A Little Pixie Dust up on the Mountain

 

Brother Bear & Peter Pan

Well I was a little delayed with my latest posting as a friend had descended from the sky to come visit me this past week.  My neighbor, Terry Dufresne, who lives next to me in Kona, Hawaii and summers in Portland, Oregon spent a few days with us.  It was her first visit to Alaska.  She came up to visit us before heading to perform at a Tap Festival in Vancouver, BC.  

Terry packs a fiery punch and dances with every step she takes.  We had a great time showing her around Anchorage visiting unique places.  We took her to the Alaska Native Hospital Gallery displays, Fur Exchange and the Captain Cook monument to see our Sleeping Lady.  Next up was a fantastic ride in the Prince William Sound to see the splendor of Alaska's tidewater glaciers and marine wildlife.  We must have seen over 100 sea otters as well black Bears, eagles, dall porpoises and more.  So in honor of my fanciful friend from Oregon who spreads magic pixie dust where ever she travels, I am sharing two pieces of art today in her honor.

First up is a beautiful background painting from the film, Brother Bear by artist Greg Drollette.  This wonderful production background shows off the plein air California style of painting that was hallmark of the production backgrounds from this film.  

Original Production Background, watercolor on board

Artist: Greg Drolette

Acquired:  November 12, 2008

Next, I am sharing a delightful production drawing of Terry's favorite character, Tinkerbell.  This rough animation drawing is from the sequence where Tink dips her toes into Captain Hooks inkwell to mark the spot on the map where the Lost Boy's hideout is located.   I shared this drawing with Terry one night after dinner.  I love the way Tink "dances" through air just like my friend Terry!

 

Original Production Drawing, graphite on 16 field animation paper

Artist: Unknown

Acquired:  August 27, 2007

Happy 76th! Make Mine Music

Released:  August 15, 1946

Hello folks!  It has been a busy week, so this weeks' post will be a simple one.  I wanted to celebrate the 76th anniversary this past Monday on August 15 of the release of Walt Disney's eighth animated feature film, Make Mine Music.  To celebrate, I thought I would repost this wonderful production cel setup with master background commemorating the day!

Original Production Cel Setup on production background, gouache on trimmed celluloid, watercolor on board

Artist: Various Studio, unknown

Acquired:  June 15, 2007

I have had this production cel setup for many years now and have always enjoyed the fun and happy musicality of the piece.  It is comprised of a number of cels trimmed to outline and applied to a screen used production background from the same sequence.  It was originally sold through Courvoisier Galleries back in the 1946.   The film featured the musical talents of many contemporary Amercian artists popular in the day such as Benny Goodman, the Andrew Sisters and more.  

This production setup is from the sequence, "After You've Gone" performed by the Goodman Quartet.  The segment features a somewhat psychedelic interpretation of musical instruments coming alive and a pair of two figures dancing on a keyboard.  The background can be seen about 44 minutes in the films.   Unfortunately, it did not do well at the box office like most features in 1940's post the World War, but over time it has earned back its original cost of $1.35 million.     

Happy 80th Bambi!

 

Bambi - A Masterpiece from the Golden Age

Released:  August 9, 1942

Original Theatrical Poster Release

On August 9 we commemorate the 80th year since Bambi's original release in London by the Walt Disney Studio in 1942.   Bambi was the fifth animated feature added to Disney's film catalog.   It was later released to audiences in the United States on Thursday August 13 starting in New York. 

Based upon the Viennese author Felix Salton's book of the same name, Disney was approached by MGM director, Sidney Franklin, about producing an animated film.  Franklin had previously purchased the rights to the story in 1932 but could not seem move the project along at MGM.  Walt was very interested in the story and once Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs were nearly complete in late 1936, Walt Disney acquired the rights from Franklin and began production and collaboration on Bambi as early as the spring of 1937 and a more earnest progression into production around the summer of 1939.

Bambi has proven to be one of the more successful features from golden age.  With a total budget of $858,000 for production, Bambi has went on to gross to date approximately $268,000,000 worldwide.

As a celebration of the film, I thought I would share a couple of production drawings from the film.  One of things that I have found very interesting was the level of craftsmanship in the creation of the drawings, cels, production backgrounds and concept art from the film.  In a previous post on Bambi, I shared a story about my first cel setup from the film of Bambi and his mother walking in the forest.  The level of detail that the artist put into such tiny cels drawings for these shots was remarkable considering how small the characters were in the film.  Just look at the drawing of Bambi and level of detail in the character for an image that is physically two inches square!  Walt Disney took the realism with animation to a whole new level.  

Original production drawing, colored pencil and graphite on 16 field animation paper

Artist:  Disney Studio, unknown

Original production drawing, colored pencil and graphite on 16 field animation paper

Artist:  Disney Studio, unknown

 

Original production Cel Setup, Courvoisier studio prepared setup

Artist:  Various Disney Studio, unknown.

 

Happy 80th Anniversary to Bambi!

 

"Unfortunately, I Know a Little Magic!"

 

Pat Caroll

Ursula, The Little Mermaid

B. May 5, 1927, D. July 30, 2022

This past Thursday July 30, the animation world lost the memorable and talented voice artist, Pat Caroll.  Cast to play the villain in the Disney's animated feature, the Little Mermaid, released in 1989, Pat Caroll's distinctive voice brilliantly brought the character of Ursula to life.   Her deeper pitched tone, the rich subtleties of emotion in her voice and her dramatic flair really exuded the deliciousness of Ursula's character.  She was perfectly cast to play this part and she also sang the passionate and dramatic musical number, "Poor Unfortunate Souls!"

Original Production Drawing

Artist:  Disney Unknown

Graphite & colored pencil on 16 field animation paper

Pat Caroll will be missed....a truly "Fortunate Soul!" that will live on for all of us to enjoy everytime we enjoy the Little Mermaid.  Thank you for giving us such a memorable performance and may you rest in peace.

                                                    Original Production Drawing

                                                    Artist:  Disney Unknown

                                                    Graphite & colored pencil on 16 field animation paper