Design: Early UPA Model Sheets

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.

A couple of years ago, when Amid Amidi and I were working on Ren & Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon, I lent Amid these model sheets to use in a proposal to Chronicle Books for a history of 50s cartoon design. Well, Amid sold the book and has been working hard on it ever since... It's just been released. The title is Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in 1950s Animation. (Click on the title to take a look at it on Amazon.) I haven't seen the book yet, but I'm sure it's as good as Amid's wonderful Cartoon Modern Blog. Way back when, Amid promised me a free copy of his book when it came out; so if you happen to see him, remind him to send one to me!

Here are some UPA model sheets from the early 50s...














These last two are from the animated
segment of "The Girl Next Door" (1953)
(See Mark Mayerson's Blog for more info.)


For a pencil test from the Magoo Golf picture, see Art Babbitt's Greatest Scene

If you found this article to be interesting, see also... John Sutherland's Rhapsody of Steel, Artzybasheff's Machinalia, The Alvin Show Pilot Storyboard, Jules Engel's Alvin Show Color Keys, UPA Done Right, Herb Klynn The Shrimp, and Grim Natwick's Post UPA Commercials.

Today, Amid put up a great Flickr set of photos of the biggest names in animation during the 1950s. The picture below is of the UPA staff around the time these model sheets were created. Click through it to see the rest...



Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

8.27.08
.

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