Studio System Assistants

I'm posting a part of Matt Williames article from his blog: Hand Drawn Nomad, (click the title to take you here). I post this portion not as criticism of Disney but as further conformation of the idea that the "Nine Old Men" and other 'stars animators' of Disney owe a tremendous amount of thanks to their assistants.

In an earlier posting called First Assistants and Clean-up: the Unsung Heroes of Animation, I published an honest and grateful acknowledgment by legendary animator Bill Tyla stating his reliance on good support from his crew.

I agree with Matt and wonder why we don't know more about these wonderful artists who helped make the Lead Animators great.
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I more take issue with the "Star animator" mentality that Disney is so good at pushing. If you don't know what I mean how often do you hear about Dale Oliver? Dale was Frank Thomas' assistant for a long time, and honestly he made Frank look VERY good without getting any credit himself. Find some of Franks original ruffs, they are nothing to marvel at. Look at what Dale did with them... amazing assistant work. But you never hear about him.

Matt Williames

Work in Progress

Here's some more developmental sketches for my independent project. I don't want to give too much away but I think you can see here this is going.

click on images to enlarge

The Things We do for Love

I'm not known for 'cute' stuff but when my daughter is having her first child, I am already turning to mush. This is the artwork I did showing my granddaughter, (yes it's a girl), riding their dog Ryley, that will be used on the Baby Shower invitations.

David Brown Lessons

This was taken from Bill Plympton and Patrick Smiths' Scribble Junkies Blog. The first part is there, or here: http://scribblejunkies.blogspot.com/2010/05/7-lessons-from-david-brown-part-1-of-4.html

7 Lessons From David Brown, part 2 of 4

8.Never be mean, chintzy and ugly to your secretary or she'll write a book.
9.Verbal pitches rarely make it to the screen and are frequently forgotten in the passage.
10.Nobody but the filmmakers can be trusted to form a valid opinion of a film by seeing a rough cut or reading a script. Especially marketing people. Show them the finished movie only and even then, their opinion is suspect.
11. Enthusiasm is the fuel of show business, especially unwarranted enthusiasm. Without it you can't go to work in the morning.
12.The larger number of executives in a production department, the poorer their movie. Bureaucracy dilutes the creative process – and slows decision making to a pathetic trickle.
13.This is from Darryl F. Zanuck. Interesting subject matter of a movie is more important than brilliant execution. I'd rather have a fair script on a provocative subject than a brilliant one about the sex life of an earthworm. I've had both.
14.Being a waiter, book salesman or a dealer in a casino is better preparation for a producing career than four years in film school. The best producers often are rogues and super salesmen.

New Old School

I know there are tons of old cartoons around but, here is my attempt at getting back some of the sensibilities I enjoy from the classic style of 1930's animation using digital software. This is partly a reaction to the very angular, flat, hinged vector designs so prevalent today.

This is a work in progress and I may darken the background and add sound and a gag at the end.