Thinking I'll make a thread of some of the various 2D-animation model sheets I've collected over the years.
Most of these will be Disney, and the vast majority will have been sourced by Michael Sporn's Animation Splog (RIP: https://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/ ), which has such an amazing wealth of information and experience in it. <3
I won't be commenting much on these, just sharing for anyone interested in them. I found studying these to be extremely helpful and inspiring with my comics and illustration work. :)
If you have some to share, feel free to add them to the thread! The rest of the posts after this one will be unlisted.
First up: Some Rats of NIMH (1982, d. by Don Bluth).
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Spirit: The Stallion of the Cimarron (2002). Dreamworks, d. by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook, with James Baxter as lead animator on Spirit himself.
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Sleeping Beauty (1959), d. by Les Clark, Clyde Geronimi, and Eric Larson, and Wolfgang Reitherman. Marc Davis was the directing animator for Aurora.
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Dumbo (1941), with the inimitable Vladimir (aka. Bill) Tytla as animation director for Dumbo himself.
So soft, round, and expressive!
EDIT: These and many more at: https://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2245 <3
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Lilo & Stitch (2002), d. Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders. Based on Chris Sanders' signature drawing style, with Andreas Deja as supervising animator on Lilo herself.
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More misc. model sheets from Fleischer! Featuring the characters of The Goon and Olive Oyl.
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Ferdinand The Bull (1938), One of Disney's Silly Symphonies that became its own short filml. Featuring caricatures of many Disney employees at the time, including Walt Disney, caricatured by animator Ward Kimball.
You can read more about the film and the caricatures themselves here: https://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2160
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Hercules (1997), d. Ron Clements and John Musker. Andreas Deja was the lead animator on Hercules, and drew these models.
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Cinderella (1950). These costume exploration models were drawn by Marc Davis, and are dated to March 25th, 1948 (in the upper left-hand corner).
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Fantasia (1940). I have a few of these saved, so look for more in the replies. ^^
Fantasia is one of my absolute favourite Disney movies, and it's such a joy to study these drawings.
[Marked sensitive for family friendly drawings of cartoony naked cupid babies. There are also drawings of pegasus foals. ]
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@Rheall Thanks for sharing and thanks for mentioning Michael Sporn. Sporn's animation could seem simple, but was artistic, organic and skillful.
@BrianKolm I followed his blog when I was a young artist in the 2010s, and was so impressed by his wealth of knowledge and experience. His love of 2D animation as an art form really shined, and I learned so much from him.
@Rheall nice thread. I’m so glad the internet makes these so available - in anim school we came by them rarely, as photocopies on paper, and we treated them like little treasures with semi-religious significance.
@tangocharlie They were certainly semi-religious for young artist me! (At an age where I was still amazed at the ability of DVDs to pause with absolutely still images so I could study and copy them!) Having access to blogs like Michael Sporn's at such an impressionable age was so inspiring, and I continue to learn so, *so* much from them. ^^
@Rheall ha, yeah, at cap college we used to stop-frame *laserdiscs.* Study a little Bagheera acting.
(DVDs were out at the time but they still had a laserdisc player)
@tangocharlie It kind of blows my mind how there are people out there with old ties to animation studios who just have this wealth of xeroxed animation history lying around in their homes, collecting dust. The fact that Sporn and so many other animators and other folks started sharing their treasures on their blogs and their memories of working in the old studios is kind of mind-blowing. I wonder how many proper hard copies of these things even still exist? Old model sheets, storyboards, layouts, timing sheets, scripts, concepts, explorations, production materials, educational material… and how much of it will still be around in ten more years, when blogs start being abandoned and domains expire and estates are auctioned off or things are thrown away…?
Thinking about it almost makes me feel hungry, like, I have to know what else is out there!