Animation Artifacts &Books &Disney &Illustration &Mary Blair &Peet &Story & Storyboards 21 Jan 2008 09:35 am
Peet and Blair’s Little House
- Earlier this week, I posted John Canemaker ‘s loan of a couple of storyboards by Bill Peet from Bill Cottrell’s script for The Little House. This was adapted from the children’s book by Virgina Lee Burton.
Today I’ve got a fifth board. I’m not sure it’s storyboard; the images look a bit more like background layouts. Perhaps it’s something in between the two. I’m not even sure the drawings are by Bill Peet.
This is the actual board. However, I’m posting it as I did the others in pieces so that it can best be enlarged for good viewing.
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- Mary Blair was the dominating design force on this film, and her work stands out vigorously.
John’s exceptional book, The Art and Flair of Mary Blair includes a number of key pieces of art for this short. I think it might be remiss for me not to post them alongside these storyboards to see how Peet and Blair worked together. With thanks and apologies to John and his excellent book, here are the color scans.
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(Click any image to enlarge.)
on 21 Jan 2008 at 2:42 pm 1.Eddie Fitzgerald said …
Some nifty art work here! It must have been a challenge to board a film which required so many front views of a house. Blair’s colors are awe-inspiring!
on 21 Jan 2008 at 2:51 pm 2.Michael said …
Great point, Eddie. That was exactly my thought when I first saw the film. Especially with such a simple looking design (though we know it’s really not so simple.)
on 23 Jan 2008 at 12:44 pm 3.Floyd Norman said …
When I returned to Disney in the early eighties, I remember being able to go to the morgue and check out original artwork by Mary Blair and Bill Peet. Some of the younger guys had this stuff pinned on their storyboards. I’m talking about original art, not photocopies.
Boy, those days are over.
on 31 Jan 2008 at 3:22 am 4.Drake Brodahl said …
You’ve really outdone yourself with these posts, Michael. Your efforts are much appreciated! So great to see all these boards and concepts that went into creating the films.