Michael Sporn Animation - Splog

- At the start of Disney’s production of Bambi, Rico LeBrun, an established Italian artist, who was teaching at Chouinard Institute, was employed to help teach the studio’s artists to learn how to draw animals. He created some intense classes where animators concentrated on the anatomy of deer and other animals. The story goes that LeBrun went so far as to cut open a deer’s corpse and slowly peel away parts of the animal for drawing and study. Over days, as the smell grew more putrid, fewer and fewer people attended.

LeBrun prepared a book of some 40 or so pages of the skeletal system of deer for the artists to use as reference in learning to manipulate the animal characters. His art was copied onto animation paper with typed notes added.

I had posted one of these pages which I located on ebay (reposted above right) and am quite pleased with this original piece. Presumably the others are all, also, on animation paper.

Sky-David had contacted me after a recent item I had posted about the Tyrus Wong drawings on Bambi. Sky
told me that he had a copy of all of the pages of LeBrun’s study. Furthermore, he shared it with me and I’m sharing it with you. At least, here are the first 18 pages. I can post more at a future time.

(Click any image to enlarge.)______________

Rico LeBrun (standing), in his class, advising Eric Larsen.

Animators in LeBrun’s drawing class. (Left to Right) Louie Schmitt, Ollie Johnston,
Milt Kahl, Bill Shull, and Jack Bradbury.

For futher information on Rico LeBrun’s biography, go here.

- Hans Perk has been the source for much of the animation history we’ve been sharing on these blogs. His posting the drafts to Pinocchio and numerous Silly Symphonies led Mark Mayerson to prepare “Mosaics” which visualized these drafts and gave Mark an excuse for some detailed comments on that film. At the same time, I was able to post some of the storyboards from John Canemaker’s collection which joined well with the two.

Recently, the same has been true of material for 101 Dalmatians. For this film, Hans not only posted the drafts but the legendary script by Bill Peet, as well. Mark is currently posting his Mosaics.

Now, I’d like to call attention to what I consider an enormously valuable post by Hans. He calls it Synchronizing Mickey and its follow up, More on Synchronizing Mickey. There you’ll find some historic patent documents which help to describe the Disney studio’s development of synchronized sound. Hans writes in clear detail how the few at the studio were able to go from silent film to Steamboat Willie at the Colony Theater in 1928.

It’s an informative and instructive piece well worth your look.

- Harvey Deneroff offers an extended and informative piece on the Independent animator, Joanna Priestly. It’s an older article but worth the read. Harvey’s site is unlike most others and should be explored if you haven’t already, and it’s nice to see Joanna’s work given a nice appreciation.

- In the past couple of weeks I’ve posted some images sent to me by Robert Cowan from his collection of cels, artwork and memorabilia. They’re all astounding pieces. I’m pleased to say that he’s created a new website around this collection, and I encourage you to visit if you want to look at some beautiful animation art.

- There’s another excellent animated piece by Jeff Scher on the NYTimes website. This month’s edition is certainly one of the better films in the series. These are not Flash films that are knocked out in an afternoon; they’re obviously the product of good hard work, and Jeff is providing some real creativity to the Times’ OP ED page. To quote Jeff from the post:
___“All the Wrong Reasons” is an experiment in making a film
___that feels as if it has percolated up from the subconscious;
___a dream you can watch with your eyes open. It’s one of
___those big cathartic dreams, a labyrinth of fleeting moments
___full of metaphor and mischief. I wanted it to feel like a bumpy roller coaster ride in
___and out of the dark side of the brain where all the wrong reasons reside. And, as with all
___dreams, the meaning and significance are open to interpretation.

___There are almost 3,000 paintings and collages in this film. I used rapidly changing color
___to give a shimmer to the animation and lots of collage to create a visually percussive
___texture.

The score by Shay Lynch perfectly captures the mood of the piece. They’re so in synch that I wondered which came first the score or the animation. Take a look and a listen.

- Last Saturday, I was able to post some images of Mickey in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice taken from Robert Cowan’s excellent collection.

This led me to search down some old xerox copies I have of animation keys from one of the great scenes from this sequence. It was animated by Disney legend, Les Clark.

These drawings are probably all over the net; I haven’t looked. Part of this sequence was printed (rather small) in Frank Thomas/Ollie Johnston’s book, Illusions of Life. I do know that Hans Perk posted the drafts for this film on his site back in 2006. However, I thought it worth posting just in case.

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I’ve also made a QT copy of the the extremes (assuming that the drawing number represented the frame number - as was usually done at Disney.) Here it is, below.

- I have an advanced board for the sequence in 101 Dalmatians wherein Pongo goes to the kitchen to comfort Perdita who’s worrying about Cruella’s threat to buy up all her pups.

This relates to Bill Peet’s original board (posted here on April 1), but is composed of BG layouts and animation dwng cutouts. I’m posting the new board and juxtaposing it with the Peet original so you can see how it’s changed.

I also suggest you check out Mark Mayerson’s invaluable Mosaics for this film and sequence.

This was Ollie Johnston’s sequence, and he probably drew the dogs.
This is how the full LO board looks:

________(Click any image to enlarge.)

This is Bill Peet’s version of the sequence:

This is a breakdown of both to keep the images as large as I can:

Johnston

Peet

Johnston

Johnston

Peet

Johnston

Peet
_______

Johnston

Peet

Johnston

- Last night, ASIFA East held its 39th annual Festival at the New School. There were over two hours of award winners, and it was one of the better shows of the past few years. I’m not going to report on any of the award winners or titles, but I did take a bunch of amateur photos. To find out the winning films go to the ASIFA East website; they’ll post titles today or tomorrow._____________________________________________(Click images to enlarge.)

Here are the pics and apologies to all for the slapdash quality.

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Shooting from the back of the house, I wasn’t able to get the best shots of award winners. Here are two of the less fuzzy pics.
(1) Dave Levy looks on as Mike and Tim Rauch receive the award for their film, Germans In The Woods.
(2) Bill Plympton thanks all the people who helped him make Hot Dog.

Heidi Stallings and Debra Solomon.

- Drivers around the country are used to the site of the traffic cone. Those orange, rubber cones guide us in our cars from one lane to the next or blockade protected areas from our drivers. Somehow, I’ve always associated the orange cone with the automobile.

Recently, I”ve noticed that New York City use these cones for everything under the sun, and I was surprised to see so many of them on the short walk I take daily. __________________(Click any image to enlarge.)
Lately, I’ve been walking about
half a mile to an express subway stop.That’s about 10 city blocks (which pulls me through and across Madison Square Park), and I came to realize that NY uses the cone as much for the ambulator as the automobile.

I took all these snaps Sunday morning on my walk.

These three cones sit in the middle of a sidewalk just outside
a fenced construction area. I don’t know what use they are
in the center of the sidewalk, but there they are every day.

The most frequent sighting of the orange cones is usually around construction sites
and fencing. Here, on the right, they use a cone-extender. Something new.

Turning the corner, there’s the long stretch of street that’s been completely coned off.
It’s a movie. This Sunday, four blocks were completely coned off. It’s a big movie.
The standing poles have sheets of paper which tell you what film they’re going to shoot.
The movie is Duplicity, Julia Roberts’ next film. It costars Clive Owen
and is directed by Tony Gilroy, who did Michael Clayton, last year.

The cones usually block off an area, and they film on the following day. Cars replace the cones overnight, and trailers move in early morning to set up.

I’m not quite sure what purpose the cone serves on top of the car,
but this is a common site on these movie preps.

Here, I guess this construction site is using the cone to prevent anyone
from going behind the red door. It stops me.

I pass this cone daily. It sits outside an outdoor parking lot. Up close, you can see that
the cone covers and protects a stand pipe (check the top of the cone) and doesn’t move.

My favorite, on this trip, is the pile of three cones at the local bodega.
The attached wire, I guess, protects anyone from stealing them, and
prevents anyone from tripping over the basement grating.

- I’m overwhelmed by the wealth of artwork that Robert Cowan continues to send me from his collection for use on this site. He’s put together a number of pieces from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and given me the opportunity of, not only viewing them, but sharing them.

Take a look, and be prepared for a couple of gems. Don’t forget to click any of them for a larger view.

Here’s a storyboard drawing used in a LEICA assembly reel. This is a beauty. What a great bit of art.

This is a stunning cel setup of Mickey trying to bail water out the window. Beautiful EFFX work rarely seen, I think, in these setups.

Above and below are two animation drawings of Mickey from the sequence. They look like cleanups to me, though I’m not certain of the one above.

Here’s a framed cel setup of Mickey and the original broom, loading up.
Also framed is a note from Walt Disney to Irene Kanelstein. This is a great story. Irene was a 13 year old student who won an essay prize and the reward was this cel.

Below is the newspaper report and the winning essay. These three pieces are a treasure. Mr. Cowan wrote about the three pieces:
____ I was really amazed with the Kanelstein pieces. Frankly, the only item described
____ in the auction was of the cel and Walt’s signature. The other stuff was in an
____ envelope on the back and I was amazed to read it. It was so unique that I had
____ the items framed and they sit next to the Mickey/Walt piece.

It doesn’t get any better than this if you ask me.

I must remind you about The Ingeborg Willy Scrapbook a publication that uses extensive material from the Cowan Collection and, given how fabulous the images I’ve been posting are, it’s obvious that this book has to be a gem.

Hans Perk also verifies, on his site, that the reproductions and the images are all extraordinary. I’m salivating already.

- The release of the dvd for The Jungle Book inspired my posting of these animation drawings by the brilliant, Milt Kahl.

These are some of the animation drawings by Kahl from a sequence featuring King Louie doing a dance. It’s interesting that I think immediately of Shere Kahn as Milt Kahl’s work, and I don’t think of Louie. Yet I’ve had these copies for the past 25 years.

Somewhere - I have to find it - I remember Walt Disney being quoted as having said the one thing you should never animate is a monkey. They’re funny enough in real life; animation can’t improve on them. I remember thinking of that quote the day I first saw this film. I also wondered how Louis Prima felt knowing that they were representing him as an orangutan. I suppose that’s not a monkey.

The copies of these drawings I have are xeroxes. I’m posting them for the magnificent drawing alone; I don’t have timing sheets to be able to work out the movement. Honestly, with Milt Kahl’s work, looking at the images alone should be enough. I apologize if these are at all fuzzy or grey; that’s the quality of the images I have. They’re also not full sheets of animation paper. I copied only the peg holes and drawings.

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(Click any image you’d like to enlarge.)

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Talk about breaking of joints,
_______________this scene couldn’t be a greater lesson in animation for you.

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I know I don’t have to say, but I will; these drawings are extraordinary.
#100, here on the left, is a masterpiece in weight, balance, forshortening and sheer brilliance. And it’s only one frame from a scene.

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A large thank you to the inestimable Robert Cowan sent me the cel setup, pictured above, from his amazing collection of animation art. It consist of three cels over a master background: Baloo, Louie & 4 monkeys.

- As I mentioned on a past writing, I’m a fan of the poems of Hillaire Belloc. I posted some pages from his Bestiary, and I have a second book of poems, his Cautionary Tales for Children. a British publication, includes many gems. I’d like to share my favorite of these. As a matter of fact, we animated this poem as part of a double video, Nonsense & Lullabies, back in the 90’s. (Someday I’ll share some of that artwork. It was beautifully designed in house by Jason McDonald.)

A bit of info about Belloc:

He graduated from Oxford, then served in Parliament.

After graduating from Oxford, Hilaire Belloc served in Parliament. Disatisfied with public office, he left the House of Commons and wrote extensively during the first World War. He wrote in many different styles and forms. Many of his children’s poems are whimsical but quite dark.

B.T.B. was the signature of Basil Templeton Blackwood.He met Belloc at Oxford and was killed in action in 1917. Blackwood was a solicitor who illustrated several of Belloc’s books.

(Click any image to enlarge and read it properly.)______

- I recently received an email from Sky-David. He has a a small animation company in Carlsbad, California. He’d written that he enjoyed my blog and particularly liked one quote from an old interview with me.

“I like a pencil dragging across a piece of paper and the problems you get with that.” That is largely what my business does, it is just me and one computer assistant. I got the degree in animation from Cal Arts 1972 - 74 and later got a degree in Physical Therapy and Life Sciences my second loves. That gave a firm financial base to keep my first love, animation going. By circumstance I got animation jobs for the bio-information technology sector, that pays very well. Not anything to see in a film festival yet it opened doors. Then an educational animation THE LUMINOUS RADIANCE OF THE LYMPH SYSTEM. And then a client asked me to do naturalistic animation of the development of the human embryo as seen from inside the womb. Then a woman who wrote a story with 4 animals saw two of my early 1970’s films, AURA CORONA and SONOMA and hired my company to animated her short story THE WOLF AND THE SNOW OWL because my early films are in the same style as the drawings for the original story. _____________(Click any image to enlarge.)

And my animated documentary, FIELD OF GREEN: A SOLDIER’S ANIMATED SKETCHBOOK that is based on a sketchbook diary that I made during the late 1960’s in combat won the grand prize for animation at the 2008
Black Maria Film Festival.

After reading this letter and doing a small bit of reading, I realized I’d known Sky-David as Dennis Pies back in the early 80’s when he was teaching animation at Harvard. Actually, I’d known his films and was a strong admirer, though we met only a couple of times back then.

His earlier films felt like beautiful, animated landscapes though they were distinctly abstract. His absence was felt when they stopped appearing on the festival circuit, and I often wondered where he’d gone. One of these films, Ace of Light, can be found on YouTube. This is a film that was animated with light, shot on an Oxberry using an arial image projector.

Newer films are shown on the Sky-David site.
Other older film titles include: Nebula (1972), Merkaba (1973), Aura Corona (1974), Luma Nocturna (1974), Sonoma (1977), Surface Work (1978), Hand Piece (1979), A Hard Passage (1981), Ace of Light (1984), Dissolve in Light (1984), Sky Heart (1988), and The Green Child (1992).

There’s plenty of information and movies on his studio’s site Sky David Studio. Here are some stills he sent me.

_____________Field of Green

_____________Field of Green

_____________Field of Green

_____________Wolf - Snow Owl