OTHER DISNEY CELS AND DRAWINGS

 

Although "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" will always be my favorite, other Disney-films also have much of my heart. Especially the other four features made during the "Golden Age of Animation" ("Pinocchio", "Fantasia", "Dumbo" and "Bambi") are in my opinion among the finest animated films ever made.

In "Pinocchio", Bill Tytla's animation of Stromboli is often regarded as some of the finest animation ever made. Tytla (1904-1968) was one of the greatest innovators of "personality animation". In personality animation, cartoon characters come alive as individuals who appear to think, solve problems and express emotions as believably as flesh-and-blood actors. In brief, they have souls.
Though some people think that "Pinocchio" lacks the heart that "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" has, it is technically and artistically superior. The wondrous tale of a merry marionette who magically comes to life and longs to be a real boy has been acclaimed by critics, historians and audiences as Disney's ultimate animated masterpiece.
 
On these pages you can find some sericels from "Pinocchio" as well as cels, drawings and a layout-drawing from other Disney-films.

I hope you'll enjoy my website, and if you have anything to add or any other comments, please e-mail me: hwalther@xs4all.nl

Hans Walther


All images © and TM of the respective studios.

You can click on the thumbnails to see larger images.

   
sc-pinocchio.jpg (24076 bytes)

PINOCCHIO (1940)
Limited edition serigraph cel.
Sequence 4.2 - Scene 11: Pinocchio hesitantly stands before an audience in Stromboli's theater before he begins to sing "I've got no strings to hold me down...".
This scene was originally animated by Frank Thomas.
This limited edition of 2,500 sericels was produced in 1993.

"Walt lived and breathed these pictures", says Frank Thomas (one of Disney's famed "Nine Old Men", who passed away in 2004). No detail escaped Disney's notice. He conducted story meetings, reviewed animation, changed backgrounds, watched color tests, and even made dicisions on which character highlights were to be sprayed or airbrushed onto each cel of Figaro the cat and how rouge was to be applied to every image of Pinocchio. Other producers would have considered such detail a waste of time and money, but if Walt felt they improved his movie, he put them in.

Finally, all the creativity, long hours, hard work and tender loving care paid off. Walt Disney's masterwork was unveiled at a gala New York premiere on February 7, 1940.

sc-jiminy.jpg (32919 bytes)

PINOCCHIO (1940)
Limited edition serigraph cel (1995).
Sequence 1.1 - Scene 90: Jiminy Cricket tries to sleep on a violin.
This sericel is part of the book "Pinocchio" by Pierre Lambert, published by Demons & Merveilles.

A late addition to the Disney film, Jiminy Cricket was not created until June 1938, some nine months after production on "Pinocchio" had started. A minor character in Collodi's original tale, the unnamed, sermonizing cricket is promtly squashed by Pinocchio. But Disney resurrected the cricket and turned to animator Ward Kimball. Walt inspired Kimball with a spellbinding story of a conscientious and loyal cricket, and Kimball quickly transformed the bug into Pinocchio's new co-star.

Jiminy Cricket became one of Disney's most visible stars, appearing in the "Fun and Fancy Free" feature, segments of television's "The Mickey Mouse Club" and other miscellaneous film and TV assignments for the studio over the years.

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THE BAND CONCERT (1935)
Limited edition serigraph cel (1998) from what is generally thought to be the first Mickey Mouse color cartoon.
Mickey leads the band.

This sericel is part of the book "Mickey" by Pierre Lambert, published by Demons & Merveilles and Hyperion.

What can I say about the most popular mouse in the world?

drw-hyenas.jpg (37539 bytes)

THE LAUGHING HYENAS (1995)
Layout drawing from the episode "Can't take a yoke" of Ed, Shenzi and Banzai, the trio of hungry hyenas from Walt Disney's 32nd animated feature film "The Lion King". The hyenas set their sights on a not so defenseless ostrich egg.
Made by Holly Forsyth. Show 23 - Scene 43. This show first aired on CBS as episode # 7 on October 28th, 1995.
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opd-KingHubert.jpg (25106 bytes)

opd-KingStefan.jpg (18032 bytes)

SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959)
“Sleeping Beauty” was in production longer and costed more than any previous Disney feature, but because it lacked the humour and personality that the audience was getting used to in a Disney feature, it got little response in its original release and proved to be an expensive failure. Heavily stylized, especially in Eyvind Earle’s beautiful backgrounds, it was Disney’s first feature to use the 70 mm wide-screen Technirama format. The film has some wonderful moments, notably the scenes with the three fairies Flora, Fauna and Merriwether and the evil Maleficent, and is unquestionably Disney’s most elaborate film.  

Here are two key production drawings of the two kings, King Hubert and King Stefan, fathers of Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip respectively, from the same sequence. 
I especially like the rough underdrawing in red pencil on King Hubert.

On King Hubert’s drawing it says ‘FORWARD’ and has a spacing chart for drawings 144-120. This is drawing 114.

King Stefan’s drawing is from Sequence 13, Scene 36, and has a spacing chart for drawings 94-134. This is drawing 134.

opc-roger&jessica.jpg (32100 bytes)

WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (1988)
Original two cel set-up of Roger Rabbit, Jessica and one of Judge Doom's Weasel thugs on a matching photo background as marketed by the Walt Disney Company.

The film was produced by Touchstone Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, and won four Academy Awards for its technical wizardry and reigned as the undisputed box-office champion for 1988. It is considered a milestone in the history of animation. Mixing live action and animation, "Who framed Roger Rabbit" is produced at such a level of perfection that there is a seamless unity of live and animated characters. Much of its success can be attributed to its ability to capture both adult audiences and children. It also renewed adult interest in animation in the United States.

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opc-rogerjessica.jpg (20629 bytes)

WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (1988)
Original production-cel of Roger Rabbit and Jessica, which isn't totally painted yet. This 'unfinished cel' was purchased from one of the original animators in London, where much of the animation was filmed.
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