layout artist who worked on the train background for Disney in both Toronto, CA and in Sydney, Australia where the film was eventually animated.  As I struck up a conversation with him l learned a few additional hidden features about the piece.  Disney artists are known to add fun elements to their art and this production was no exception.  Adrian, who is an Emmy award winning artist in animation shared with me that the numbers he placed on the train had particular meaning.  The number on tender was Adrian's age when he drew the piece (also his son's birthday) and the sequence on the front of the engine including the Line No "4" on the wall represents his birthday in a different form.    If you start in the middle of the number sequence and read the year backwards you will discover that the piece was created in 2000.  Interestingly, studio rules at the time dictated that layout artists needed to complete 8 layouts per week, however this one was particularly difficult and took four days to finish.  You can click on his blog link (above) to see a more detailed view of his original layout.  Below is another image of the engine numbers on the front.

                                       Original Production background, closeup

What is also amazing is that this piece was designed in Toronto, painted in Sydney, Australia, shipped to Los Angeles for archiving, then sold to someone on the East Coast of the US, subsequently sold in New York City and now resides in Anchorage, Alaska.  This piece has traveled over 23,000 miles around the globe!  Animation is truly international!

So to round out the train theme....here are a few more shots of garden.  This is the best time of the year for it!  Enjoy!

Overall layout of the train garden

Passengers waiting at the station!

Steam Engine making the turn around the lake.

Making a turn on high mountain scape.

Dreams really do come true...if you just believe!

Cinderella 
Released:  February 15, 1950
Worldwide Box Office:  $85,000,000

Well this week is a special one as it is my mother's birthday this Saturday, July 12.   So a bonus post with a wonderful drawing from one of my mother's favorite animated films, Cinderella.  This film came at a much needed time for the Walt Disney Studios and went to help bolster the studios bank account and credibility.  The film received three Academy Award nominations and was critically acclaimed to be the best animated film since Snow White.

The key animator's drawing here is form the sequence where Cinderella has been transformed by her Fairy Godmother into a beautiful princess, one fit for a royal ball.  This sequence was animated by Marc Davis and his rough drawing below shows great expression, poise and beauty.  Marc Davis was a master draftsman and was known for his ability to draw Disney female characters.   His rough drawings are exquisitely done and are almost clean-ups themselves!  You can almost imagine the sparkling pixie dust that surrounds her in new ball gown in the drawing.  In this scene, Cinderella excitedly states to her Fairy Godmother and friends, "And look!  Glass slippers!......Why its like a dream!   A wonderful dream come true!"

                              Original Production Drawing, colored pencil and graphite 

                               on 16 field animation paper

                              Acquired:  May 6, 2012

                              Artist:  Marc Davis

                              Sequence 3, Scene 4.1

This drawing is just simply beautiful and so I thought I would include a closeup of the detail and expression that Marc Davis put into his rough drawing.  It doesn't get any better than this!

My mother, who grew up in the 50's is every bit the princess and as beautiful as this drawing represents!  Happy Birthday Mom!  Enjoy!

Coming back to Winnie the Pooh!

Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree

Released:  February 4, 1966

Well, I thought I would come back to a previous subject and to follow-up from my Sister's birthday last month.  If you remember my earlier post honoring one of Kim's favorite characters Winnie the Pooh, I have finally found some time to assemble a more respectable image of the production background and the production cels that I was able to find over the years.  

First up is a better view of the complete setup.  It measures out at 16 field and the cels were trimmed to outline of the characters and placed on a new cel.  It includes a number of production markings and also mentions, someone by the name of Mimi?  I wonder want  she played during the production of this featurette.  I was not able to find any film credits on her.  The background appears in the film in sequence 1 in scenes 540.1 and 550.  Below is how the new composited production setup looks. 

                              Original Production Background Setup, watercolor on paper

                                gouache on trimmed celluloid

                              Acquired:  May 20, 2011

                              Artist:  Unknown

                              Sequence 1, Scene 540.1, 550; Sequence 2, scene 119

As mentioned earlier, the production cels have been trimmed to outlined and placed on a blank 16 field cel.  They really go well with the production background.

                              Original Production Cel Setup, gouache on trimmed celluloid 

                              Acquired:  December 20, 2009

                              Artist:  Unknown

                              Sequence 2, Scene 116

                           

Finally, here is more detail view of the production background.  It is painted in a soft palette of watercolor with ink highlights and even perhaps xerographic printed image of the background layout.  Unlike my other background from this piece does not have a Xerox overlay cel of the original layout drawing.  The colors are rich and subtle and I love the way they really make the characters come alive in the scene.

                              Original Production Background Setup, watercolor on paper

                              Acquired:  May 20, 2011

                              Artist:  Unknown

                              Sequence 1, Scene 540.1, 550

The background was clearly painted before April 27, 1965 as noted by the date for when the piece went under the camera.  A full year before I was even born!   The painting was done up on a thick type of paper similar to my other Winnie the Pooh master setup featured in an earlier blog.

So can anyone tell me who Mimi is?  What do you think?  

More on Maleficent!

Maleficent
Released:  January 29, 1959
Worldwide Box Office:  $599,000,000

Well, I had to post some more things about Maleficent.  I went last week to see the film and thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle of all.  As mentioned in last weeks posting, Maleficent is one of my favorite villains...or I say now hero as well?  

Disney's new twist on the story added depth and heart to her character in way that very  nicely changed my perspective on Maleficent, which was largely based on my interest in Disney's Sleeping Beauty.   It was really interesting to see how elements of the original story continued to make its familiar way into this newer story.  I particularly loved the scene where Maleficent states...."I too shall bestow a gift..."  I found myself "singing" along through this scene as I have watched that sequence many times in researching animation art over the years.

Another interesting twist was how they actually introduced the "dragon" into the story, which was much different from the original.  I don't wish to spoil any plot lines here, but considering how they changed the story, essentially no element was left out ...or as it related to Maleficent in my opinion.  Anyhow, I thought I would share a couple of layouts next that I picked awhile back that are great drawings in the development and staging of the original fight sequence with Maleficent.

                              Original Production drawings, graphite onouache on animation paper

                              Acquired:  May 20, 2011

                              Artist(s):  Unknown

                              

Both of these drawings worked up in graphite and stage the scene where Prince Philip fights Maleficent who has taken over King Stefan's castle.  Both drawings were done on very wide animation paper and show some great expression, not too mention action.  I particularly love the fiery effects against Philip shield.

So for a more climactic moment, next up is one of my ultimate favorite cel setups, the scene where Philip and Maleficent battle on the cliff in the end.  Cel setups from this scene are very rare and even more rare are complete images of her as the dragon, let alone getting on of Philip in scale.

                              Original Production Cels, gouache on celluloid

                              Acquired:  November 21, 2005

                              Artist(s):  Unknown

This setup have been trimmed down from the wide technirama celluloids typical used in Sleeping Beauty as it was filmed in 70mm cinemascope.  Philip is on a separate cel and Maleficent's cel overlays both placed on a hand-painted custom presentation background.  I usually don't care for presentation backgrounds unless they were created at the studio or were preliminary production pieces, but considering cels from this sequence are incredibly rare I fell in love with the piece.

A couple of the details with this piece that really are amazing include the hand-inked lines all throughout.  This was not one of the scenes that Disney employed the newer Xerographic technology.   Maleficent is outlined in three different colors - green, black and yellow and she includes transparent paint applied beautifully to her wings and gills.  Philip in comparison is hand-inked with hues of black, grey, brown and marroon.  I love the detail of his face and sword.  Some great work just creating the animation drawings on the original cels.  In a later post I promise to share more detail.

So, if you haven't seen Angelina Jolie bring Maleficent to life in real life on the screen....go!  You will thoroughly enjoy it.  It adds a new dimension to the early film, the art and the fantasy of it all.

Malificent....Powerful and Strong!

Sleeping Beauty
Released:  January 29, 1959
Worldwide Box Office:  $51,600,000

Well up this week, I thought I would share some of my favorite drawings of Maleficent considering the recent release of Disney's film starring Angelina Jolie.  Maleficent is one of my favorite villains from one of my favorite films.  So keeping this real simple this week, here are few pieces with the dialog that you can just imagine in your mind Eleanor Audley speaking in her distinct voice.

First up from the beginning of the film, where Maleficent learns that she "wasn't wanted" by Merryweather.  Maleficent comes back, "Oh Dear, what an awkward situation....!"

This is a nice 16 field drawing of her and Diablo, signed by Marc Davis.  I love her expression and particularly the way Marc positions her finger and hand by her face to give just that extra touch of wicked elegance.

After she gathers her thoughts, bestows her "sleeping" gift, Maleficent expresses,

"Stand back you fools!"

This is also a nice key animators drawing of Maleficent complete in full figure with flowing robes, staff and fingernails!

Next up is a great a publicity photo I picked up last year of Eleanor Audley being filmed for the animated sequence.  In this sequence Eleanor is acting out the scene for when she retorts violent toward her Goons for looking for a baby all these years.  

A few years back, I was offered a wonderful collection of sequential drawings of Maleficent from the dramatic scene.  What was particularly fun was the way I was able to bring back to life in my hand her "wrath and fury" as I flipped the drawings.  This sequence was beautifully drawn on wider "technirama" animation paper and shows how they mastered her fiery robe to express her emotion.  There are also some great facial expressions in this very short but active scene.  Here she screams as she pulls up her robe and staff in this sequence,"Imbeciles!  Idiots!"   

This sequence was animated by Ambrozi "Amby" Paliwoda who was from my home state and born inCleveland, Ohio.  He worked at the Disney studio from 1935 to 1960 and was awarded the Animation Guild's Golden Award in 1985 for his lifetime work.  In a later post, I promise to share the full sequence complete with my re-created pencil test.  It is a great sequence. 

What do you think?!