Small One finished yesterday...
Taking a little break to prepare some new things.
I must say that so far, the response to my Small One draft has been more underwhelming than I feared it would be. There IS no other place to find this information, folks! Look at the film (e.g. via the YouTube links I posted yesterday) and then check out the draft. You may very well learn something new...
The good news: Holland in the Final! (Phew!!!)
[Addition: It wasn't a pretty final, though quite exciting - which saw Spain win four minutes before the end of the extra time. Oh, well...]
I must say that so far, the response to my Small One draft has been more underwhelming than I feared it would be. There IS no other place to find this information, folks! Look at the film (e.g. via the YouTube links I posted yesterday) and then check out the draft. You may very well learn something new...
The good news: Holland in the Final! (Phew!!!)
[Addition: It wasn't a pretty final, though quite exciting - which saw Spain win four minutes before the end of the extra time. Oh, well...]
Labels: News
posted by Hans Perk at 10:00 AM
18 Comments:
Hans, I did some calculations. According to drafts John Pomeroy animated 727 feet, Goldman - 592 and Cliff Nordberg 364 feet. Of course they are directing animators. Hajee and Harvey had about 120 feet each on his own. As for others, their input was very modest. I noticed that Linda Miller is not mentioned in drafts at all. And then I read somewhere that she (and other three girls - Lorna Pomeroy, Heidy Guedel and Emily Jiuliano also) became Disney animator after The Small One! I mean officially. As far as I know in 1979 there were 16 animators at Disney including these girls. But I don't understand how one could be an animator without any mention in drafts.
Best regards
Alexei Kobelev
Hey Alexei,
Great you figured this out!
In Heidi's book we read that she became animator on Rescuers, then followed Pete's Dragon (I do not have that draft), The Small One and The Fox and the Hound (where she finally got an assistant, Sally Voorheis). It seems her trip to 'Full' Animator was actually sort of a gradual process, with some directors trying to keep her in assisting (Woolie), others being very helpful (Art Stevens, Bluth).
--Hans
Years ago, I never really thought much of The Small One. I thought it was terribly slow-paced, especially for a young kid who had a waning attention span and it felt lackluster compared to the other Disney films and cartoons that I saw. But seeing it again now, years later, I've sort of warmed up to it. The quality of the animation for the most part is above satisfactory (I especially like Cliff Nordberg's auctioneer, despite it's over-exaggeration) and it definitely has it's moments. I consider it a big turning point as far as Disney animation goes.
I think one of the things that bothered me about watching it as a child was that Small One was supposed to be old and worn out, but he always came off to me as being a young donkey. Maybe it has to do with the design or his mannerisms with the boy. I see a lot of Littlefoot from 'Land Before Time' in Small One, which is not terribly surprising since Don Bluth and his team (John Pomeroy, Lorna Cook, etc.) had their handprints all over both of them.
You've been posting these drafts at a very steady clip these past few weeks, both Melody Time and Small One, so I'm definitely grateful for your efforts taking time out to make these documents available to us all. It means a lot to many of us, so don't think that your work has gone unnoticed. This is extraordinary work your doing and we're all ecstatic that your doing all this. You'd be surprised how much these drafts have helped us. Thanks once again!
Hans,
I am working on some interviews that John Culhane conducted in the mid-'70s with the "young generation" and this draft will be pure gold when the time will come to anotate the interview. I can't tell you how grateful I am for the fact that you posted it.
I returned to Disney in the early seventies still chasing my dream of animating. Oddly enough, I had worked in story on "The Jungle Book" some years earlier.
However, it appeared Disney wanted no part of me, and I was fired after a few months on "Robin Hood." I actually did some animation on that film. I became a story person and never returned to animation.
I'm not sure, but maybe Disney did me a favor.
Good luck for the next future drafts!! Where did you find these documents?? Because they seen very rare to find in this world!
P.S. Good luck on Holland in the final tomorrow, me and my Dad will be supporting Holland!! Even though Holland and Spain are both equally good teams!
Is "The Resucers" still on the menu, or are you having second thoughts?
hans sir i am a new person in this animation way i want to be like you please give me some tips to learn
Are you still having a break from posts, or is it just a lot of work to do?
Hi folks - I am really busy at the moment in SoCal, and even fitted in a whirlwind visit to the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco and four days of Comic-Con in San Diego. I will return to posting (Rescuers) asap, but it MAY not be doing so before I get back to Denmark in early August! We'll see.
Shams: my first stab at an advice: find a copy of Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston's book "Disney Animation: the Illusion of Life," read it, understand it, and then just work, work, work - draw, draw, draw! As Ward Kimbal said, (or at least approximating it) the first 100,000 drawings are the hardest...
Hans, I'm getting the book 'The Illusion of Life' on my birthday, and that's two days from now: July 29.
I bought it off Amazon, and what I dislike is that it cost about £45 just to buy it, but I'm still looking forward to reading it, since I want to become a cartoonist for newspapers!
Steven, £45 is cheap for two lifetimes of knowledge from the eye of the storm of animation! But it is not enough just to buy it - or even just to read it! You must UNDERSTAND it. Then, and only then will you find it is the best book on the presentation of entertainment that you will ever buy! The understanding can be done by sitting down and drawing. For this, maybe it would be a good idea to get Preston Blair's book(s) as well, as they are a beginners course in drawing animated characters. Blair is much cheaper, but may be a help to get into the style of drawing. But The Illusion of Life is the best book - and it can teach you more than just animation! It delves into story, character development, layout and a lot more!
If I am busy in two days, let me here and now already wish you a Happy Birthday!
Hooray! Its my birthday today and I turn 14, and I got the book 'The Illusion of Life'
I've been flickering through and reading through pages of 'The Illusion of Life' this morning, and its BRILL!! The quality is great, and its got great original drawings and tutorial in it! Goodness, Hans, this is a GREAT book, I'll take it with me on holiday!
There are some very interesting stuff written down, what interested me was when the Disney Special Effects Department was founded by two foreign employees: Ugo D'Orsi (Italian) and of course Cy Young (Chinese), and its on pages 253-254, and what's funny is that two geniuses were foreign and not American around that period! Very interesting, my aunt thought it was rather interesting and quite true to see that most of the employees couldn't make out what D'Orsi or Young were saying, and their communications were impossible to understand, According to Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.
I'm sure gonna be busy ALL summer, but I will have a schedule to work on it, since I'm a bit active!
I don't mean to be picky but, are you still in America or are you busy back in Denmark because you said you'll be back in early August.
Sorry for being impatient, but...its just that I'm always looking forward to your future postings and its annoying that there's no future posts!! But you have more important work to do, and never give up!!
--Steven
Don't worry, Steven - I am now back in Denmark and will soon begin posting again!
Thanks (as always) for posting these drafts, Hans.
I'm sorry that you didn't get any response on your invitations to the crew who worked on The Small One to drop in here to post comments. I would have been interested to read the remembrances of that transitional period at the Disney studio from some of those who were in the thick of it at the time.
"Hooray! Its my birthday today and I turn 14, and I got the book 'The Illusion of Life'"
Steven Hartley I envy you a bit ... to have this book at 14 is a great start into learning animation. I wish I was at that time in my life when I first laid eyes on that wonderful book. What a treat. I received mine for Christmas when I turned 19 , about to head off for Sheridan College to study animation. Before then I had the great Preston Blair booklets and a handful of the other animation books that were available then ... but The Illusion of Life was/is the mother lode .
Of course many years later now I know the book well, having read it cover to cover many times. I still try to read it through at least once a year and I pick it up frequently to look at the drawings.
Let me wish you a (belated) Happy Birthday and wish you many happy hours studying the book and applying it's lessons at the drawing board.
Thanks for the late wishes David, although I'm taking Art as a GCSE at my school, Fine Art I'm taking.
I've already started practicing the drawings, and already on my first attempt, I drew the Witch in Snow White, and I did it pretty well, and that was my first attempt, and I've tried to do some Pinocchio stuff, and I've drew it a bit dodgy (shape of head isn't right), I'm still practicing!!
I've noticed that at the top corner of the pages, there's a flip through animation drawings of Jiminy Cricket, Donald Duck, etc. and I did a Milt Kahl Jiminy Cricket and its not bad!!
Its a great book!!
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