Animation Art: Ray Patterson At Mintz

Ray Patterson's career in animation spanned seven decades. He was responsible for the animation of Jerry Mouse dancing with Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh as well as animation for Dumbo and the "Pastoral" sequence of Fantasia. In 1954 he formed his own studio Grantray-Lawrence and he worked at Hanna-Barbera and Sanrio Productions as well.

Today, his family is sharing some of his earliest work with us... Ray began as an inker in 1929 at the Charles Mintz Screen Gems studio, working on Krazy Kat and Scrappy cartoons. By 1930, he had worked his way up to a position as animator. Here are some rare sketches and model sheets from his tenure there... Enjoy!




















Many thanks to the family of Ray Patterson for sharing these treasures with us. We will have more to post soon.

Stephen Worth
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

Stumble It!

Story: 1930s Cartoon "Script" Discovered

The family of animator Ray Patterson brought some artwork by the Archive the other day for us to digitize. Included among the material was this "script" for a Charles Mintz Barney Google/Snuffy Smith cartoon. It's actually not a script- it's a premise, but this is as close to a script as cartoon gag men got in the golden age. It fits perfectly into the first of my articles on writing for cartoons, so I added it. If you haven't seen this series of posts, check them out...

Writing Cartoons Pt 1- The Gag Session

Writing Cartoons Pt 2- A Continuity Emerges

Writing Cartoons Pt 3- Structure

Writing Cartoons Pt 4- The Rough Board

I promise that I'll pick up these posts again and continue through the process later this Fall.

We will have more exciting treasures to share with you soon courtesy of the family of Ray Patterson.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

Stumble It!

Education: John K and Preston Blair's Drawing Course

From Tim Rudder's Blog
Just a reminder that folks are still studying John Kricfalusi's notes on Preston Blair's Animation. If you want to sharpen your chops and you're looking for a project to keep you busy this Summer, check it out...

Animation Drawing Course based on the rare first edition of Preston Blair's book Animation

John Kricfalusi's Blog, John K Stuff
.

Stumble It!