Meta: The $100,000 Animation Drawing Course- Lesson 5

NOTE: Do not move on to this lesson unless you have completed Lesson One, Lesson Two, Lesson Three, and Lesson Four

LESSON FIVE

Read John Kricfalusi's introduction to this lesson at...
Animation School Lesson 5: Line of Action & Silhouettes

Print out and work with this page from the Preston Blair Book...



Follow John K's instructions to copy the Preston Blair drawings on this page, using the construction principles you have already learned.

Check your drawings using Photoshop as you did in the previous lesson.

When you are getting accurate copies, copy the Clampett and Disney examples in John K's article.

When you are satisfied with your drawings, post them on your blog.

PLEASE NOTE: The procedure for getting your blog listed on this page has changed. Due to the overwhelming response to this course, I don't have time to add each student's link by hand. Your assignment will be automatically linked at the bottom of this page if you...

• Click on "links to this post" at the bottom of this posting.
  
• Click on "create a link".
  
• Copy and paste the HTML code into your completed assignment for lesson number 9.
  
• Publish your post.

Your page will automatically be added to the list of links.

Do not delete or edit your posts or change the title after you have posted them. You will need them later to chart your progress.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Biography: John K Interviews Bill, Joe and Friz Part Two

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 8 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great info on the careers of great animators.

This is a continuation of an interview by John Kricfalusi with Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera and Friz Freleng. If you missed it, please see Part One of John K Interviews Bill, Joe & Friz

---

FRIZ & BILL AT HARMAN-ISING

Noe Gold: You gentlemen worked together at one point, didn't you?

Bill H: Friz and I worked together in 1930 for a company called Harman & Ising.

Friz F: And that was the beginning...

Bill H: The very beginning... Leon Schlesinger engaged them as a company to produce cartoons for them. After about two or three years, he decided to produce them himself, and that is when Friz and I parted company. I stayed with Hugh and Rudy, and Friz went to work with Leon.



Click on the image to view a Quicktime Movie
of an early Harman Ising cartoon.
Friz F: I knew I had to make a choice. It was either MGM or Leon Schlesinger. But they started making pictures with Jack King and Tom Palmer, and when I saw what what they made, I threw up. I figured it would be a cinch to make pictures better than that. Leon Schlesinger said I could have my own crew. Warners loved what we were making- Bosko in "Sinkin' in the Bathtub" and all that. And when they got Tom Palmer and Jack King's pictures, they refused them. They wouldn't accept them.

Bill H: You know, I don't remember Tom Palmer.

Friz F: Worked for Disney... Jack King too.

Joe B: He came from Disney- screwed up.

Friz F: Anyhow, so I took the two pictures that Palmer had made. Everything was so slowww. He thought that made for good animation. So I took the two pictures and made one out of them, and added some new stuff of course. Warners accepted it and said, "Gee!" Schlesinger fired Tom Palmer right away.

Bill H: That would be interesting to see. Two of them became one? Only Friz could do that!

Joe B: You mentioned the problems the Disney guys, King and Palmer had turning out pictures...

Friz F: Well, they weren't Directors at Disney.

Joe B: Whatever it was, they weren't able to do it... Well, I found out about it in New York, because I ran into a Disney man, Burt Gillett. Did you ever hear that name? I later found out that anyone who ever left Disney, if you said "What did you do?", every one of them did "Snow White" or "The Three Little Pigs". Those were always the two things they did- their claim to fame. Burt Gillett started a studio in New York on that credit and it just didn't work at all.

Friz F: (To Bill) But you and Rudy went on to make some pretty good pictures. In color and all that...

Bill H: That was for MGM. But they were so slow in delivering, they cut Hugh and Rudy off and started their own corporation in 1937.



But going back to the early days of Harman-Ising... They had just one writer there- that English fellow- Bob Edmonds. He was the only writer per se that I can remember. (To Friz) You were doing your own stuff... I used to sit with Rudy 'til midnight damn near every night working on stories. Back then, I was running the inking and painting department during the day. Rudy would get to work at noon and stay 'til midnight. So nights, I would work with Rudy on stories.

John K: When you were writing for Harman & Ising, were you using storyboards?

Bill H: No, I didn't use storyboards. We just had little thumbnail sketches.

John K: Did you draw? I've seen you draw before.

Bill H: I'm not a good artist. Rough sketches- yes, but they're so rough hardly anyone can tell what the hell they are.

John K: But that's how you worked out the stories?

Bill H: That's right... I think Paul Fennell was the artist I worked with there. I worked with him at Harman-Ising pretty much the same as I did with Joe at MGM.


BILL STARTS DIRECTING, AND JOE JOINS MGM

Bill H: In 1935, I think it was, I started directing pictures there- "Old Mill Pond" and "To Spring". They ran at MGM and they liked them very much. It was just about that time when they decided to drop Hugh and Rudy and start their own studio. As a result of the success of the last two or three pictures I made there, they hired me on as a director. That was in 1937.



Click on the image to view a Quicktime Movie
of Harman Ising's MGM cartoon, "To Spring".
John K: So you got hired away from Harman and Ising when Fred Quimby wanted to open his own unit in house?

Bill H: Yes, this was when MGM decided to open their own cartoon department. Well, I did one- It had a bunch of frogs and they were black people. ("Old Mill Pond" / 1936) I think that's the first thing you and I ever made together, Joe.

Joe B: No, we did "The Swing Social".



Click on the image to view a Quicktime Movie
of Harman Ising's MGM cartoon, "Old Mill Pond".
Friz F: Joe came out to California when MGM started.

Joe B: ...in 1937.

Bill H: The Katzenjammer Kids was what they were doing. Didn't we change it to The Captain and the Kids?


JOE WORKS WITH FRIZ AT MGM

Friz F: Here's what happened... MGM had formed their cartoon studio with Harman and Ising...

Joe B: First, I was an animator. Then you asked me to come work with you. You don't remember that?


Friz F: Yes, I do. I was going to get to it.

Joe B: You never paid me!

I was an Animator, and I was in a room down the hall from Freleng. Somehow Friz heard I also did story. After about two weeks, he asked me if I would want to be a story man with him.

John K: Was Friz doing story himself too?

Joe B: Well, Friz was working in the style that Directors used to work in. He would settle on a story idea, then he would exchange ideas with the so-called story man. And the story man was supposed to furnish him with gags and ideas. Friz would sift it out- keep whatever he wanted, or reject it all. But it was like he said, a one man operation. The Director did it all. He was writing the story- He was editing the story- He was timing the story.

---

We will be posting the next installment of this important interview soon. Bookmark us and check back regularly. If you missed it, please see Part One of John K Interviews Bill, Joe & Friz

PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.

If you would like copies of cartoons like the ones in this post on DVD, I highly recommend...

Thunderbean's Attack of the 30s Characters

It includes great cartoons in terrific prints from eight major animation studios of the 1930s. The supplemental material includes a trailer for Fleischer's "Gullivers Travels" and still frame galleries of posters and original artwork.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Filmography: Chiquita Banana Theatrical Commercials

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 7 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great cartoons to study.

Today, we continued capturing video to add to the database. Marc Deckter worked on Fleischer Bouncing Ball cartoons, while I focused on some theatrical commercials from the late 1940s starring Chiquita Banana...




I'm afraid I don't know anything about these cartoons, but I can guess a few things by looking at them... They appear to be produced by Famous Studios in 1947. Several of the incidental characters appear to have been designed by Dave Tendlar. They are pretty elaborate by Famous Studios standards.




I don't know how many of these were produced, but the titles that we digitized today included... Chiquita Banana, Chiquita Banana (2), Chiquita Banana Goes North, Chiquita Banana Helps The Pieman, Chiquita Banana's Fan, Chiquita Banana and the Cannibals, Chiquita Banana's Magic, Chiquita Banana's School For Brides, Chiquita Banana's Beauty Treatment, Chiquita Banana Tells A Fortune, Chiquita Banana Wins A Medal, Chiquita Banana Makes A Better Breakfast, and Chiquita Banana And The Tough Customer.




A lot of people object to the recent trend of commercials being shown in movie theaters, but the truth of the matter is that commercials have been a part of the movie-going experience ever since Shamus Culhane animated In My Merry Oldsmobile for Max Fleischer in 1931. I'm sure no one would be complaining if the commercials being shown today had as much entertainment value as these cartoons.




Take a look at a few of these rare Chiquita Banana theatrical commercials...

Chiquita Banana Commercials
(Famous Studios?/1947)
(Quicktime 7 / 12.5 megs)

Mark Evanier has some info on the singer and production company on his blog, News From ME.

PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Biography: Hooray For Charlie Lawing and Larry Loc's Animation Classes

In case you haven't checked out the Biopedia lately, now is a good time to do so... Two great animation teachers, Charlie Lawing and Larry Loc have been assigning their students to research biographies of famous artists for our Biopedia. There are dozens of new entries to read. I haven't had a chance to format them all, but you can find the information below the listing in the comments section. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Filmography: I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles (Fleischer/1930)

PLEASE NOTE: We occasionally experience traffic spikes. If the movie doesn't stream smoothly, please bookmark us and check back later. In the meantime, there's a LOT more of interest to look at on this site. Visit the Archive Homepage, or click on MEDIA in the masthead above for galleries of amazing sketches...

This Saturday, the archive video guru, Eric Graf sat down to begin digitizing an amazing collection of Fleischer Bouncing Ball cartoons. These were among the most popular cartoons of their day; however, taken out of their original theatrical context, it isn't quite the same experience viewing them today.

Each cartoon consisted of an animated introduction, followed by an invitation by the narrator to "Follow the bouncing ball..." A singalong section designed to get the whole audience singing was followed by an animated singalong where the characters interacted with the words of the song. If you've ever seen any of these films projected on the big screen, you know what fun it is to be singing along, and suddenly have the cartoon characters start cavorting with the words you're singing.




This film is interesting, because it includes some early attempts at lipsync. The rabbit conductor speaks to the audience in stilted speech, obviously designed to be understood over the primitive theater sound systems of the time. But the stilted speech and the bizzarre drawings create a truly weird and wonderful effect. Drawings this strange don't happen by accident! Still frame through this scene and check them out. John K theorizes that this scene might be some sort of animation equivalent of exquisite corpse. Marc Deckter has provided lots of great frame grabs of the crazy lipsync at his blog, Duck Walk.

An interesting side note is that the narrator who refers to the rabbit as "funny boy" is none other than pioneer recording artist, Billy Murray, disguising his natural tenor as a baritone. He narrates many of the Fleischer cartoons of this era, and provided the original voice for Bimbo.




We are fortunate to have over ten hours of Fleischer Screen Songs on Beta tapes. With your support, we have assembled a video digitization station where we can capture video. There's literally hundreds of hours of cartoons waiting to be digitized... the entire Terrytoons syndication package donated by John Kricfalusi. The Warner Bros and MGM laserdisc box sets, the complete run of Format Films' Alvin Show, and classic television commercials from the 1950s and 60s. As time and funding allow, we will be adding this material to our database.




I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles (1930)
(Quicktime 7 / 18 megs)

PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.


The bandwidth costs limit the amount of streaming video we are able to post, and we are unable for legal reasons to use any peer to peer or free online hosting services. If you would like to support this project, please contribute to help us continue and expand our web presence.

Without your support, the
Archive Project cannot continue.

Thank you
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Media: Terrytoons Lobby Cards

Mike Fontanelli brought by a set of Terrytoons character lobby cards for us to digitize. "It's pretty unusual to find sets of cards" Mike explained, "because collectors back in the 70s would pull out the Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckyl and trash the rest." Terrytoons are vastly underrated. ASIFA-Hollywood is fortunate to have a complete syndication package of Terrytoons on broadcast quality 3/4 inch masters. We've digitized nearly 900 Terry-Toons to date.

Many thanks to Mike Fontanelli for lending us these great lobby cards to scan...










Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

7.16.08
.

Stumble It!

Media: Harrison Cady's Boys Life Birds Eye Views

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.

Harrison Cady was one of the most famous and prolific cartoonists of the early decades of the 20th century. Although he is best known as the illustrator of Thornton W. Burgess' Peter Rabbit series of books, and the cartoonist behind the newspaper comic bearing the same name, Cady was an active illustrator as well. His illustrations and comics appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, The Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, Life, St. Nicholas Magazine and Boys' Life.

With this posting, I'd like to introduce our latest Archive Alliance member, Jonathan Barli of Digital Funnies. Jonathan is hard at work on an important project- documenting and restoring early cartoons and comics in digital form. When I spoke to him about becoming and Archive Alliance member, he instantly understood what we are trying to do at the Animation Archive and agreed. Jonathan has donated high resolution TIFF images of his entire collection to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. He offers a wide variety of fascinating material for sale on CD-ROM and DVD-ROM. Please take a moment to visit the Digital Funnies website, and drop him an email thanking him for contributing to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.

Here is a selection of Cady's Birds' Eye View illustrations for Boys' Life magazine from Harrison Cady Volume 1...







I will be featuring more beautiful comics from the Digital Funnies collection in the near future.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

7.17.08
.

Stumble It!

Volunteer Call: Saturday Volunteer Help Needed!

If you would like to help us out on a Saturday formatting images using Photoshop or capturing video for our database, you need to sign up for a shift, so we will know to have work ready for you when you arrive. There are two shifts available... afternoon (from 1:30pm to 5:30pm) and evening (from 5pm to 9pm). We have two computers devoted to Photoshop, and one devoted to video. You can sign up for two shifts in a row, and spend the whole day with a break for a bite to eat and cartoons at 5 if you wish.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

You MUST reserve your shift if you plan to volunteer. To reserve a shift, see the calendar pages for upcoming Saturdays...

VOLUNTEER SATURDAYS TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED.
Check back to the archive site for the announcement of their resumption. THANKS!

Interest has been expressed about forming a committee to begin organizing the "back room"- ASIFA-Hollywood's physical archives. This would require a team of at least three people who could agree to meet on a regular schedule two Saturdays a month to work on building out the shelving and boxing and cataloging the physical archive holdings. If you are interested in serving on this committee, please email me at sworth@animationarchive.org

Thank you for your support!
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Meta; The Art of the Storyboard Exhibit

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is presenting an exhibit devoted to the Art of the Storyboard throughout the months of May and June. Included in the exhibit are segments from the boards for the pilot episodes of The Yogi Bear Show, The Alvin Show and The Flintstones; as well as examples of the work of Warren Foster, John Dunn and Mike Maltese. The original copy master boards for many of the episodes of the original Ren & Stimpy show are available for viewing as well.

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1pm to 9pm. The Archive is located at 2114 Burbank Bl in Burbank... just a few blocks East of Buena Vista. Admission is free, but a donation is requested to help support and expand the Archive Project.

Thanks to our sponsors for making this exhibit possible... The Walter Lantz Foundation, Sony Pictures Classics and The Animation Guild (MPSC Local 839).

Stumble It!

Media: George Petty's Ridgid Tools Calendars

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 9 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great pinup art.


George Petty was one of the top "cheesecake" illustrators of the 30s and 40s. He began his career with a series of cartoons featuring beautiful girls and their far from handsome beaus. His work coined the term "Petty Girls" to describe the carefully airbrushed girls with brilliant smiles and sexy poses. He left Esquire, to be replaced by Alberto Vargas who we will be featuring here soon, and became a freelance commercial artist. His girls soon ended up gracing magazine ads and calendars for such unlikely products as Tung-Sol Radio Tubes and the aptly named, Ridgid Tools.

Mike Fontanelli has generously allowed ASIFA-Hollywood to digitize his Rigid Tools. These calendar pages are among the most sought after pinup collectibles, selling for as much as $40 to $50 a sheet. Many thanks to Mike for sharing this with us.
















Here's an extra bonus! The 1947 Esquire Petty Girl calendar...













If you enjoyed this post, see... Bill Wenzel & Stanley Rayon's Girlie Cartoons, Jack O'Brien and Milo Kinn's Girlie Cartoons, Eldon Dedini Part One, Part Two (video interview!) and Part Three, Jack Cole And Other Great 50s Playboy Cartoonists, Jack Cole Valentine, Little Annie Fanny Takes A Trip, Kurtzman & Elder's Little Annie Fanny, More Little Annie Fannie, Biography: Jack Davis, Early Erich Sokol Cartoons, A Passel Of Sokol, and More Sokol, Doug Sneyd and Phil Interlandi, Early Interlandi Playboy Cartoons and Meet Doug Sneyd.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

7.10.08
.

Stumble It!

Meta: The $100,000 Animation Drawing Course- Lesson 4

NOTE: Do not move on to this lesson unless you have completed Lesson One, Lesson Two, and Lesson Three

LESSON FOUR

Read John Kricfalusi's introduction to this lesson at...
Animation School Lesson 4: Two Legged Characters: Full Body

Print out and work with these three pages from the Preston Blair Book...





Follow John K's instructions on how to measure the proportions and construct the character.

Pat attention to the proportions of the forms.

Note how details wrap around the body shape.

Analyze your drawing for mistakes. Then draw it again and correct them.

When you are satisfied with your drawings, post them on your blog.

PLEASE NOTE: The procedure for getting your blog listed on this page has changed. Due to the overwhelming response to this course, I don't have time to add each student's link by hand. Your assignment will be automatically linked at the bottom of this page if you...

• Click on "links to this post" at the bottom of this posting.
  
• Click on "create a link".
  
• Copy and paste the HTML code into your completed assignment for lesson number 9.
  
• Publish your post.

Your page will automatically be added to the list of links.

Do not delete or edit your posts or change the title after you have posted them. You will need them later to chart your progress.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Meta: The $100,000 Animation Drawing Course- Lesson 3

NOTE: Do not move on to this lesson unless you have completed Lesson One and Lesson Two

LESSON THREE

Read John Kricfalusi's introduction to this lesson at...
Animation School Lesson 3: Proportion: Checking Your Copies

Continue working with the three pages from the Preston Blair Book you used in Lessons One and Two...





Draw the characters as accurately as you can using the principles of construction.

Pat attention to how PROPORTION makes a character look the way it does.

Check to see if your proportions are correct by bringing your drawing into Photoshop and comparing it to Preston Blair's drawing like John K describes in his article.

Look for mistakes. Then draw it again and correct them.

When you are satisfied with your drawings, post them on your blog.

PLEASE NOTE: The procedure for getting your blog listed on this page has changed. Due to the overwhelming response to this course, I don't have time to add each student's link by hand. Your assignment will be automatically linked at the bottom of this page if you...

• Click on "links to this post" at the bottom of this posting.
  
• Click on "create a link".
  
• Copy and paste the HTML code into your completed assignment for lesson number 9.
  
• Publish your post.

Your page will automatically be added to the list of links.

Do not delete or edit your posts or change the title after you have posted them. You will need them later to chart your progress.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Meta: The $100,000 Animation Drawing Course- Lesson 2

NOTE: Do not move on to this lesson unless you have completed Lesson One

LESSON TWO

Read John Kricfalusi's introduction to this lesson at...
Animation School Lesson 2: Squash & Stretch On The Head

Then READ and FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS Preston Blair gives you on this page...



Construct the dog's head, in various expressions.

Maintain the basic volume of the form you are distorting to create the expressions.

Pay attention to the differences in the way that the cranium and jaw distort.

Pay attention to the way the cheeks move up and down as the character smiles or frowns.

Draw the exercise and look for mistakes. Then draw it again and correct them.

When you are satisfied with your drawings, post them on your blog.

PLEASE NOTE: The procedure for getting your blog listed on this page has changed. Due to the overwhelming response to this course, I don't have time to add each student's link by hand. Your assignment will be automatically linked at the bottom of this page if you...

• Click on "links to this post" at the bottom of this posting.
  
• Click on "create a link".
  
• Copy and paste the HTML code into your completed assignment for lesson number 9.
  
• Publish your post.

Your page will automatically be added to the list of links.

Do not delete or edit your posts or change the title after you have posted them. You will need them later to chart your progress.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Media: Chuck Jones Layouts

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see the bonus reason on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts featuring animation art.

Mike Van Eaton was by the other day to drop off some artwork to be digitized for the archive database. He allowed us to scan the storyboard to Bad Ol' Puddy Tat 1949, and brought along a few Chuck Jones layouts as well...









Speaking of Witch Hazel, you have the opportunity to meet the voice of Witch Hazel, the legendary June Foray, at Van Eaton Galleries this Wednesday night. See the Art of Voice Acting Calendar Entry for more details.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Media: Huckleberry Hound Weekly 1964

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.

Another great item lent to us to digitize by Kent Butterworth... This time it's a British newsstand comic from March 28th, 1964 featuring the Hanna-Barbera Characters...











The interesting thing about this piece isn't so much the quality of the artwork... it's pretty generic... it's the quantity of it. I eliminated a few pages of puzzles, games and stories, but the majority of the sheets are devoted to large, full-page comic stories. You would never see such a generous collection of comics in a publication that sells for as little as this today. But there is wisdom behind the generosity... The best way to get kids to watch the Huckleberry Hound Show (and buy Kelloggs cereal) is to engage them with the characters and situations. What better way to do that than a loss-leader newspaper comic?

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

10.14.08
.

Stumble It!

Meta: The $100,000 Animation Drawing Course- Lesson 1

Lesson One / Lesson Two / Lesson Three / Lesson Four / Lesson Five / Lesson Six / Lesson Seven / Lesson Eight / Lesson Nine / Lesson Ten

You can go to animation school, spend a $100,000 and not learn a damn thing about the basics of good animation drawing- OR you can buy a Preston Blair book for $8 and learn it all in a couple months. You pick.

If you learn the principles correctly, you will be able to draw in any style today. You'll be miserable having to dumb down your abilities- but you will be in demand. --John Kricfalusi

INTRODUCTION

The internet offers animation students opportunities that have never existed before. The one I'm about to tell you about is the chance of a lifetime. How would you like to learn to draw for animation from one of the greatest cartoonists of the golden age, and one of the greatest current cartoonists? Here's your chance...

Read this important note from John Kricfalusi before reading any further.

Preston Blair was one of the finest draftsmen to ever work in the animated film. He animated Mickey Mouse in "Sorcerer's Apprentice", and he was one of the top animators at MGM, where he animated the legendary Red Hot Riding Hood. His book, titled simply "Animation" crystalized the basic principles of cartoon animation, and profoundly influenced a whole generation of young animators. He passed away in 1995.

John Kricfalusi revolutionized television animation- first with Ralph Bakshi on "Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures", and then on "The Ren & Stimpy Show. He went on to pioneer Flash animation with the first internet cartoon series, "The Goddamn George Liquor Program". John has done extensive research into the techniques and processes of the golden age cartoons, and he is sharing his knowledge on his blog, All Kinds Of Stuff.

To participate in this informal blog-based drawing course, you will need to get a copy of Preston Blair's Animation (Book 1). You can order it through the link above, or you should be able to find it at your local art store.

You will also need to print out the pages of the first edition of the book on these two pages...

Preston Blair's Animation 1st Edition Part One

Preston Blair's Animation 1st Edition Part Two

LESSON ONE

Read John Kricfalusi's introduction to this lesson at...
Animation School Lesson 1: Construction- The Head

Then READ and FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS Preston Blair gives you on these two pages...




Make an egg model and draw it from several angles using the techniques of construction.

Draw all of the various characters on these pages, paying close attention to the volumetric forms and proportions.

After you have drawn a character, compare it to Preston Blair's drawing and note any differences on yours in red pencil.

Draw it again, trying to correct your mistakes from the first time.

When you are satisfied with your drawings, post them on a blog.

Don't have a web page or blog? Get a FREE blog at www.blogger.com. Sign up for free Blogspot hosting and use the free image hosting services.

You can't participate in the classes if John K can't go to your blog to see your drawings.

PLEASE NOTE: The procedure for getting your blog listed on this page has changed. Due to the overwhelming response to this course, I don't have time to add each student's link by hand. Your assignment will be automatically linked at the bottom of this page if you...

• Click on "links to this post" at the bottom of this posting.
  
• Click on "create a link".
  
• Copy and paste the HTML code into your completed assignment for lesson number 9.
  
• Publish your post.

Your page will automatically be added to the list of links.

Do not delete or edit your posts or change the title after you have posted them. You will need them later to chart your progress.

FINAL NOTE

If you just look at the drawings and read the text, you'll end up with educated eyes and an educated mind... and ignorant hands. A lot of artists excuse their lack of skill by claiming that flat drawings and unappealing shapes are their "style". Poor drawing skills don't constitute a style.

Any artist who doesn't draw as well as Preston Blair (and that encompasses an awful lot of people!) will benefit from sitting down and doing these exercises. The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog is making it easy for you, bringing all the material you need together. This is a unique opportunity. Don't waste it.

As the gunfighters said in the old West... DRAW!

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Read what Lines & Colors had to say about the course.

Stumble It!

Media: Preston Blair's Animation 1st Edition Part Two

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 8 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great art instruction posts.

An Online Drawing Lesson From Preston Blair and John Kricfalusi! Click for details...

Here are a couple of comments these postings have received...

"I began making animated films while I was a student at Santa Barbara Junior High School many, many years ago. The only text book I had was Preston Blair's animation book. Honestly, it was all I needed to get started. I can't remember how many copies of this book I've purchased over the years to give to young kids with an interest in animation. The book is pure gold." --Floyd Norman

"A lot of young artists look at the Preston Blair book as some sort of archaic and old-fashioned irrelevant text. Almost as though learning these lessons will ruin their "style". This of course is the folly of youth. The ability to draw like Preston Blair, using all the tips in the book gives you the strength to do ANYTHING." --Nick Cross

"Many thanks on your posting of the original version of the Preston Blair animation book. If that's not worth a contribution to your cause, nothing is. Keep up the good work." --Paul Dini

Without your support, the
Archive Project cannot continue.

For more on Preston Blair's "Animation", see... Part One

SPECIAL TREATS

Marc Deckter of Duck Walk has posted some great side-by-side comparisons of the first and revised editions of the Preston Blair book. Take a look at them at...

Preston Blair Book: Variations On A Theme Pt. 2

Clarke Snyder of Inspiration Grab-Bag has posted frame grabs from a few of the films that some of the examples in these pages were sourced from. Check it out at...

Preston Blair (Animation & Books)

Thanks to Jerry Beck of Cartoon Brew for allowing us to digitize this invaluable reference.

If you don't have Preston Blair's book yet, Get It Now! No cartoonist, aspiring or professional should be without it. If this book was good enough for Dave Tendlar, it's good enough for you.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Media: Preston Blair's Animation First Edition

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 8 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great art instruction posts.

An Online Drawing Course Taught By Preston Blair and John Kricfalusi! Click For Details...

Preston Blair's Animation (Book 1) is the best "how to" book on cartoon animation ever published. When Blair put the book together in 1947, he used the characters he had animated at Disney and MGM to illustrate the various basic principles of animation. Apparently, the rights to use some of the characters were revoked after the book was already in the stores. Publication was halted for a time, and he was forced to redraw most of the MGM characters, replacing them with generic characters of his own design. The revised edition went on to become a classic, and the first edition was forgotten.

Animation historian, Jerry Beck, whose excellent blog Cartoon Brew is in the bookmarks of just about everyone in the animation business, has been hunting for a first edition of Blair's landmark book for many years. He finally found a copy in a collection of material that belonged to legendary animator, Dave Tendlar. If you are familiar with the revised edition, you're in for a treat. Pull out your copy and compare it to these scans...



















For more on Preston Blair's "Animation", see... Part Two

SPECIAL TREAT

Marc Deckter of Duck Walk has posted side by side comparisons of the first edition and revised edition of this book, so you can clearly see the difference. Check it out at...

Preston Blair's Variations On A Theme

In his blog Goober Sleave, Kevin Langley has identified that some of the drawings in the book derive from MGM model sheets. See...

MGM Model Sheet Sources

If you don't have Preston Blair's book yet, Get It Now! No cartoonist, aspiring or professional should be without it. If this book was good enough for Dave Tendlar, it's good enough for you.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Media: Katie Rice's Sketchbooks

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see the bonus reason on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts featuring animation art.

Today we had a visit by animation designer, Katie Rice. Katie is the latest in a long line of artists like Grim Natwick, Freddie Moore and Mary Blair... she specializes in drawing girls. I can tell you from personal experience that Katie's girl drawings were just as popular among the artists at Spumco as "Freddie's girls" were at Disney.

Katie is amazingly talented and her work will be featured at the Santa Monica gallery, Every Picture Tells A Story on May 28th. I asked her to bring her drawings by the archive before she sells them, so we could include them in our database. I think you'll agree, they're pretty remarkable. You should bookmark Katie's blog, Funny Cute.

Katie never seems to draw the same shapes twice, yet her sense of proportion and her eye for posing is unfailing. Katie's ability to translate real-world personalities into appealing cartoon drawings sets her apart. Like Mary Blair, I can't imagine anyone not loving her work. All of these sketches will be available for sale at Every Picture Tells A Story. For more information on the event, see John K's blog All Kinds Of Stuff.

















Thanks to Katie Rice for allowing us to scan her sketchbooks.

There are lots of galleries of amazing images in the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog. Click on MEDIA in the masthead above for a listing.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!