History: Clair Weeks- Pioneer of Indian Animation

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 history of animation told through the careers of great animators.


Bambi II?
Today I am presenting an interesting bit of history from the collection of Disney animator, Clair Weeks along with an exciting update since we last featured this topic. Read on for details...

Weeks was born in India, the son of a Methodist missionary- a source of humor for his co-workers at Disney. (See caricature, right.) He spent 16 years at the Disney Studios, working on Snow White, Bambi and Peter Pan. In 1956, Weeks travelled to Bombay, India on the invitation of Information Films of India to set up and train the country's first animation studio as part of the American Technical Co-Operation Mission. What started as a one year project expanded into almost a decade of service abroad working for the US Agency for International Development. Weeks toured Southeast Asia and headed up a communitactions office in Katmandu, Nepal. He made films and audio-visual programs that aided in the social development and economic growth of third world countries.

I know very little about Weeks' work in India, but a scrapbook donated to the archive by his family provides some tantilizing clues. I contacted the chapter of ASIFA in India asking if they had any information on Weeks, and the Vice President of ASIFA-India, Prasad responded...

The studio Weeks helped to train some animators for was the Films Division of India (FDI). The stint of Clair's there apparently lasted for about 18 months, during which they made a film called The Banyan Deer. I spoke to Rammohan, who was one of the students in 1956, and is generally acknowledged as one of the father figures of Indian animation to get these details. Clair apparently also taught in the late sixties or early seventies at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. One of the students at that point, Nina Sabnani heads the Animation Department there now.

Since this article was last posted, ASIFA-Hollywood has transferred a rare 16mm film showing Weeks at work at FDI in India. It's fascinating to see behind the scenes in the earliest days of Indian animation.


Cartoon Division of FDI (FDI/1956)
(Quicktime 7 / 13.8 megs)

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Here are some scans from Weeks' Indian scrapbook. If anyone has any information on the film or the people in the photos, let me know in the comments below and I will add it to this post.

THE BANYAN DEER (1957) STORYBOARD






TREND MAGAZINE ARTICLE




PRODUCTION PHOTOS

19 April, 1958: Sitting: S.L. Badami (Deputy Chief Producer), Ezra Mir (Chief Producer), Clair Weeks (Key Animator Instructor), Dr. B.V. Keskar (Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting), D.L. Kothari (Controller of Administration). Standing behind: G.K. Maharesh (Production Manager), G.K. Gokhale (Animator), S.M. Junnarkar (Editor), G.H. Saraiya (in dark pants, Director)





19 April, 1958: D.L. Kothari, Clair Weeks, Dr. B.V. Keskar, Ezra Mir. Behind: H.R. Doraiswamy (Camera Assistant), S.S. Varma (Animation Cameraman)





Many thanks to the family of Clair Weeks for sharing this important material with us, and thanks to Steve Stanchfield of Thunderbean Animation for transferring the film footage.

If you found this interesting, you'll want to check out our previous posts about material from the collection of Clair Weeks... Dispatch From Disney's Part One and Part Two, The Building Of The Disney Studios, Clair Weeks Goodbye Book, the 1938 Disney Artists Tryout Book and Clair Week's Animal Studies. Also, see... Walt Disney Goes To War, John Canemaker on Bill Tytla and Musical Timing Rediscovered.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

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Instruction: Clair Weeks Animal Studies 1940

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.


Today, I'm proud to present more amazing treasures from the Clair Weeks collection. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Weeks was born the son of a missionary in India. At DIsney, he was often teased about his resemblence to a village parson or pilgrim. (See caricature to the right.)

Around 1940, Disney Studios was at its peak. Several animated feature films were in production at once, and the staff numbered at an all time high. Disney instituted a comprehensive training program for the artists at his studio, which included life drawing, animal studies and action analysis classes under the direction of Don Graham. Today, we scanned animal drawings by Clair Weeks from these classes.


Archive supporter, Mike Fontanelli was in last night when I was scanning these beautiful sketches, and he expressed his admiration for Weeks' skill. It's difficult to draw animals and capture any kind of natural pose because they are always moving. Weeks not only exhibited mastery of construction and posing, but also the ability to embed the spark of life that makes a drawing come alive. His technique allowed for both analytically realistic depiction and cartoony stylized caricature.

Aspiring cartoonists and animators should look over these drawings carefully and make a trip to the zoo to study the animals themselves the way the artists did at Disney in 1940.
















If you found this interesting, you'll want to check out our previous posts about material from the collection of Clair Weeks... Clair Weeks Goodbye Book and the 1938 Disney Artists Tryout Book. Also, see... Willard Mullen on Animals.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

1.14.08
.

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Filmography: Bambi

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.

Archive supporter, Mark Kirkland stopped by the other day with his collection of artwork from Bambi. It's a nice overview of the film... color keys, animation drawings, model sheets. Many thanks for sharing these with us, Mark!







Bambi's Father
Animation Drawing by Milt Kahl


Bambi's Mother
Animation Drawing by Frank Thomas


Model Sheet by Marc Davis



Character Design by Marc Davis


The wonderful thing about our digital archive is that it allows collectors to share their treasures with the world. If you have artwork you would like to loan us to be digitized, please stop by for a visit.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

11.03.08
.

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