R.I.P. DISNEY Legend Frank Armitage

"Belle's Castle" mural from Beauty & the Beast by FRANK ARMITAGE

Frank Armitage, an Australian-born American painter who created backgrounds for several classic Disney animated films and murals for Disney parks, died January 4 at his home in Paso Robles, California, at age 91. The sad news was announced by Disney Animation Studios’ vice president of communications Howard Green.

Thelma Witmer, Eyvind Earle, Frank Armitage and Walt Peregoy during Sleeping Beauty’s production. Taken from the 1958 book, The Art of Animation by Bob Thomas.

Read the entire article from Animation Magazine HERE .

Random Character Designs

 I recently had the fortune to travel out West to sunny Southern California on a fact-finding expedition... A 'fishing trip', if you will, for some possible work opportunities. I was able to see some friends, surprise a few folks, get some meetings and make some connections with studios and publishers. I will have more info and some photos up a little later, along with some juicy tidbits and details about goings-on.

 In the meantime, here are some random character design drawings demonstrating skills and abilities....

Random 'Businessman' character by Brent Amacker

"Honestly Indecisive Abe" seems none-too-sure, by Brent Amacker

Progression drawing of Casey: pencils, inks, colors. Brent Amacker

‘Paperman’ Director John Kahrs Departs from Disney

Model Sheet for "Meg" from 'Paperman'

The director of  Disney's 2012 Academy-Award-Winning Short "Paperman", John Kahrs
has parted ways with the studio, according to Animation Magazine.
Read the entire article HERE .

...And ALSo Goodbye to DISNEY Employees...!

The Walt Disney Company announced the layoffs of around 150 employees yesterday, with "fortunately" only a small number coming from the Animation division.

Read the full article HERE .

Sadly, Now It's Time to Say Goodbye... To ANNETTE FUNICELLO

DISNEY Legend ANNETTE FUNICELLO passed away yesterday due to complications from multiple slerosis. She will be sadly missed.
Read the full article HERE.

No "2D" for Disney.... for Now

Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios says they have NO plans in the near future for any traditional hand-drawn 'cel' animation.
Dadgum.

"Paperman" Nifty Disney Animated Short

Disney's excellent "Paperman" short debuted along with Wreck-It Ralph. Nicely rendered, with a sweet and romantic subject.
Highly recommended:

GLEN KEANE Leaves DISNEY

Longtime DISNEY Animator GLEN KEANE (Son of BIL KEANE- creator of 'Family Circus') announced while I was in Burbank that he is leaving The DISNEY Studios 'to pursue other interests'...!

Read the entire article HERE
...And his entire letter HERE

Back to the Ol' Drawing Board.....

 Well, after a brief visit out to LA-LA-Land to visit and connect, I am back in my chair-- both at the drawing table and the computer. Mardi Gras is calling, and I must finish in order to accept other commissions.
 Oddly enough, I had been slow and had received no responses to my solicitations for piecework. The day I was leaving for Burbank, I received an offer for a caricature commission. I politely declined, citing my looming departure. I also received an offer for a one-day caricature job, for which I was unavailable.
 The REAL kicker came when, after I had arrived out West, I received an inquiry about a FOUR-DAY GIG ON A CRUISE SHIP, banking SERIOUS bucks!! Of course, it was the same weekend I was away, so I was unavailable for this job, as well.
Frustrating.

But I DID get to see CONAN.

Disney Legend, Bill Justice, Dies at 97

Bill Justice, one of the legends of Walt Disney animation and imagineering who contributed to 57 short films and 19 features, died in Santa Monica of natural causes. He was 97.

Read the entire article HERE.

Justice worked for Disney for years, and drew everything from character designs to storyboards and even to designing character costumes for the Parks, an example pictured below:

Animator of 'Mulan' Villain and Other Disney & DreamWorks Characters Dies

Priscillano Romanillos dies at 47; animator of 'Mulan' villain and other Disney and DreamWorks characters.

Read the entire article by clicking the title of this post.

Ilene Woods, Voice of Disney’s Cinderella, Dies

Animation Magazine reports of the passing of the woman who provided the voice of the title character in Walt Disney's Cinderella.

Read the entire article HERE.

"Waking Sleeping Beauty" An Interesting Film (To ME)

Just got home from catching a matinee showing of a limited-run engagement of "Waking Sleeping Beauty", an insider documentary about the rise (and subsequent fall) of Walt Disney Feature Animation in the late 80's and 1990's.

The flick offers a lot of behind-the-scenes home movies, photos and interviews.

Peter Schneider, Roy Disney, and Jeffrey Katzenberg (pictured below) are all featured in the film, as well as the vilified Michael Eisner, the man hand-picked by Roy to run the studio.

1970's CalArts students.

The animators feared Katzenberg for creating a pressure-cooker atmosphere, and ultimately he caught a lot of blame (warranted or not) for the collapse.

All in all, I enjoyed the film, and I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in the way things worked.

Al Swearengen: Pirate....?

MCSHANE LINES UP TO PLAY INFAMOUS VILLAIN BLACKBEARD IN PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

Ian McShane (DEADWOOD) is in talks to play the villain Blackbeard in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES, according to THE HOLLYWOODREPORTER. The project, which is scheduled for release on May 20, 2011, is being directed by Rob Marshall at Walt Disney Pictures.

Above, McShane is seen in a guest appearance on "Space:1999" some time in the mid 70's.

Disney Changing "Rapunzel" Title?

It has been reported that Walt Disney Studios plans to re-name the upcoming "Rapunzel" animated feature to "Tangled!".
What the--?
More on this later as it develops and is confirmed......

Roy E. Disney Dies

Roy Disney, Known as “Soul” of the Studio, Dies at 79

From Animation Magazine:

Wednesday, December 16, 2009By: Ramin Zahed
Roy E. Disney, Walt’s nephew and longtime exec producer and senior exec at the Disney Studio passed away today (Wednesday, Dec. 16) in Newport beach, Calif. after a year-long battle with stomach cancer, reported the Associated Press.
"He was a great man who believed deeply in the art of animation. He put his heart and soul into preserving Disney's legendary past, while helping to move the art of animation into the modern age by embracing new technology," noted John Lasseter, Disney/Pxar’s chief creative officer, who first met Disney while a student at CalArts. “He was a visionary and passionate supporter of the art form."

Disney was a champion of the company’s classic animation and helped bring about the first renaissance of traditional animation in the 1980sa nd 1990s by supporting the animation teams behind classics such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. He was also recognized widely as a powerful shareholder in the company who spearheaded two successful campaigns to oust company heads (his cousin-in-law Ron Miller and later on, Michael Eisner) who he believed were taking the company in the wrong direction.
Soft-spoken and unpretentious, Disney was also seen as the “soul” of the company by many insiders. “The thing that distinguishes [Disney] from everybody else, and always has and always will, is our past,” he once said “The goal is to look over our shoulder and see Snow White and Pinocchio and Dumbo standing there, saying, 'Be this good.' We shouldn't be intimidated by them; they're an arrow pointing someplace."
Disney grew up on his uncle’s now-classic retellings of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio. He also received a sound education in finance from his father Roy Sr., who oversaw Disney Co.'s business end. Upon graduating from Pomona College in 1951, the younger Disney followed his uncle and father into the entertainment industry, working as an editor, screenwriter and producer on a host of projects, from TV's Dragnet and Zorro to the Oscar-nominated film Mysteries of the Deep.
He would also later produce 2004's acclaimed Destino, using mid-century animation Salvador Dali created for Walt Disney Co., and Fantasia 2000, a sequel to his uncle's 1940 classic.
Disney, who also founded the private equity firm Shamrock Holdings, is survived by his wife, Leslie, four children from a previous marriage —Tim Disney, Roy Patrick Disney, Abigail Disney and Susan Disney Lord—and 16 grandchildren. Following private funeral services and cremation, Disney’s ashes will be scattered at sea. Plans for a memorial will also be announced soon.

More PHINEAS & FERB Fun! "PHINTASIA" GIFs!

Here is the first of a few 'solo' images of character designs from "PHINTASIA", my PHINEAS and FERB parody:

This one features Phineas as the 'Sorcerer's Apprentice', and Ferb as one of the enchanted water-toting broomsticks. (Personally, I think these would make great trading-pin designs!)
Phineas and Ferb were created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff 'Swampy' Marsh, and are (c)Disney.

More tomorrow.
Enjoy!

AT&T Features Interview With "Phineas & Ferb" Creators

"Ferby" Character P & F Parody

Remember the popular line of toys that came out about 10 years ago that were like pets? They were called "Furbies" and were all the rage. This is an obvious parody that I can't believe hasn't been done yet:

D23: Lasseter Promises More Hand-drawn Animation

From Animation Magazine.net:

Monday, September 14, 2009By: Thomas J. Mclean
PIXAR and Disney animation chief John Lasseter has built the studio’s sterling reputation on cutting-edge CG animation, but says Disney fans can expect to see a lot more hand-drawn animation in the future.
Speaking at Disney’s D23 fan expo in Anaheim, Lasseter gave fans a peek at the upcoming hand-drawn film The Princess and the Frog, and a new Winnie the Pooh feature due out in 2011, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He said that studios had made a mistake in focusing solely on CG animation.
“I never quite understood why the studios thought people wouldn’t want to watch it,” Lasseter said, according to a Reuters report. “What audiences didn’t want was bad movies.”
Speaking to press, Lasseter denied there was any truth to the rumor that Pixar was planning an Ant-Man movie as part of Disney’s recently announced plans to buy Marvel Entertainment.
He also announced some casting news for the upcoming Toy Story 3, confirming that John Morris will return as the voice of Andy. Jeff Garliln, Bonnie Hunt, Timothy Dalton and Whoopi Goldberg also will play voices in the film.
In other D23 news, Disney announced plans to revamp the Star Tours attraction to be a 3-D experience, opening in 2011. The company also announced plans to vastly expand its Fantasyland attraction at Walt Disney World, opening in 2012.