11 YEARS AGO

Today, it has been 11 years since Bill Peet left this world, leaving behind memorable scenes as story artist for Walt Disney Studios. 

His work started working in Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck animated shorts, but it can also be seen in various Disney classics, like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Cinderella, Dumbo, Peter Pan, The Sword in the Stone, Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book and Song of South. 

(Source: fancysomedisneymagic)

animationplayground:

Actress Helene Stanley devised a light step dance for Merryweather cleaning the house with magic in Sleeping Beauty. Later work on the sequence determined that the action would be better seen in front view, which was no problem once the action was understood by the animator.

1. First a drawing was made over the photostats, tracing action the animator wanted to retain, emphasizing points that made the movement unique, and noting the relationships and timing of the parts.
2. Setting the photostats aside, the animator worked from his own drawings to capture the same action in the proportions of his cartoon character, who, at this point, was turned around to face the camera.
3. Using this second set of roughs as he would on any scene, he proceeded to animate normally. Occasionally he referred back to the photostats  one more time for some fine point that did not seem to be working or to solve a difficult drawing problem within an action. After all, that is what a model is for.

—Frank Thomas, The Illusion of Life

Artwork by Paulway Chew

On March 30th 1993, almost 20 years ago, Marc and Alice Davis threw a garden party with family and friends in celebration of Marc’s 80th birthday.

Andreas Deja was one of the many Disney animators to attend, and instead of getting Marc a store-bought card, he came up with an illustration of Maleficent (one of Marc’s characters) being asked to dance by Jafar (one of the characters Andreas had animated). 

In additon, he wrote the lyrics from an old song in order to point out that Maleficent had an influence on the way he designed and animated Jafar. Simple, clear lines and shapes, resulting in a stylized design for the character. Andreas animated some great villains from the Disney Renaissance, whereas Marc did two great villains from the golden age. He was truly inspired by Marc’s work, what better way to show it than in making him this home-made card.

In the photo there is Andreas in the very 90s colorful shirt, giving Marc the card. The animation historian Charles Solomon is the one with the glasses in the middle.

Source: Deja View

(Source: fancysomedisneymagic)

Disney Princesses Part II

Art by: SUZUMECHAN

(Part I here!)

A beautiful sculpture of Maleficent’s head by Marc Davis

HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY MARC DAVIS!

Today on the 30th March is Marc Davis birthday… but not any regular birthday, it would have been his 100th.

Marc was an artist and animator at the Walt Disney studios, one of the Nine Old Men, and was responsible for many beloved characters such as Thumper (Bambi), Cinderella, Aurora and Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty), Alice (Alice in Wonderland), Tinker Bell (Peter Pan) and of course the fabulous Cruella De Vil (101 Dalmatians).

Marc also played a key role in the creation of many Disney attractions, as did her wife, Alice Davis, in, for instance, It’s a Small World.

Here I leave you with a video of Marc from an interview from the late 1980s in which he talks about how he developed the character of Maleficent.

(Source: fancysomedisneymagic)

disneytrinkets:

Jam Home Made Sleeping Beauty Tiara Necklace

Beautiful! I want this!

Modern Disney Girls

Art by tinysnail

Polaroids with Princesses autographs! Aren’t they beautiful?

Original Photography from Flicker

(Source: fancysomedisneymagic)