inkandpaintclub-peraza

Patty Disney passes

2012-02-03T16:23:00.000-08:00

Patty and Roy celebrate their Wedding Anniversary

Very sad to report the passing of Patricia Disney, former wife of Roy E. Disney, who died today at 77. She was a bubbly person known to most of us as Patty. We also shared the fact that we were both born in the "Big Easy", "Nawlins" or as some of you yankees might say, New Orleans.

Roy and Patty were philanthropic with one of their last gifts being the 55,000 square-foot Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center at Providence St. Joseph in Burbank. She had been married to Roy for 51 years before they divorced. She will be missed by everyone who knew her.

Chuck Jones Experience, PART 2

2012-01-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

Linda opens the Festivities

Neil receives his just deserts

The next day was Thursday, the official Press Opening and it was attended by hundreds of eager fans that had driven or flown from as far away as Florida to be here. Linda approached the mic and began, "I was seriously considering going to the rest room before coming up here." the audience muffled giggles." Now that I'm up here, I'm not sure I made the right decision." Everyone there cracked up and I mean howled for 5 minutes. Like father, like daughter, eh?

Linda then read a beautiful heartfelt letter written by Chuck to a then 1 year old Grandson named Craig that had many an eye welling up including Craig himself. Craig then commanderred the mic as he smiled, "Don't break the dam mother, don't break the dam." fighting the tears back with a smile. Craig then took time out to thank some of the hard working people responsible for this unique exhibit including Neil Cantor, Robert Patrick and John Ramirez.

The son Mel never knew

He eventually relinguished the mic to the talented Eric Goldberg and after a sutable number of hrrummphs and clearings of his throat, gave us an incredible dead on rendition of Bugs Bunny singing a section from Chuck's 1950 classic "Barber of Seville" finishing with a quick retort from Daffy Duck that Mel Blanc himself would have relished. I would be willing to bet that Eric must be a hoot at Karaoke.

We were also entertained to Chuck's lovely wife Marian Jones who offered her personal recollections of Chuck with such memorable quotes as, "The rules are simple, take your work, but never yourself seriously." Neil Cantor was honored by a hefty and heavy statue of the Coyote for his tremendous work in making this show a reality. I also had the chance to meet and spend a little time with the brilliant John Rameriz who was one of the artistic geniuses behinfd the nuts and bolts of asembling this exhibit.

How did these guys sneak past security?

Before we knew what was going on some of us were then ushered to stand against a wall. I wondered aloud why they hadn't at least given us blindfolds. Suddenly a battery of flash bulbs exploded looking like a fotographic-firing squad. I was relieved they were only wielding cameras as our retinas slowly sizzled away to tiny red dots in the solar flare of flashes. You know as I look at this photo I can't help but reflect on the physical differences between Animation artists and other artists. The 3 fellows on the left (Jeff DeGrandis, Eric Goldberg and Mike Peraza) are all Disney Animators and obviously haven't skipped too many of the free meals offered by Disney when in final production. Also when you compare their rather pale complexions to those radiating healthy tans on the right one wonders how often they escape from their desks to venture outside into the sunlight. Hey, it's just a personal observation and I could be mistaken in my conclusions. What's that waiter? Another Créme Bulée for me? Ahhh, the things one must endure for the sake of one's art.

Pepe LePhew for a lady from Texas

Can't turn down a chance to draw

Speaking of one's art, one of my favorite parts of the experience hands down (pun intended) was what we call the "Big Draw" on Friday morning. The Warner library of toons under Chuck's guidance are just plain fun to draw. Although most of the artists had left by then, Jim and Bob and I were thrilled to have the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. I did my best at sketching out request drawings for the folks with characters from Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Wile E. Coyote to a Valentine for a lady from Texas with her favorite-Pepe LePhew and his gal Friday.

I would explain how I was constructing the characters while sketching and at the same time regaling the assembled guests with some some stories of my own that got em' laughing. Of course it's questionable whether they were laughing with me or at me. In the end of course all the credit goes to Chuck for having a strong hand in creating all these lovable characters we know today.

A Cartoon Culinary Delight

I was interviewed by another of the jovial Jones grandchildren, Tod Kausen when I was leaving and one of the questions he asked was what I liked about the exhibit. It would have been easier to ask what I didn't like. Chuck's career spanned over 60 years, more than 300 animated films garnering tons of awards including 3 Oscars! To be able to study Chuck's original drawings, see his paintings, both original and reproductions, watch his cartoons, tour a full life size fantasy world of his creations, enjoy a gallery of Animation Fine Art, lean over his personal desk and walk through his workspace and so much more. Well, I turned the tables and asked Tod to try to hurry the interview through, so I could take the tour again.

During this trip I also reflected that the first cartoons I had experienced were the Merry Melodies including some of the ones screening right there in the theater. They would be on when I went to school in the morning and back on to greet me when I got home in the afternoon.Of course back then we only had a black and white Television set (Thufferring thuckatash! ) but eventually I also enjoyed most of them again in full color in series like the "Bugs Bunny Show". Next to Walt Disney, Chuck Jones had definitely been one of the biggest influences in my life.

Bidib-bidid-bidib...That's All Folks!

If you are in Las Vegas, seen the shows, tried your luck but didn't drive away with the new Ferrari, you owe it to yourself to zip down to CIRCUS CIRCUS and see the newly opened "Chuck Jones Experience".

You'll be happily swallowed into the creative world of legendary animator Chuck Jones. You may even be fortunate enough to go home with your very own piece of Chuck Jones artwork, like I did. Besides the very collectable art, you can also pick up themed clothing, toys and my favorite obsession-books! Among the tomes I bought was a gem entitles, "The 100 Greatest LOONEY TUNES Cartoons" by animation historian Jerry Beck. Patty and I actually made the first purchase at the newly open exhibit but after enjoying the place we realized it was just the first of many more to come.

Chuck Jones Experience, PART 1

2012-01-17T17:31:00.000-08:00

A great reason to visit Las Vegas!

This last week my wife and I were invited as guests of the Chuck Jones family to attend the opening of the "Chuck Jones Experience" located at Circus Circus In Las Vegas. It was an amazing event attended by a who's who of Disney and Warner animation artists and a crowd of fantastic fans honoring one of the undisputed pioneers of animation, Chuck Jones.

Like my wife, the rooms were beautiful.

Patty and I flew out to the event arriving early Wednesday morning and checked into our spacious rooms at Circus Circus. Realizing that wabbit season was long over but the Chuck Jones Experience was about to begin, this pair of bunnies quickly burrowed downstairs. We popped up at the event in time to see the Jones family gathering in front of the as yet sealed exhibit for a sneak preview of the event that would officially open the next day to the press and public. Chuck's gracious daughter, Linda Jones Clough, received the crowd in her usual warm fashion and shared family tales as well as insight into her dad's philosophy, "Of course Chuck made it very clear to us the he definitely did not want any sort of monument or legacy to be created about him after he was gone, " and added with a twinkle, "we of course completely ignored that." gesturing to the huge exhibit behind her. The crowd erupted into laughs and applause, then Craig Kausen, her son and a major force behind this exhibit and the "Big Draw" joined in with more tales along with moving anecdotes of his legendary Grandfather.

Linda Jones Clough at the Preview
for the Chuck Jones Experience

One of the Classroom wall murals

With Linda and Craig leading the way, we were then treated to a private tour of the new facilities by first entering a classroom topped with video screens running non-stop Chuck Jones classics. Among the artistic equipment furnished for the budding artists, this room is filled with drawing tables, easels, rolls of paper and boxes upon boxes of chalk and markers. You pass a billboard sized blowup of one of Chuck's paintings on the far wall that the assembled animators and other artists were asked to sign and doodle which of course was an honor for us. From there we viewed a top rate gallery showcasing some sparkling animation artwork.

There are works of other artists, (including yours truly ) that were created as a tribute to Chuck and are for sale in the Gallery. For me the main draw just has to be the works of Chuck's inspiring originals and limited edition works that you also have the unique opportunity to buy and own. These include original rough model suggestions of his famous creations such as Wile E. Coyote and Pepé Le Pew that are true collector's items. You can also pick up limited edition prints of his unique interpretation of the Warner tribe that were originally executed in oils. Hallways are adorned with fun and sometimes even thought provoking Chuck quotes such as, "I often dream that I am Bugs Bunny only to wake-up and discover I'm Daffy Duck."

Craig and Linda invite you into a piece of Chuck's studio

One of the first stops is a movie theater that shows some of the most famous animated film from Chuck's mind. You quickly realize how much you miss these gems when compared to the slop that mascarades these days as cartoons. If you can tear yourself away from the fun, you'll turn a corner and find yourself in Chuck Jones's studio or at least a very accurate recreation of it including his animation desk and a few well stocked bookshelves he referred to frequently when creating his films. One thing I couln't understand, Chuck's desk is soooooo clean! I mean come on, mine is layered with erasure crumbs, push pin holes, broken pencil leads, paint splatters etc. I have a sneaky suspicion they cleaned it up for the masses or he's even a bigger genius than I gave him credit for.

Chuck Jones Experience Measures Up

Around yet another corner you will find one of the golden Academy Awards Chuck won while directing at Warner Brothers with amusing letters from friends ranging from Tex Avery to Walt Disney. You can also stand beside and take a picture with a lifesize Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck statues as they attempt to direct an off stage Merry Melody. If you ever wondered how you measure up to the original animaniacs, well here's your big chance. Linda took me to a stage where they blew up and cut out one of Chuck's comparative size model sheets and you can see how tall in the saddle or short in the stirrups you measure alongside these toon legends.

Colonel Blip model by Chuck

There is treasure seemingly around every corner and no matter how closely you look, you will nevertheless miss something. Also keep in mind that since this is a revolving exhibition, most likely there will be updates and new pieces the next time you visit the "Chuck Jones Experience."

Mike, Rob and Patty at the Steak House

That evening, after we had all enjoyed the marvelous sneak peek, we attended a suptous feast at the Steak House, rated as the number one steak resturant in Vegas and deservedly so. My wife Patty ordered the Prime Rib and being a lady, asked for the "petite cut". Not being a lady but rather a greedy slob, I went with the "Bone in cut" which the waiter said was a heartier serving. He wasn't kidding. When he brought around my serving, I thought the table would buckle under the Bedrock size slab which stretched across the plate.

Between gastronomic gags we were able to catch up with out dinner mates such as another of the key people responsible for putting this together and a wonderful friend Robert Patrick. We also broke bread and shared stories with artist Bob Elias, photographer Steven Russo, animator /director Rob Minkoff and his lovely wife Crystal Kung Minkoff. It's always a bit unusual but lots of fun to see animation folks in formal wear on the town instead of the usual jeans and t-shirts slumped over their animation desks. Rob and Patty look great as they get ready for desert but I'm definitely more comfortable on the other side of the camera. Now then where's my Créme Brulée?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Jim Henson Tribute

2011-11-19T01:27:00.000-08:00

Kermit croons a spellbinding theme called Rainbow Connection.

When a friend called to ask me to contribute a piece or two for a tribute to the visionary muppeteer Jim Henson to be held this month, I couldn't say yes fast enough. I had worked briefly with Jim and Frank Oz on their first muppet feature, "The Muppet Movie," as what else? A muppeteer. I was Emmet Otter and my classmate and future wife Patty Paulick was ironically MA otter. On the movie set we quickly learned important terminology like, "Muppets Up!" That popular ditty would soon be followed by the equally unforgettable, "Muppets down!" As Jim explained, "you new people have no idea how tired your arm will get just holding it in an UP position. A few minutes here and a few there and soon you realize the entire day has gone by and for some reason, your arm is really sore." Many seasoned muppeteers grinned in silent agreement with Jim and so we took that tidbit to heart rather quickly. It was and IS great advice by the way. We found ourselves surrounded by talented people from all walks in life that somehow shared a passion for puppetry. These people were amazing to watch as their performances brought each character to life before our eyes.

Frank Oz, but you can call him MA Otter

We performed to a pre-recorded soundtrack and worked below floor level, watching small TV screens to check on the movement we couldn't see above our heads. After a few hours sped by we were enjoying our first lunch break when a lanky figure ambled over to sit with Patty and I. It was Kermit, followed very closely by his alter ego Jim Henson. Jim asked us in his soft spoken voice how we were enjoying the shoot so far and as Kermit entered the conversation I found myself looking and speaking to him, along with Jim. It was magic. If you have ever met or worked with Jim you realize I am not exagerating when I say how friendly and pleasant to be around the guy was. A shrill voice soon interrupted our talk as Miss Piggy invaded our little circle dragging along Frank Oz by the arm. It was hilarious watching and listening as Kermit and Miss Piggy went at it while the human counterparts below seem to almost disappear. Miss Piggy complained about many things including how drafty the sound stage was, which was why the curls were not staying in her hair and the fact that Frank's hands were too cold (and a few other remarks )and we all cracked up. That was hands down, (or is that muppets down? ) one of the most convivial crews I have ever worked with.

As Frank was the voice for MA he took some time to help Patty out with her characterization of the little woman. Jim likewise gave me pointers on Emmet but also threw some real compliments my way concerning my muppeteering skills that I will always cherish. I actually felt guilty when I got my paycheck for doing what was truly a thrill for me. I did eventually cash the check, I mean come on, starving artist, remember? Like many people reading this blog, I have been a fan of Jim's work back when the muppets were more or less nameless monsters and were featured in black and white television commercials and on the Ed Sullivan Show. My brothers and I would squeal with laughter at the antics of a small lizard like creature, nameless at the time but after a few more design modifications like webbed feet, we would all know him eventually as Kermit the Frog. We also enjoyed Rowlf the Dog on the "Jimmy Dean Show". So when the Gallery came a' knocking for a tribute piece, I was thrilled at the opportunity to share my deep appreciation for Jim Henson and what he has done for me and so many other childhoods in sharing his love for life.

"Soul Mates" basic blocking

"Soul Mates" adding washes

First thing I did was to knock out lots of quick little sketches. The second thing I did after looking at those embarrassing little doodles was realize it had been a long time since I had drawn these guys, and I had better get some good reference out and get reacquainted with the Muppet clan. I went ahead and spent the day looking through the many books I have on the Muppets, from "Jim Henson, The Works" to various Story books and record albums even resorted to sketching while watching a DVD of "Muppet Movie" and before too long I was once again comfortable with his wonderful world of muppet magic all over again. In fact with this sudden inundation of muppet mythos, I felt a "Rainbow Connection" forming or maybe it was just the tune stuck in my head. Anyway, eventually the two pieces I came up with for the Tribute show are as follows:

"Soul Mates" ready to ship

"Soul Mates" is an acrylic on canvas with Kermit enjoying some quiet time with his favorite playmate (Jim Henson of course!). I thought it would be fun to see these two switch places with Jim as the puppet and Kermit as the muppeteer. I usually work in water color or gouache so doing this in acrylic was really a fun exercise for me. I had some Winsor Newton acrylics but had read some great reviews on the Golden line of paints. Found collections of Golden at a local art store that blended beautifully on the canvas and of course I destroyed a few of my brushes in the creative process.

"Muppets and Mullions"

"Muppets and Mullions" is inspired by a beautiful photograph taken of Jim sitting in an alcove window with a view of the New York City skyline holding alter ego Bert on his knee between shooting takes of Sesame Street. His fellow muppeteer Frank Oz brought Ernie to life and the two contrasting muppet personalities made for lots of muppet mirth. I wanted to silhouette Jim and Kermit against a chaotic cacophony of cutups (pun intended) of many familiar faces from the muppet family. I kept the "crowd" in white to be seen as a grouping and further simplify them as a light value to make the darker Jim and Kermit foreground pop. I cut this project out of hundreds of little snips of paper, slicing, scoring, folding, gluing until it all seemed to finally come together. (Thank you Mr Bill Moore our Design teacher from Cal Arts! ) I also must add that I along with my wife Patty are thankful we have a vacuum cleaner that works.

It's an honor to be a part of something that says thanks to a man who has brought so much enjoyment all over the world. The exhibition will be from December 10, 2011 to January 2, 2012 at GALLERY NUCLEUS located in Alhambra, California. Opening reception is December 10, 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM. If you get a chance, come on down to the Gallery and say hello, I'd love to meet you. While you're there, please enjoy the many wonderful "thank you notes" in the guise of dazzling artwork created by many very talented folks to the "man behind the muppets, JIM HENSON."

Mickey's Xmas Carol, PART 3

2011-11-13T09:02:00.000-08:00

Ken stops by Christmas Carol to supervise my model building

Two very close friends and legendary Disney Art Directors, both named "Ken," (O'Connor and Anderson), had spoken to me that they had frequently built intricate models for many Disney films as an aid with pre-visuals and actual production to offer dramatic staging ideas and lighting. Ken Anderson had started it back during "The Old Mill" by constructing a wooden mill that could be dismantled to study the inside wooden gears. He built "Snow White's" cottage interior and exterior, and O'Connor did likewise with examples like Cinderella's coach and rockets from "Man in Space". If those two thought it a good idea who was I to second guess? Besides, I've always enjoyed making models and small scale miniatures. Today of course we rely on computers to provide those services but back then it was all hard wood, metal, balsa, cardboard and plaster.

Vance Gerry sketch of Dick Lucas

I worked with Disney Feature animator and model maker Dick Lucas on "Fox and Hound" who was the model expert for Disney from the 1960s forward. He was the key person responsible for Cruella's car and he still had that model stashed besides his desk at work among others he had done over the years. I'll have to do a post on "101 Dalmations" some time and include my talks and pictures with Dick, Don, and Woolie on that car. Dick (and Muriel) lived two doors down from me and Don (and Kay) were 2 streets over so I could bug them about these kinds of things which I did frequently. Besides using models as vehicles, we also referred to them for props. The Disney Lot Prop Master gave me one of the door knockers used in "Mary Poppins" (Bank of England set ) to look at for Scrooges door knocker which is taken over by the spirit of Jacob Marley (Goofy). I told him I might be using it for quite a while and his response was a gruff, "Jes keep it. I got a nudder one here so jes keep it." You see at this point the prop collection was literally spilling out into the backlot (yes we even had a backlot in those days) so he explained no one had ever requested the item so one version was enough for his inventory. For "Mickey's Christmas Carol", I built various sets including the counting house, Mickey's desk, Scrooges' desk, the stairway and the bedroom. I also created sculptures, some even articulated versions of the key characters like Mickey along with cutouts of Burny's drawings to place them into the sets for study and discussion.

Ghost of Christmas Past setting

These model sets and sculptures were available for loan out to anyone on the crew to aid with their scenes. Since the pieces were primarily paper and balsa wood, when Ted wanted to borrow the Ghost of Christmas Past set to study light patterns he asked me, "Is it OK to light the candle?" "Sure" I answered. When Ted returned the candle stick with the rest of the set at the end of production I wondered if he had used it as the sole means of lighting and warmth with a veritable mound of candle wax collected at the stem! I was honored though when one of my setups with Jimminy on the candle stick was recently used by Disney Fine Art as a basis towards a limited sculpture for the collectable crowd. With all these little model sets in my room, by the time Christmas rolled around I even put up a miniature decorated Christmas tree that actually lit up in the counting house set although the Scrooge sculpture, exhibiting his usual "Bah Humbug" scowl, didn't seem pleased with the festive addition to his dour domain.

John Lasseter and Mike Peraza check scene on moviola

As I mentioned earlier, we didn't have the ability to create computer graphics in 3D which is today considered mainstream for "animated" feature films. I was hoping to push the boundaries of 2D if not into 3D, than at least 2 1/2 D. One morning I found a scene depicting a quick flight through an alley and over some rooftops needing attention. Now you have to understand that this was a featurette and not a feature and although we all lavished every bit of quality we were allowed, deadlines and quotas had to be met. I had about an hour to think of a way to handle forward motion and while pondering the problem, John Lasseter, who was 2 rooms down came in to see what I was up to.

He was going to animate Scrooge hanging onto Jimminy with his tiny umbrella for the trip to the past and had just gone over the scene in storyboards next door with Burny. He was as excited as I was about various ways we might re-stage the scenes and after we brainstormed it for a bit, I roughed out some layouts and gave them to him to follow. I had really wanted to involve the audience in a roller-coaster ride over London rooftops. I did a few crazy tests that were kind of fun and full of potential but only one scene was actually cut into the reel and unfortunately what you see on film is our first only take of that action. John added some creative personality bits having Scrooge attempt to crawl ON TOP of the slippery umbrella during their flight which definitely added to the sequence. But oh If we could only go back and redo it with the resources and experience we have now, ... sigh.

Example of Burny's care and attention to character

The animation was directed in a very organized yet enjoyable manner by Burny with superb detailed model sheets for animators to follow. He issued model sheets that demonstrated key poses as well as others that specifically detailed the final cleanup. Even with that kind of foresight to guide the production, pressure builds trying to create day after day. Gags both practical and drawn were always a great way to relieve that tension at Disney. We constantly exchanged gag drawings with each other lampooning everyone on the crew as well as the film itself, all in fun of course.

One gag resulted with an early snow in our hallways at Disney. Yes, I said SNOW, and IN our hallway. You see at the same time as Christmas Carol, the studio was working on a futuristic film called "TRON". Well that crew was working incredibly long hours at the end of its production and during one late night escapade, a few Tronites entered our dark and deserted Christmas Carol hallways and emptied studio fire extinguishers into a few rooms and covered the hallway. The stuff looked like snow, if you were a bit tipsy, which is most likely what the "volunteer firemen" from TRON were that evening. Unfortunately you just couldn't make a decent snowman out of that sticky goop (I tried) so it didn't endear itself to the unlucky victims. Luckily my door and Burny's were locked but they had a hell of a blizzard in Mark Henn's room as well as a couple of others. The studio management was not laughing at our early White Christmas but most thought it was pretty hilarious.

Warm watercolor, wrinkled paper and ink - Mike Peraza

As our own production was slowly winding down, screen acknowledgment always comes up. Instead of rolling credits, I wanted something special like the old title sequences we all enjoyed on film classics like "Song of the South", "Dumbo", "Peter Pan" and so many others. I mentioned it to Burny and showed him a mock-up I did of Jimminy Cricket on the candle stick with the title card and although he was interested he just wasn't sold on the idea.

Luckily a co-worker and utterly amazing story guy, Vance Gerry used to drop by my room to check up on me as he had requested me for the story department when I first came to the studio based on my reel at Cal Arts which was more story boards than animation. He got really excited about the little pencil sketches I had mocked up for the title sequence and the next day brought over some beautiful little ink sketches in the same vein he had done for some little Dicken's books to show me. Let me explain that Vance had his own printing press in those days and would hand out these beautiful little hand made books of selected works by Dickens for Christmas presents, of which I'm lucky to have a complete set courtesy of Vance. Vance then gave me a very special edition he had done that was reserved for retirees. I won't go into much detail about it here except to mention the long dark stairway and the small paper bag. Those of you who know what I'm talking about are probably cracking up right now. Anyway Burny could hear us laughing next door and came over to see what we were doing and in no time, with Vance's support, Burny consented to let me do the title art. The only trouble doing titles I now faced was that the crew got wind of it and started coming down to see the pieces.

A Couple of Crickets

It would be flattering to believe they were wildly in love with my sketches but I soon realized there was most likely a stronger interest in seeing what their credit was, or if they even got one. It was then that I witnessed how disappointed some became when they they realize they were not going to get that animator credit they had hoped for. I have to say my wife Patty did quite a bit of great effects from snow gusts, fire, shadows etc. but was short at only 89 feet and you needed 100 to get the screen credit. She was a pro and took it like a er... woman but there were more than a few disenchanted crew members to put it mildly. Those kinds of things though unpleasant have always been and will always be a part of film production and is a very difficult decision for producers to contend with.

1 of the unposed crew shots I snapped

I borrowed the Mickey in the top hat with scarf graphic so beautifully airbrushed by John Emerson, from our opening and made two ink and painted copies to have signed for a souvenir. One for Burny and one for me which the entire crew signed. When I made an iron -on and wore it to work (minus signatures) Burny and the crew flipped and we soon ordered golden crew shirts with the opening card graphic for everyone. The Disney Studio courtesy of Ron Miller, threw a wrap party for us that ended with an after hours feast in the Disney Coral Room next to the cafeteria. Everyone was wearing their golden crew T-shirts and it was a warm reunion to celebrate what we had all achieved together, not to mention the food was mighty tasty too. In the end it was a good experience made better by the talent and integrity of the entire crew, not the least was the man most responsible for the entire project, Burny Mattinson. "Mickey's Christmas Carol" was received enthusiastically at the box office when issued as a double bill in a re-release of "The Rescuers" which ironically also featured animation by then brand new "Mickey's Christmas Carol" alum animators Ed Gombert and Randy Cartwright.

One of the lost NBC "bumpers"

When the NBC network carried it in subsequent years, the studio contacted me through special Projects head Mark Sturdivant to create a dozen more title cards in the same sepia ink style I done for the original which was a treat for me. Mark was a pleasure to deal with as he was an unusual combination of creativity AND management. Yeah, you don't come across that animal often in what we laughingly refer to as the Entertainment Biz. I was in the middle of "Basil of Baker Street" pre-production at that point but would knock them out during lunch breaks. It was a joy getting re-acquainted with that special cast once again if only to design some more title cards. I used the same techniques, quick little blue sketches that I cleaned up to emulate the old printing style with my Montblanc fountain pens. I then sent them to Bill Brazner who supervised the Xerox Department in Ink and Paint and he would xerox them on cels to be shot over distressed warm watercolor boards I would sponge. They used these for what is referred to as "bumpers" in the business. These are the little title cards that in essence say to the home audience, "don't go away, we'll be right back after these messages." I included one of the dozen NBC bumper sketches I did, this particular one is the WIllie and company setup shown here with my instructions to Bill for slight enlargement on cel. They don't use any of these second set of drawings I did any longer as it was only for the network version and was never included in the DVD release nor are they likely to in the future so in essence I guess they are now considered lost. I made copies if they ever decide to reinstate them.

The Release Poster

Walt Disney Studios built up the fact that this was Mickey's first official return to the motion picture screen in 30 years. The Disney take on the Dicken's story was translated into comics, records, collectable figurines and if you happened to vists the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World last Christmas, simply gorgeous window displays.

SANTA (me) and our director (Burny) heading out.

After "The Black Cauldron", we were the last Disney animated film to actually enjoy complete production in the old original animation studio in Burbank that Walt Disney had built with the profits of his classic "Snow White" so in hindsite it was made even more special for those of us that toiled for old Ebenezer. Even though we had been told the move to Glendale would be temporary and that we'd soon return to the original animation building, it never came about. The film went on to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Animated Short (pretty long short ), the first nomination for our Mickey since "Mickey and the Seal" in 1948. What has made it even more special like so many films we have been fortunate to work on is the happy looks one sees when some one brings up "Mickey's Christmas Carol." Over the years it has become a perennial holiday favorite for families to gather around and enjoy with each new generation. To paraphrase Tiny Tim's last line, we were all blessed to have worked on this merry little ornament of a film, yes blessed every one. Merry Christmas!

Mickey's Xmas Carol, PART 2

2011-11-06T10:19:00.000-08:00

Burny, carefree Commander of Christmas Carol Capers

Most of the film was storyboarded with exquisite little charcoal sketches by Burny. I mean these were really little jewels that clearly told the story but did it with simple yet beautifully clear imagery. There have been outstanding story board artists in Disney studio over the years, the likes of Bill Pete, Joe Rinaldi and Ken Anderson come immediately to my mind. Well, I believe Burny could have held his own with that allstar team. He tried to find the best way to stage a story point and executed those attempts in a very eye-pleasing manner.

So he didn't really need any assistance in this department but he got a great pair of helping hands anyhow when Ed Gombert was brought on as one of the early artists to form our small crew. Ed was one of those renaissance dynamos who could do character design, storyboard and then guess what else? ... yep eventually animate the sections he had previously boarded. His Ratty and Moley were animated in a fine fashion that pleased Frank and Ollie (the original animators from the 1949 feature film). We really were in awe of Ed's ability and he wasn't the only outstanding teammate to climb onboard our ship. Another accomplished cohort was Glenn Keane who hardly needs any introduction to anyone who has followed Disney animation during the past couple decades, was also part of the animation staff along with veteran animator Dale Baer another genius with a pencil who had luckily just returned to the Disney Studio in time for our project. The "dream team" was rapidly taking shape.

Mark Henn Mickey Magic, Pencil Test to Final Scene

The list went on with Sylvia Mattinson overseeing all the assistants and the final cleanup. Character animation was by the likes of Matt O'Callaghan, Toby Shelton, John Lasseter, Dave Block portraying Ebenezer Scooge and Mark Henn who gave a stellar performance as Bob (Mickey) Cratchit . The effects department was in good force with Ted Kiersey, Patty Peraza, Jack Boyd and Jeff Howard helping with the magical honors. Layout was ably handled by Sylvia Roemer and Gary Eggleston. The crew list goes on and on and one only has to watch the credits to see a "who's who" of future animation greats. I was like a little kid just chomping at the bit waiting for the animators to breathe life into the layout character drawings I left them with and they never disappointed as they delivered outstanding performances. As one animator turned in a scene with some fresh broad animation, the next guy would try to good naturally outdo it with ever broader stuff on his. This made for quite a change from the straighter toon we had all marched to on previous films.

Alan, the perfect voice for Scrooge

Voices were expertly cast by Burny and starred Alan Young as the miserly Scrooge. In person he was anything but the sour old miser but he delivered such a good job on "Christmas Carol", that Gary made sure to bring him back a few years later when we created "DuckTales" for Disney Television so I had the good fortune to work with Alan on both projects. Mickey of course had originally been given voice by Walt Disney and later Jimmy MacDonanld who was a sound effects genius and funny guy with a joke. Jimmy passed the baton to Wayne Allwine in the late 1970s, who balanced the midget mystro perfectly with Alan's performance. On a very poignant note it was the last time Clarence Nash did Donald Duck which he of course had originated in 1934 in the short, "The Wise Little Hen". Ducky even brought that cool custom Donald Duck ventriloquist dummy to the recording studio with him one day just to give us a kick, which it certainly did. Mentioning voice talents, If you have an incredible ear you can also make out Glenn Keane, John Lassetter, Mike Peraza, Mark Henn, Patty Peraza, and Randy Cartwright doing background vocal noise called, "walla-wallas" in a few of the crowd scenes. Bravo, what magnificent voices! Of course now you understand why we didn't rate our own song.

The Baers,1st day of Strike

Now don't believe that every second was laughs as we had some bumps in the road during production, doesn't every film? Run-a-way production was one of the issues our animation union local deemed a threat although at the time it seemed to affect mainly the Ink and Paint department. The work day was barely getting under way at the studio when the Disney animation staff was herded into the Disney theater and told by head of Animation Ed Hansen that our union had decided to strike and we all had to pack up our belongings and leave. It was a shock for most of us and a sad event I believe for both sides but within the hour we were all leaving the house of mouse. Union officials were ready and handed each of us an illustrated picket sign to call our own as we left the studio that morning. I'll go into the strike in a later blog in detail and with plenty of pictures I took from the first day as we all gathered our belongings through to the last, including parties, picket lines, union meetings and fist fights.

Patty, Tim and Don hit the pavement

During the making of an animated film there will invariably be time when someone thinks an action is too broad while another animator may think it hasn't gone far enough.

Our "Ghost of Christmas Present" was realized by Willie, the giant who resided in Walt Disney's animated feature "Fun and Fancy Free". Glenn may have used the Giant as the basis of the form but he told me while animating him that he based the movement and lovable curiosity on his then 18 month old baby. (Must have been very big for his size ). Anyway studio animation had been limited in executing broad actions during Fox and Cauldron so with Carol, Glenn could flex his considerable animation talent for expressing expansive energized images.

Glenn Keane, Talent Extraordinaire

Glenn Keane's animation of the roof stretching and snapping like it was rubber as Willie steps out received a heated discussion from some who felt it was over the top and too broad and others who felt it was perfect for the business. Glenn did what animators should always do, plus what you are given. Of course in times like this, the director will act as referee and decide what is correct for the film. In addition to Glenn's expressive animation, Dale Baer was creating wonderfully dramatic animation with Pete in the graveyard. Here I was able to add a few story and staging ideas. I did some quick charcoal sketches where he started out as a silhouette and was then lit by the cigar to add some dramatic and creepy under lighting to his performance. Burney loved it and used the concept in his story boards. Even that piece of business came under scrutiny when objections were voiced over having a Disney character smoke on screen. Seriously, it was almost cut! Shessh! I mean come on, hadn't they even watched Cruella De'Ville, or even Captain Hook take a puff for evil's sake?

Concept art for "Ghost of Christmas Present"

When you work on animated films you may hear the same lines hundreds of times before the film is in the can and released. Years later you'll find yourself reciting dialog from a film you worked on when someone cues a certain word or phrase. This can result in some lines not ripening well over time in one's mind and others perhaps even rotting on the line, er vine. When Daisy speaks to a young Scrooge at the dance he ends the conversation with "...you're also standing on my foot!" Burny would crack up. I thought it was just mildly funny and a couple others didn't give the line even that much credit. Eventually a few of us mentioned how we thought the line fell flat. Burny didn't agree and kept it in. The more we teased him about it, the deeper he was entrenched with that line.

Disney Theater Burbank Main Lot

Eventually we held our first ARI in the Disney theater which is a closed screening to check audience reaction to a work in progress. This was our big chance, or so we thought. Ed Gombert, Randy Cartwright and I had all bought these little devices called Laugh Boxes. It was kind of a rage back then, you know, like the "burning babies" toys so many of us played with "on break". The Laugh Boxes were battery operated and when you pressed the button a chessy laugh erupted that would almost always domino into more laughter. We were at the ready in the back row. Wait for it... wait for it... here comes the line... press the buttons! For a split second it was completely quiet then the entire theater erupted in howling laughter after hearing our sqawking electronic guffaws. Safe to say we hadn't thought it through for upon returning to Burny's room after the screening we were told," Well that line got the biggest laugh of the entire film, so I don't want to hear anymore about cutting it! " Opps. As they say, " the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. " Actually fitting all that Dickens material into a 26 minute format isn't easy although many have tried. All in all, the dialogue was tweaked well for the unique Disney characters brought in to perform the classic roles and Burny picked, chose and re-wrote the lines with great care keeping true to the Dickens flavor of the story as well as to the Disney characters now inheriting those memorable roles.

Mermaid Mural for Disney World

2011-11-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

Larry Nikolai's beautiful mural for the California version

I was fortunate to be able to see elements of the Little Mermaid attraction long before it opened to the public including rough sketches, color comps, early audioanimatronics and an amazing mural done by imagineer Larry Nikolai. I was asked for comments and suggestions during the walk through and enjoyed the experience at WDI tremendously.

I had been given the pleasure of working with John Hench years ago while at Disney Feature animation and was excited about the varied work being created at WED ever since. I had recently done murals for the parks including a series of eight- 10 foot wide panels depicting Dumbo's life story to be installed on his new attraction, so when I was contacted by WDI to do the Mermaid mural I was suprised they weren't using Larry's beautiful painting. They explained that the installation in Walt Disney World was larger all around and they wanted to use a more realistic and painterly approach. "Would I be interested?" Duh, of course!

I met with an incredible collection of imagineers and senior show designers and we went over ideas. Because the mural was so large, I was to execute it in digital form and they would transfer the image to canvas and have their very talented scenic artists go over the entire image down at Walt Disney World. There were changes in concept arrangement, architectural details and all the things you would expect in a project this large but I have to say the people I dealt with at WDI were a joy to work with. The first thing I did was pin up the copy I had of Larry's mural over my desk for inspiration before diving into the deep blue sea.

The format I used was PSB which is the extra large file format available in the newer additions of PhotoShop. I worked in a high resolution of 600 dpi which really put a strain on my computers. Luckily a good friend of mine is an IT guru for the studios and he boosted everything on my computer to handle the extra data.

The programs I used were PhotoShop and Painter. PhotoShop gave me the tools necessary to quickly build a composition and send it in to WDI to begin discussions. Painter is a very intuitive program where I can mix hues real time on a digital palette and the brushes afford me the feel of a more natural approach to the illustration. I still prefer traditional methods but when I am forced to go digital, these are two of the programs I count on. I also use a WACOM Intuos tablet as you really shouldn't attempt this with a mouse (unless he has graduated art school).

Original on left, My Disneyized version on right

There is more detail than you can probably see in the stages shown above. For example I based the Ariel pose of the mural on the famous statue of Hans Christen Anderson's creation found in Copenhagen harbor. The senior show designer liked the sketches but wanted her a bit more up right so I lifted her head slightly and took some of the hunched look from her back.

Rough for ship's angle

By the way she is looking towards Eric's ship to screen right which is docked just outside his castle. Luckily I still have the model I built of his ship in my studio so I could stage it to look at various angles and lighting which came in handy with the time crunch. I decided on a rear view to indicate Eric might be ready to ship off on another sea faring adventure at any moment. There is also a faint warm glow inside the captain's quarters to give us a feeling that maybe... just maybe Eric is sitting there thinking about the girl he has yet to meet. This was a quick little painting which captured the ship well as far as the producer was concerned so I cut out the ship and tossed the rest of the painting.

Dark subdued stonework

My original pastel/watercolor concept from the film

For the architectural elements I used the same approach when I designed Eric's Castle for the film "Little Mermaid". It has a decidedly mediterranean flavor so I also incorporated terra cotta roof tiles and lots, and lots of palms but kept that section purposely dark to attempt to blend in more seamlessly with the actual stone wall which is also dark. There will also be plants and props placed at specific edges to help bridge the transition from my flat illustration to the "real" world of the guests. We researched the placement of the horizon line and arrived at a compromise of placing it 4 1/2 feet above the walkway surface. You have to keep in mind that some guest view it standing while others will be seated in "clam-cars" for the ride. I also wanted to err on keeping it lower to accommodate the children's view. We also kept tabs on the progress of the version being installed in "California Adventure" to better help us in doing a thorough job.

I can't say enough about the help I received from the folks at WDI during this very enjoyable project. They were always ready to give a helpful suggestion or provide any additional reference. Can't wait to see the "Journey of the Little Mermaid" and all the other exciting additions when the New Fantasyland opens.

Here is a video posted by the Disney Parks Blog you may also enjoy:

Mickey's Xmas Carol, PART 1

2011-11-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

We "Dickenized" the iconic Mickey title

Everyone has seen at least one version of Charles Dickens' novella, "A Christmas Carol." This victorian tale of holiday magic made famous the world over was first published on December 17, 1843. As far as I can tell, not being around back then, it has been circulated in many forms not the least has been as a filmed adaptations. The Walt Disney Studio released a splendid re-telling of the venerable holiday fable in 1983, and this is my chance to untie the bows, and unwrap the present of how that marvelous Disney/Dickens classic came to be. It all started with a seasonal record made by the Disney Records division. It was produced by friend and former head of Disney Television Animation, Gary Kreisel and ironically co-written by Alan Young, the man would become the voice for Scrooge in "Mickey's Christmas Carol" and for television's "DuckTales".

Storyman Burny Mattinson happened to hear the record and liked the concept of taking the Dicken's classic tale and inserting the classic Disney characters into the celebrated roles. He took the incentive to send the record up to Studio head honcho Ron Miller but when he didn't hear back, was suddenly worried he might have over stepped his authority by doing so. He needn't have given it a second thought though. At Disney Studios around that time there were a few of us that were just not satisfied with a prevailing lack of the classic quality and just good old fashioned entertainment that seemed to be filtering out of the current animation projects and were also especially not happy with the dark and dull direction "Black Cauldron" was taking. Ron MIller had given quite a few people like Tim Burton and many others a chance to create their own projects at the Disney Studio of the 1970s and 80s. He shared the potential of the Christmas Carol record and in that same spirit gave Burny the greenlight to develop the project into an animated featurette although the way Burny tells it, Ron scared the beegeebers out of him at the meeting before giving the nod. Now all that Captain Burny needed was a full crew to sign on, arrrgh.

An example of Disney team work to create concept art.

Burny asked me down to meet with him and told me Don Griffith had mentioned that I would be a good fit for his new crew. So upon that wonderful recommendation I immediately moved into the empty room adjoining his director's room down on the first floor and quickly started in doing concept art. Our crew at that point was Burny, his wife Slvia Mattinson, Don, Mark Henn, myself and Tim O'Donnel. We soon had two possible directions that were done as visual presentations.

One was Don Griffith's which used the xerox CL or "clean line". This technique incorprated a clean ink drawing that was xeroxed on a cel and at the same time printed onto Cresent 100 Heavy Weight board within a ziptone to break up the line slightly. The board was painted expertly with washes of guoache by background head Jim Coleman, which somewhat subdued the line until the overlaid xerox was placed directly above it in camera. It was a technique that Don had helped develop and had worked beautifully for Disney films from "101 Dalmations" to "Winnie the Pooh". Griff used a variety of ink pens to get the result he achieved on his drawings and I used the same pens to imitate his technique but threw in my old Montblancs because it added some wonderful thick and thin that seemed to add life to the line work. After the line was transferred to the board James Coleman (I always called him Jim or Jimbo) would work his magic over the background and we had our setup.

Beautiful color palette by Coleman

I'm including one of his exquisite color studies, a piece indicating the moment Jimminy Cricket lights the candle in Scooge's bedroom. If it seems subtle you have to remember 3 things:

ONE -We wanted pixie dust and candle flame animation (Patty Peraza) to read well against the BG.
TWO - The characters needed to "pop" against the setting as they did in the old classic films.
THREE - This was Technicolor/RGB which not only boosted saturation and contrast but did little tricks with hues.

Jim did a fine job on this study as he did throughout the film as did his entire background department. As I said there were two stylistic approaches. The other style was mine which was employed a colorful watercolor/guoache but was in the whimsical style more like Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" rendering meets UPA design. You can't have two different directions for production design so a choice had to be made between the two and that appointment went to...(drum roll please)... Don!

An early Griffith/Peraza production layout of the village

Don's approach was chosen which I believe was actually much better for this classic subject matter than what I had cobbled together. I'm not saying I thought my style would have been wrong, and I have to admit I was more than a little disappointed, but I truly loved what Don had done and more importantly so did Burny and since he was in charge, that is what counted. So we used Don's inspiring concepts to guide us throughout the entire pre-production of "Mickey's Christmas Carol". It was the right decision.

The record that started it all

Of course some roles just begged to be re-cast. I mean come on... using Fergy's Wicked Witch from "Snow White" and Milt's Merlin from "Sword in the Stone" as two of the spirits of Christmas? That's just a lot of Humbug! I liked those two in their own design domains, especially Milt's Merlin, however mixing those somewhat realistically contemplated characters with shorts types looked bad enough within the record album pages and one would only assume it might very well worsen in animation.

Thank goodness Burny had the taste to re-cast some of the roles including those two fish out of water with characters more copacetic in personality and composition including JImminy Cricket from "Pinocchio" to villainous Pete. Yes I know "Pinochchio" was a feature but the older "rubber-hose" styling of Jimminy Cricket especially made use of rounder simpler shapes found abundantly in the realm of shorts character design and in addition Ward Kimball's animation of Pinoke's little conscience certainly set a standard for us to try to follow. In fact we all visited the "morgue" (now called Animation Research) frequently in those days to get inspiration whether from animation to original layouts and Background paintings. It was as easy back then as a simple call to Leroy Anderson to see almost anything that had ever been created from the golden past of Disney. Nowadays one needs to make an appointment far in advance and wear white gloves while handling the valuable material. With so much security, I'm sure the retina scan is on the horizon too. Though I remember taking the entire collection of "Snow White" BGs home on weekends to study the technique and composition and that is something you just won't be doing these days.

A few snapshots from the Pete Family Album

While I mentioned Pete, I'l have to ask everyone to be very careful how you say his name. His old name, Black Pete although was a fine despicable name for a villain in many vintage Disney cartoons in the past, he was suddenly considered far too racist to even utter. Another even older monkier, Peg-leg, was also claimed to possibly upset the disabled movement. Well you can call me Pete and you can call me Peter but jes don't call me late fer dinner... er, let's just call him Pete to be safe shall we? By the way, how many of you out there recognized that Pete is a cat? That was done to make him the original antagonist for Mickey Mouse. We also had Ratty, Mole, McBadger, the weasels and Mr. Toad himself as old Fezziwig creating an almost "This is Your Life Mr Toad" reunion within the film for fans of Disney's "Wind in the Willows". I have to tell you, drawing all these classic characters that were eventually assembled for this film was a thrill for all of us after all we're fans of Disney animation too!

Breakfast table lamp, Peraza kitchen

Burny was a pioneer at the studio regarding home video recording equipment and as I shared that early passion (although my equipment was a A LOT cheaper than Burny's high end stuff ) , he graciously made a VHS copy of "Scrooge" starring Albert Finney for me to watch at home. If you ever see that film you will most likely notice some of the inspiration for the background settings as translated by Disney legend Don Griffith and myself. In addition to careful research of Victorian London architecture and original prints from the Dicken's manuscript along with just plain making stuff up, some props were actually based on furnishings within my home where Don and his wife Kay spent a few Friday nights for some of our studio card games. For example the lamp over Mickey's, er... I mean Bob Crachit's accounting desk can be found lighting delicious morning meals over our breakfast table in the morning. At night it lit cards games where the Griffiths and O'Connors would humiliate Patty and I with UNO and other assorted of card games. And for the record, never challenge Ken to a game of trivial pursuit or Don to a game of pool.

One of my favorite Christmas Confections

Burny scheduled sweatbox room screenings so he could review Christmas films such as "Scrooge" as well as UPA's "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" to me, Don and Eric Larson and our tiny crew to discuss and review how others had handled the same story in a musical format. During those screenings we discussed various versions at length, sharing what we thought was working in those films and the scenes or sequences we didn't like and why. Eric Larson and Don Griffith in particular offered delightful insights from their own long histories of Disney Feature experience. Eric at this time was sheparding a new group of talent into the studio. Like most of the Disney veterans, he was a reassuring and warm voice that not only provided mentoring for the new kids on the block but offerred advice to anyone who asked including Burny during production of Christmas Carol. Burny was Eric's assistant in later years and so had access to Eric's counsel whenever needed. I would also sometimes seek out Eric's advice over a pose or even staging of a scene and like Don, he always took time out to help. And before I forget, Disney Director Darrell Van Citters has published an excellent book on "Mister Maggo's Christmas Carol" that is an essential piece detailing animation history for anyone who is a fan of great animation entertainment and UPA artistry and no I don't get a kick-back for saying that.

Donald's Christmas Carol 1949

Of course this was hardly the first time Disney had used Dicken's Christmas Carol as a basis for a project, indeed every hollywood studio has hit up the venerable holiday tale for inspiration over the years. Even Disney re-did it yet again with Jim Carrey scrooging the role with their 2009 offering. Somehow I never got around to seeing the Carrey Christmas Carol, but back In December 1949, Walt Disney himself offered Donald Duck the starring role in this example from "The Rexall Magazine". "The Duck" gave Dickens a definite run for Scrooge's money with his usual antics and quick trigger temper. Also notice that everyone in this adaptation is a duck. Can you even imagine if we had made every single character a mouse in the Mickey version? We would have had to call in an exterminator! I guess it could have been worse, someone could have made a film populated with ewoks. Oh wait, I guess someone did...

Remembering Ken O'Connor, PART 2

2011-07-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

Original Title Card for Cinderella

This is roughly how a day in Ken's class would unfold. I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30, ate an orange and then after meeting Ken at his car, we walked to class where I would unlock the door as no one was there yet. As TA I had keys to all the Character Animation rooms which made it easier for fellow students to get access after hours. He used a foldable rolling cart on top of which he placed items like a converted fishing tackle box. This box held a hodge-podge of art supplies neatly arranged within its drawers. Endless goodies from pastels to paint and compasses to canvas rolls could be brought forth from that small box much like Mary Poppins did with her magical carpet bag. I would help Ken set up a still life for our first class exercise in the morning. He did the artistic placement, me the heavy lifting. These could be anything from a stuffed eagle on a branch waiting to pounce upon a equally stuffed rabbit to an arrangement of musical instruments made of shiny brass and dark wood to a collection of old antique brass and copper lamps.

Stepsisters by Mary Blair

In this way Ken would help us decipher how to properly translate various surfaces in our illustrations such as the metallic reflection of a trumpet, a subdued highlight on fine oiled wood, the sheen of silk drapery to the soft fringe of a feathered wing. After lunch we would then move on to unique perspective problems that he would setup for us using handouts and the over head projector. After the head numbing problems solving missing perspectives of a cross on a hill, Ken would take pity on the class. He did this by bringing in examples from the Walt Disney Studios showing the various stages used in creating the family of famous Disney classics beginning with "Cinderella," a film he knew very well.

Bedroom Concept, Live Action, Layout & Painted BG

He started off by bringing in a written treatment with concept art featuring Mary Blair, Ken Anderson, Bill Pete and John Hench followed the next week by storyboards and workbooks by talents like Bill Pete and Ken Anderson. We would then see the rough and final layouts from he, Don Griffith and Tom Codrick and others, then eventually the beautiful background paintings from Claude Coats and Art Riley including the discards such as the infamous Palace interior section that was completely discarded and had to be redone. We also studied the live action film reference from stills to the film comparing it to the animation derived from the rotoscoping of its poses until finally we watched the entire film in the theater with Ken as our MC as he made comments (some were hilarious) as to production problems and anecdotes about the film's production.

The Disney version of the Stairway to Success

This procedure was followed on additional Disney classic films as we were exposed to more and more artists, their different styles and techniques, and the steps taken to produce these classics, including mistakes and failed attempts as well as the successful conclusion.To the left is a breakdown of an example of how the various stages of just one area, in this case the tower stairway, was developed and used in the film, "Cinderella". I wish I had the space to transfer all of my notes and photos of those sessions from my class book to these blog pages, it was a real treat for all of us.

Ken and Mike CalArts 1976

After being exposed to the Disney classics in such illuminating detail, we could hardly wait to get back to our desks and begin sketching. Ken also introduced us to the process of adding powders to our renderings such as Graphite or charcoal. After applying that technique though, one has to "fix" it in place by using a spray so we all started using spray fixative to set the renderings. I am surprised we weren't asphyxiated if you can imagine a dozen kids spraying fixative in the hallway at the same time, phewwww. After the spray fests it was a relief just to run outside and breath in the smog! I actually switched my colon from Old Spice to Blair Fixative while attending Ken's classes.

Although I loved Ken's classes in particular, after the first semester, I ran out of money which was very embarrassing and was going to leave the school. Remarks from teachers like Ken O'Connor helped influence the Disney Studio and the Disney family who offered me a full scholarship to stay on for which I am eternally grateful to all of them.

Remembering Ken O'Connor, PART 1

2011-06-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

CAL ARTS 1973 photo by Mike Peraza

It was the first day of school in our Character Animation class of Drawing and Perspective at California Institute of the Arts. Our teacher was a Disney veteran named Ken O'Connor I remember his tall form walking to the front of the class and asking in his unique Australian accent who in the group was interested in getting into Layout. After reading and marveling at the breathtaking images in the weight-lifter break your coffee table's legs edition of "The Art Of Walt Disney", my arm shot up but soon found itself the lone flag waving in a non-exhistent breeze as most of the folks there had their eyes on being animators. Ken winked at my red face with a big grin and I just knew we were going to get along just fine. As his classes got under way, he would encourage each of us to explore the many styles and mediums as he himself had demonstrated time and again with designs ranging from the traditional "Lady and the Tramp" to the more pop influenced "Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom." Ken was a gentle genius, and that was plain to all who were fortunate enough to know him.

Walt Disney Studios at Hyperion 1930s

He was born in Perth, Australia in 1908 where when he wasn't clipping wayward joeys who wandered in on the family property, he studied commercial art at Melbourne Technical College and later at Australian National Gallery. He and his family then traveled up over to the United States to continue his studies at California School of Art in San Francisco. In 1935, Ken like many art students across the nation were informed about openings at an up and coming company called Walt Disney Studios where he was promptly hired and eventually worked on 13 features,100 short subjects, Disneyland attractions, 3 independent features and even a mural for his friend and former boss at the Ben Sharpsteen Museum named after the Disney legend Director and Producer. The mural successfully combined a life size 3/4 chunk of a real California stagecoach to an illustrated 6 horse team arriving in town and of course the perspective was flawless.

O'Connor mural for Sharpsteen Museum

I spent a few nights over at Ken's Burbank home which was only a few streets down from my apartment at the time, while he was painting the mural in his back yard. We talked at length about film, art, and keeping pesky bugs from landing on fresh paint. When I say we talked, it should be admitted that Ken did most of the talking and this pup listened carefully after all Ken had actually been there and done that. If Walt had ever assembled a "Nine Old Men" team of Layout and Art Directors, Ken would have deserved a front row seat. Over the next few chapters I will share some of those discussions, his artwork, and personal photos while I remember not only a Disney legend, but a good personal friend. This veritable mountain of experience became one of the most valued instructors at the early Cal Arts Character Animation Program for his many extraordinaire talents not the least of which was his tireless and inspirational guidance for the next generation of animation artists.

"GOOFY TROOPERS" PART 2 by Mike Peraza

2010-09-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Ever notice the alarm clock sounds louder on Monday?

My spiel went as follows, "Goofy is a recognized star of Disney animation, so why re-invent the wheel? His son is an average kid dealing with many of the usual issues they face: peer pressure, young love, grades, school bullies, and so on. On top of all that, he has the zaniest, wackiest GOOFIEST dad to live down. No matter how insane the situations get though, they will always love each other. They're a family." Gary asked how I would pitch it and I replied, "It's ONE day in the life of Goofy and son. From getting up in the morning to fixing breakfast, we see their difference side by side as his son tries to distance himself. No matter what though he knows deep inside that his father will always be there for him, whether he likes it or not."

MAKE WAY! GOOFY COMING THROUGH, YAHOEE!!

Gary sat back and beamed, "Love it!" then told me to get started. At this point I was a mixture of joy and worry. My flapping gums might have just gotten me into trouble again. Was I going to be able to pull off this concept? If not it would definitely be my fault for opening up a can of worms and my mouth at the same time. The great news that buoyed me was the attachment of a great Producer to the project, Robert Taylor. I wasn't really familiar with Robert's accomplishments at that point but I was soon to be up to speed. I know I sound like I gush when describing some of these people I was lucky to work with but Robert taylor was amazing even among that stellar crowd.

They call me, " Mr. Taylor!"

I met with Robert and went over the same speech I had just been through with Gary and I could tell he was also crazy about it. I admit looking back at that concept years later, that it was hardly revolutionary but it was definitely better than what we had. Robert wasn't just one of those producers who doesn't know the lead end from the eraser but he could really draw, I mean REALLY DRAW and was fun to bounce ideas off of. Robert came up with the next door neighbors, Peg Leg... I mean Pete. Yes, even back in "Mickey's Christmas Carol" I was told never to refer to him as "Peg-Leg Pete" but simply Pete. He designed Pete's gorgeous wife and daughter and I designed Goofy's son Max along with Pete's kid. We both fired off a swirl of sketches and ideas. We were like a couple of kids in the sandbox building something fun together.

Breakfast burnt to order by GOOFY!

When Gary came by to check up on our "sandcastle" of doodles, he gave us the thumbs up. It was obvious we had clicked into a good vibe concerning Goofy and how his dynamics would work in this family sitcom. Everything was now going smooth, until I was reminded that the pitch was next Monday and it was now already Tuesday. Why can't anything ever be easy? Right about this time is when most concept artists wish they had either been involved earlier or at the very least had all that time back to do justice to their visuals.

Father & Son fishing trip

Well anyway the pitch was just under a week which really wasn't bad. I cleaned up my sketches and showed Goofy and son going through an "average day" together from the first "klang!klang!klang! "of the alarm clock through a harrowing fishing trip and heartfelt consolation from dad to son after losing a baseball game 1;000.000 to 0, keeping up with the neighbors and lots of fun stuff to connect the dots. Robert OK'd the setups I presented to him and so I went to final color. I don't like doing the same thing over and over pitch wise and I was inspired by the beautiful "Baby Weems" story sketches from the 1941 Walt Disney film, "The Reluctant Dragon," starring Robert Benchley. They had a loose bits of spot color from pastels not quite covering the a rough line in a sepia hue. They gave a wonderful look and I wanted to try something in that vein. The sketches I'm including here ar only my roughs before I re-rendered them in color for the pitch. I don't have any copies of my final color, or at least I haven't come across them yet but will post them if I do.

I based this on my neighbor's kids' skate ramp

I finished the color setups and brought them in to Robert who inflated my enormous ego further by telling me they were incredible. Did I mention Robert is a man of impecible judgement and taste? Well obviously he is! Robert took the pitch and in his flamboyant and entertaining style presented it to the suits. Before we knew what had happened, we had yet another new series on the Disney horizon. Once again my only contribution was to do the concept as Robert Taylor and his amazing crew did the actual broadcast shows. "Goof Troop" premiered as a TV movie which was later chopped up into a pilot serial. I have to credit Robert's perseverance and talent along with the staff of all-star artists that became attached to it for making this a succes. Besides evolving into a very popular series, "Goof Troop" would spawn a very successful movie in 1995 and another direct-to-video in 2000 while producing the usual line of collectible merchandise to accompany the new franchise. In the end I was satisfied that Goofy had kept his klutzy and likable demeanor intact and that we had not screwed up a classic Disney icon but had introduced him to a new generation of fans, a-yuk...a-yuk... gwarsh!

"GOOFY TROOPERS" PART 1 by Mike Peraza

2010-09-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

Just a few of the Goof Troop early "miss-fires"

"Goof Troop" had been in development for quite a while before I came in to the mix. In case you've ever wondered why the name seems to be about a troop when the actual series isn't, I'll tell you. The creative executive assigned to oversee its development originally concieved it as Goofy with the rank of Head Scoutmaster in charge of a bunch of young scouts. We would see their weekly uproarious adventures as they pitched tents, learned secret oaths, cooked s'mores and tied knots. Well maybe there was just a little more to it than that, but not much. Being the good soldier I was, and being that I was being paid to do it, I cranked out a bunch of situations with the character designs that had been drawn up to that point. I don't know how many of you reading this has ever wondered exactly what Goofy was. I mean was he a human, a large rodent, a dog? Well if you picked door number three, you are correct! Sorry, no trip to Disneyland for the winners this time though. What you do win is the opportunity to hear how "Goof Troop" became the series it is know as today. When embarking on a series involving a famous character from Walt Disney's original stable of stars can be daunting. One has only to view some of Jack Kinney's incredible Goofy shorts or marvel at Art Babbit's or Woolie Reitherman's animation to appreciate the rich pantomime and hilarious antics that the "Goof" has brought to audiences around the world for many years. I hoped that whatever we were going to create at Walt Disney Television Animation did justice to that rich heritage.

In search of a series...

I had just finished up a batch of other show concepts when I was asked to help out with some pitch art on a new show entitled, "Goof Troop" that was becoming bogged down in the early stages of developement. As I started working on the pitch concepts I quickly realized that there was no clear direction for the show as yet. I was getting worried working on these ill-conceived setups thought up by the new Creative Executive that had just been hired. The Creative exec wasn't a bad person by any means, in fact he was a nice guy to talk to, he just didn't have a clue what to do with this Goofy character. Every week he seemed to have found a brand new approach to the show, although while we were doodling versions of the show that were destined to never see the light of the TV screen, the pitch date remained etched in stone. Various versions would find their way to the surface only to sink again into the wasteland known as the roundfile (trashcan). One moment Goofy was the Captain of the Fire Department, the next day a detective out of the Maltese Falcon mold, or a swash buckling hero fighting The Flying Dutchman.

I don't blame Goofy for being upset

His supporting cast really wasn't very supportive when you consider they sometimes included alien dragon babies with wings along with a large gorilla. Somebody at Walt Disney Television Animation must have really had a thing for giant gorillas around this time as they were plugged into almost every concept we assembled. It wasn't unusual to do a series of setups in the morning using one cast of characters only to redo the same scenes again in the afternoon with a different cast of characters. Check the subway setups above and the only character to make it from the morning cast to the afternoon cast was Goofy. As we kept dumping each previous set of ideas for the latest flavor, the idea of doing a show with a Disney star like Goofy was fading fast. I was called down to the Creative exec's office for yet another round of NEW ideas for the show.

With Goofy as Fire Captain, things were bound to heat up

The latest idea this fellow had was to put Goofy into Toontown. Within the same meeting Goofy went from being the driver of Benny the talking Cab to driving a talking SUV (they were just becoming popular at the time) named Woody. Yes Roger Rabbit was recently screened and had given birth to this latest burst of inspiration. I tried to explain to him why I wasn't sure it would work, after all I had worked on Toontown original concepts with Bob Zemekis on "Roger Rabbit" so I thought I might understand its conception just a bit better perhaps. I explained that in Toontown, everything is alive from the trees to the cars and even the buildings and the sky. What made it special was the crossover from live action into this zany world. And speaking of zany, if Goofy is in a goofy world, is he still really Goofy? Not to mention we were probably not going to get the internationaly licensed animation cast of the movie version of Toontown like Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny, etc... He listened to me politely, ... then ignored everything I had just said and told me to start doing Toontown setups with Goofy and leave the visionary part to him. It was definitely a one-way street as far as any creative input was concerned on this project and we were headed for a bump in the road.

At this point I really have to add that while Goofy was definitely not this young exec's "cup of tea", he would eventually distinguish himself by developing what would become a highly successful and wildly popular series down the road in more of an animation action genre. He was and still is a very hard working exec with very good ideas. Some show concepts just gravitate towards more realistic action themes while some are much more at home with employing a "toony" feel for their world. Goofy was definitely in the "toony" realm and it just wasn't gelling in his hands.

Goofy doing some soggy but sharp shooting at his boss

I went back to my room. The junior exec's ideas were indeed giving me ideas, hmmm... throw the junior exec off the roof, slip him a mickey, wire his chair? As these sordid thoughts wafted through my head, I cranked out a couple of attempts at a Goofy Toontown and the SUV character. My phone rang. It was from Gary Krisel, President of Walt Disney Television Animation, who wanted to check on the progress of my development for the Goofy show. Coincidence? I doubt it. Hey maybe I was getting fired? Well at least then I wouldn't be blamed for helping to bring down a Disney star. As I walked down the hall I could almost hear a distant memory from schooldays, "Michael Peraza, please report to the Principle's office..." I went over to his room, we closed the doors. Gary and I had a great relationship and he was very interested in my honest opinion of the Goofy show. As always, I was very straight with him. I told him I didn't think we had any show to present. He didn't seem surprised at my statement and so I went into length about all the different scenarios that had been started and stopped ending with the latest Toontown suggestion. When I again described my reasons why I didn't think it would work, he agreed completely. Thank goodness! Just as no two artists are completely alike, neither are the executives. He then leaned over and asked me the question, one that I had already mulled over in my mind, "OK, what would YOU do?" I have to admit, I had been secretly hoping for such a chance. I'm such a bbbaaaaddd boy sometimes. There was also good news on the horizon. I would soon be aided in my quest by an animation master I had not met before but would soon welcome as a good friend... Robert Taylor.

Cauldron of Chaos, PART 3

2010-09-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

The original Black Caudlron given to Patty Peraza by Joe Hale

When they started having screenings for the public at the studio theater to gather their reactions to our rough cut film, I remembered the window at the end of the hallway where Walt would sometimes stand looking out over his studio while checking people's reaction as they left a screening. There are some great shots of him at that window as the afternoon light creeped through the panes and threw his shadow on the wall behind. I knew that the "un-dead" section would most likely be revolting to some in the audience who would not expect to see a bunch of rotted corpses slowly fermenting and in full gorious, I mean glorious color in a Disney animated feature.

I had that section timed so I knew when it would come on screen after the picture began. I brought along a few of my closest cronies to enjoy my hunch. We stood in the back of the theater until the film began, then left quietly and snuck up to the third floor. There had been sightings of "suits" on the third floor so we had to be on the look out for anyone wearing a tie. As we slowly approached the zombie, er... zero hour, we looked to the theater below. Right on cue, the doors opened and a mom was angrily leaving with her two wailing children in tow. She was followed by another, and soon there was a sizable exodus of crying kids and upset parents fleeing from the theater. You couldn't hear what they were saying but I doubt it was along the lines of, "If only they could have held longer on the decayed flesh dripping off that cute zombie's face. I can't wait to go out and buy some happy meals of those incredibly entertaining undead fellows." By this time a security guard had been making rounds and gave us the stink eye so we hopped back downstairs to our domiciles chuckling all the way. Afterwards as the directors and producer met, they didn't need to read the ARI cards to admit that particular problem and the un-dead sections were quickly cut down and in some cases cut out completely. Unfortunately those simple cuts could not repair the rips in the fabric of the storyline or magically make the film the fantasy epic it should have been.

Most of the effects were still handrawn

Cauldron included some terrific visuals by its stellar effects animation staff who really went above and beyond to create their hand drawn magic. Animator Don Paul even shot live action of dry ice mists coming out of the cauldron for placement directly into the film for dramatic impact while Ted Keirsey, Mark Dindal, Jeff Howard, Patty Peraza and many many other FX wizards created amazing imagery across "bedsheets" of wide screen animation paper. There were however some new tricks coming out of the Disney hat. Some of the new advances made by Disney during this film included the first computer animation done by Disney that was released to the public.

Along with a few others, I had left Cauldron to join Producer Berni Mattenson on his project, "Basil of Baker Street." I was inspired by Miyazaki's 's "Castle Calliostro" and wanted to do computer graphics inside Big Ben which was definitely not written into the story. I sketched out some pastels to try and sell the idea and was rewarded with John Musker and Roy Disney's support. I gathered a couple of guys from WED and we got right on it. Don Griffith told Joe Hale about the computer imagery I was exploring and he came down and likewise got excited at the possibilities. Joe had a varied background at Disney that also included effects and he had proven his abilities time and again on films like "Black Hole" and "Watcher in the Woods". He commandeered my little crew and used them to creat a row boat, a floating orb of light and some flying witch props for Cauldron. So officially "Basil" was the first Disney animated feature to use computer graphics but "Cauldron" was the first to be released showing it. Yeah, get it right you gol- dern film historians! A new process was also developed during Cauldron called APT which was meant to replace Xerography at the studio. Dave Spencer would go on to receive an technical merit Aademy Award for the process however it never did take the place of Xerox as foretold. Computers would eventually provide that little change.

I recently spoke with Producer Joe Hale and asked him for his recollections about "Cauldron." Joe's long Disney experience included being Ollie Johnston's assistant on "Peter Pan" working on Smee and later with Woolie while on "Lady and the Tramp," and Ward Kimball on "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom." It was on "Sleeping Beauty" that Joe moved over into the Layout department and under Don Griffith's mentoring. Joe had originally been doing story development on Cauldron working closely with Vance Gerry and Mel Shaw. When asked by Ron Miller to take on the role of Producer, he turned it down not wanting to step on toes or have to deal with the mounting politics in the studio. Of course he did eventually take on that mantle when frustration rose within the crew and someone had to step up to the responsibility. Later after the new management team came on board, he faced yet another level of frustration. "When Katzenberg first screened the film (Cauldron) he told us to cut it by 10 minutes. Roy Disney and I got together and found some scenes we could get rid of that didn't affect the story that much." When they ran it agin for Jeffrey and the film finished he asked Roy, "Is that 10 minutes?" When Roy replied that no it was only around 6 minutes. Jeffrey stated, "I said 10 minutes!"

Joe continued, "Eventually he (Jeffrey) cut out about 12 minutes which really hurt the picture. " I'll jump back in and add that It's always an expensive and intensely muddled action when editing an animated feature after it is in full color. Those steps were always meant to be edited while in the storyboard stage or at least before animation. I'd rather see a story or layout guy do a hand full of drawings and test the flow on a leica reel than an animator slave over a hundred pages of sweat only to see it cut out of the picture. Going all the way into final color and then making those decisions is just ludicrous. Of course even the classic films have their "soup eating sequences" so it is not unheard of to edit after animation, just an unfortunate screwup when it does occur. Joe received an early copy of the new DVD release of "Cauldron" yesterday and he and his lovely wife Bev informed me that the image is sharp, bright and colorful. They also briefed me that they included about 8 minutes or so of previously unseen footage, mainly of the Faire Folk sequence that was cut before the film was released. This will now be included as part of the bonus features so we can better imagine what Joe Hale, Ron Miller and their team may have had in mind for this feature.

Ron Miller and Roy Disney in happier times

Speaking of Ron Miller, Joe and I were both disappointed that so called "film historians" tend to sweep much of his innovative accomplishments under the rug or just give credit to Eisner's regime albeit they also produced some great results. I wonder how many readers realize that Miller's rein was responsible for the creation of The Disney Channel, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, actual construction of Walt's dream of EPCOT, funded Disney's FIRST Broadway show, gave Tim Burton his break as well as many of the future wonderkids of animation, acquired "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and put it into development, Tokyo Disneyland, initiated Disney's first attempts at computer animation with projects like "Tron", started the Touchstone label for films HE produced like "Splash" and many more achievements.

When Disney became the target of corporate raiders like Saul Steinberg, certain shareholders criticized Miller's leadership even though he had done wonders since becoming president of Walt Disney Productions just recently in 1980 and then CEO in 1983. Unfortunately just as Miller was truly waking the Sleeping Beauty, he was ousted. Keep in mind that I'm not saying he was perfect or that he was Walt but then again has anyone truly filled that void? I am saying that he was trying to do a good job with the company and I believe that for the most part he did exactly that. Not to take anything away from Eisner and what his troupe accomplished but they certainly reaped many rewards from the foundation set by Miller's team.

Thank goodness Michael Eisner rewarded Roy Disney's support with control of Disney animation when other new management staff originally wanted nothing to do with that division and some would just as soon see it shut down and weren't shy about letting that be known. Ironically in 2004, and by now fed up with Michael Eisner's leadership, Roy would spearhead the "Save Disney" rally which led to the ouster of Eisner a year later. I can only guess at the wonders we might have have witnessed if Ron and Roy could have remained united and taken Disney into the future together.

Our Invite to the Cauldron Wrap Party

As always, the wrap parties were a joyous time when hurt feelings had had enough time to mellow and sometimes even heal completely and we were able to reflect on the accomplishments of everyone involved. I was glad to see Ron Miller's name still attached to the credits as executive Producer although I'm certain the film didn't exactly mirror his hopes and dreams.

On a warm Monday night, July 1, 1985, Disney Studios threw a fantastic wrap party at Chasens and the food and music were first class as usual for this kind of an event. Chasen's had been one of the trendier spots in Hollywood dating back to the Golden Age of the thirties. Sadly that classy icon of yesteryear closed its doors in 1995 and now has a grocery store with a drop or two of chili to mark the spot. Of course we still have the film, "The Black Cauldron" and the Disney feature Animation department is even now working on new releases, despite the rumors that it would close its hallowed doors. It may have been uprooted and moved to new addresses, but it's still around thank goodness and only just recently finished their latest effort "The Princess and the Frog" as a commitment to keeping quality 2D animation alive and kicking.

Producer Joe Hale and animator Patty Peraza

at the Black Cauldron Wrap Party

Looking back I guess I'll always wish Cauldron could have been better and if it sounds like I've been knocking it, I really don't mean to, just chalk it up to personal disappointment. There had been so much hype for this particular project it was difficult to imagine anything less than a new masterpiece on the scale of the afore mentioned, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". I was really yearning to see our generation create something epic and awe inspiring for today's audiences but that quest was made even more difficult through the many unusual and unforeseen obstacles we endured during its development. Joe and his crew actually accomplished quite a feat when you realize what they had to contend with while creating this film. Black Cauldron was our 25th Full-Length Animated Feature and I guess I just wanted to be a part of another icon that would draw lines of folks wanting to experience the magic of a new Disney classic.

While researching this story, I met some wonderful folks who consider Cauldron among their favorite Disney films and if I learned nothing else, time has taught me that there are other points of views beside mine as to what makes a good film. However while it may not have been the classic some of us had hoped for it nevertheless has gained a very appreciative audience for its endeavor and I'm sure that with the further re-release on DVD it will only brew into more fans. What was also gained on this project was the nurturing of the multitude of talent we had with the further training we all received in Story, Direction, Layout, Animation, and BG Painting.

The grand Disney experiment called "The Black Cauldron" that we all faced together was definitely worth the effort in the long run. The intense sometimes painful labors and likewise sparkling discoveries we made while working on this feature made us all a bit more ready when we soon tried our hands on new animated undertakings like "Basil of Baker Street." That delightful Victoria era film in turn eventually made it possible to go on and make what would someday be hailed as the beginning of the Disney renaissance, a fantasy fish tale or perhaps fish tail called "The Little Mermaid."

Cauldron of Chaos, PART 2

2010-09-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

Don Bluth's Banjo project definitely got everyone's interest

A lot has been said and in too many cases in a rather disparaging and often over stated manner but yes there were various camps forming at the Disney studio at this time that on the cynical side could almost be described as a peaceful and loving boxing ring without the gloves.

In this corner, the veterans, including what was left of Walt's "9 Old Men" were almost all gone by then although thankfully some would still come by and check in with us from time to time. In another corner there was a generation of great artists that hadn't really had their opportunity to strut their stuff with the old guard in place and were hoping to soon get their chance. There was also the corner with Don Bluth's group who were also talented, well trained and believed to be the next leaders of Disney animation. And let's not forget yet another corner containing the sometimes brash but equally talented Cal Arts trained kids which found their leadership in people like John Musker who captained the "Rat's Nest" as they called his cacaphony of comedic cartoon cut ups.

There were of course other innocent and equally talented folks of all ages and backgrounds contributing but these heavyweight contenders were the main event so to speak. I can only believe that with a person like Walt in charge, we would still have many of the same situations that go along with managing so many creative types but we would have been expected to channel more of the efforts into the films under his guidance. I once asked a man who worked alongside Walt for many years about just this problem and Woolie Reitherman's response was, "Walt wouldn't put up with that crap, he was too busy making movies." ( I always did like Woolie's frankness ) Unfortunately of course, Walt had passed away 10 years earlier and he was the irreplaceable piece of the puzzle. I liked and had friends in all of the groups which sometimes made it awkward when having people over to the house for get togethers who usually didn't get together. Nevertheless these folks and the overwhelming studio population for the most part worked together very well and operated as a team.

Cauldron Directors don their caps as "Fare Folks"

As months boiled over into years, the cauldron directors Art Stevens, Ted Berman and Rick Rich had started to perceive a staleness regarding their sequences as the storylines morphed and were re-written. At one point it was finally decided that maybe a change would kick-start the creative process all over again. They traded sequences, yep, you heard right, they traded their sequences to each other to help get some fresh ideas going. Well, it was certainly an interesting gamble and in some ways it did get people excited. Problems arose however in the fact that we were once again re-staging some of the layouts for the newest proposals while on the animation side, some scenes were being re-animated to encompass the latest director's new directions.

The tension on this film was relieved somewhat with the help of some wickedly funny pranks and gag sketches. An example on the right is one of literally hundreds of gag drawings that permeated the production and helped the crew keep their spirits up while laughing at management, the directors, and each other. The artist who doodled out the "Fare Folk" sketch was and still is a top animator and storyman and was hands down my favorite gagster. I wish I had room here for a lot more of these. It still cracks me every time I look at it. Sorry Joe, heh, heh, heh.

More sweeping shots, less camera moves.

Cauldron's format also brewed into a consommé of concern regarding the staging. We were shooting this film in 70mm which was the second to be attempted after Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty." The layout department could explore bold compositions with this format understanding that at least the theatrical release would be seen correctly even if it suffered a possible "pan & scan" disfigurement through a later conversion 4:3. We often employed Don's favorite saying, "Less is more." as far as camera movement while envisioning our widescreen setups.

The layout department was given gorgeous new 70mm widescreen charts from our Scene Planning Department to compose their scenes but after using them for a few weeks I found myself comparing them to an old set Don Griffith had given to me from "Sleeping Beauty" and noticed a marked difference in the width versus height ratio. Unfortunately by the time I discovered the discrepancy and went to Dave Thomson in Scene Planning to show him, quite a few scenes were already handed out to the animators and thus had to be adjusted as we were given the new improved and corrected field charts.

First week on the Picket line

The puddles were just drying from this latest bubbling belch when out of nowhere there suddenly erupted an unforeseen calamity, WE WENT ON STRIKE! One second we found ourselves herded into the studio theater where VP of Disney Animation Ed Hansen explained that our Local 839 had gone on strike. The next moment we were pounding the pavement with ready made picket signs decorated with Disney characters handed to us as we left the studio entrance.

(The strike was an important and difficult time for all of us that suffered through it so I'll save that part of the story for another time to be illustrated with pictures I took from the first day we went out, the picket lines, the fight at the Union meeting and how many of us coped with having no salary for months)

The gist of why I mentioned the Cartoonist's Strike was that it added yet another road block on Cauldron's path to completion. Almost as soon as the strike was settled another upheaval rocked the magic Kingdom of animation. This latest storm was not to be found in the artist's camps or on the sidewalks but was unfortunately brewing at the top of Disney management. Through a series of colorful idioms like green mail and golden parachutes, we soon found the head honcho, Ron Miller, Walt Disney's son-in-law and hand picked successor gone and replaced by non-Disney people we had never even heard of: Michael Eisner, Frank Wells and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

The mouse factory behind closed doors

I remember all too well standing besides Darrell Van Citters along with other animators on the "Something Wicked" abomination to our old Fred MacMurray era back lot square and hearing Michael Eisner announce how happy he was to be at Disney. He explained that he grew up loving all the wonderful Disney characters, "After all, who could ever forget Heckle and Jeckle and Mighty Mouse?" That is an exact quote folks. The backlot was dead quiet. After a silent pause that would have made a fart sound like Mount St Helens there was a very noticeable groan from the animation portion of the audience. It was soon apparent that Michael, Frank and Jeffrey were all just a little ignorant about animation and the steps it took to create the magic. One new exec was overheard explaining the process he obviously knew nothing about to a fellow new suit, "They draw 24 drawings a second." Well I don't know if even legendary animator Freddie Moore could have achieved that speedy feat.

Mel Shaw contributed countless Character Designs
like this one of Gurgi to be voiced by John Byner.

As Cauldron was screened for the new management, Jeffrey Katzenberg proceeded to ask for "... cover shots" during sweat box meetings not fully understanding that extra shots to "cover" a scene was only done in live action. In animation, we DREW each shot as they were needed depending directly on the story board/workbook. Multiple animated variations would have made the already expensive process out of financial reach even for Disney.

Since his background was only in live action up to this film, this point of view isn't really that unusual. Jeffrey however proved to be a very hard working exec and showed how serious he was in rectifying his lack of knowledge by immediately going into a thorough self education process involving every step of the creative and production processes used by Disney feature animation. He soon became a hands on manager who garnered the respect of quite a few on the staff (including me) and along with Roy Disney's help and guidance would see Disney animation eventually regain its prominence in the field.

Cauldron of Chaos, PART 1

2010-09-03T15:28:00.000-07:00

One of Mel Shaw's many inspirational masterpieces.

If you were interested in a career in art in the 1970s, you might have seen a beautiful flier created by Disney Studios that was used as a recruitment tool to attract new young talent to the Disney Animation crew. The colorful booklet featured the classic scenes showcasing Disney films along with stunning pastels from Mel Shaw that were inspirational pitch pieces for a new feature. This new film had roots in Welsh mythology and was based on Lloyd Alexander's "Chronicles of Prydain" book series which would eventually be called "The Black Cauldron." It was to be an epic project for Walt Disney Feature animation. The official line from the studio was that it would be in effect a "Snow White" for the new generation referring to the first animated full length feature from Walt Disney which had helped launch a veritable empire of magical entertainment.

"The Back Cauldron" was the tale of Taran, a young boy who daydreams of being a great warrior fighting the legendary Horned King. Since he lives in the peaceful countryside with a kindly old enchanter and his oracular pig, that doesn't seem to be something that will happen anytime soon, or is it? After facing witches, elven fairfolk magic swords and the evil black cauldron itself, Taran eventually learns what being a real hero is all about and that some things are more important than simple glory. Well Cauldron did indeed get made and it was created during a very hectic time in the studio's history. During its early genesis we saw the exit of some of the most experienced and talented people from the Disney ranks, a industry wide Strike was called, we also witnessed a power struggle that sadly replaced studio insider Ron Miller with Paramount outsider Michael Eisner. Under Ron's leadership, a new label called Touchstone had given the studio another outlet for more mature offerings like the box office smash, "Splash". Would that label along with the animation division be in trouble? There were hushed talks of corporate raiders selling off the animation department much like MGM had been conquered and divided earlier. Thankfully Roy Disney returned to the reins and eventually helped supervise a renaissance for Disney animation. As someone who was there during all these tumultuous events, I hope you'll enjoy this bumpy road down memory lane as I recall the "The Black Cauldron of Chaos."

Just a quick sketch from the "Griff"

Although the production actually began back in 1971 when Disney Studio first purchased the rights, it would be almost 10 years later in 1980 when veteran Disney artist Joe Hale would assume command of the helm. Joe had the tough role of shrinking the sprawling story that had taken 5 volumes to unfold into a more manageable and tighter tale. One of the best things he did was to take what was a minor role of the Horned King and make him into the major villian. Joe also decided early on to open up the potential for visual design and encouraged the studio to contact accomplished artists outside the Disney realm known for creating fantasy illustrations from the Hildebrants to Frank Frazetta. Many of the top name illustrators were swamped with committed deadlines but we did bring accomplished artists such as Mike Ploog into the fold. Besides our resident master Art Director Don Griffith, the other one responsible for much of the look of the film was a talented new comer to Disney, Mike Hodgson. Mike's lush pencil renderings were reminisent of the type done by layout artists of yesterday such as Charlie Philippi during classics like Pinocchio. With Don Griffith's (whose Disney Career started with Pinocchio) keen eye to mentor him, those guys made a heck of a one-two punch for some wonderful visual storytelling.

One of the maquettes I made for the film

Other efforts came from within the new kids on the block. Tim Burton and myself were briefly singled out to provide some conceptual inspiration for Cauldron. Tim's work was fresh and resembled what could best be described as "Beetlejuice" meets "Nightmare Before Christmas" although both wouldn't become reality until much later under Tim's visionary direction. Joe ran films such as Warner's 1967 classic, "Camelot" for inspiration and for me it really was awesome to see it up on the screen for the first time. I didn't want to create another Sleeping Beauty style castle but instead designed one constructed from human skeletons and other creature's bones. My character suggestions were more toward the mold of Peter Pan styling. Did I mention that I was also pushing for songs? Tim and I didn't stay long as far as doing the concepts but to Joe Hale's ever lasting credit, at least he was open to new approaches and gave us both a shot.

Mel Shaw reviews Cauldron story
outline with animator Gary Goldman

Undoubtably the most outstanding visual guide to this film was laid out in a masterly fashion by Mel Shaw who had provided the inspiration for all of us to begin with. His room was full of glorious pastel paintings depicting the story and were the inspiring bait that had hooked all of us for the entire fishing trip. Mel had graciously come out to Cal Arts and given us a presentation of his tremendous work for "The Black Cauldron" which certainly inspired our classes. Looking back at his beautiful work I would have to credit that moment and that particular Disney artist for igniting my love for working in pastels. Don Griffith re-introduced me to Mel and Woolie Reitherman when I first started at Disney. Woolie's room was next door to my corner room and he used it as a direct route to the dripping coffee maker that steamed constantly in Don's room. I could hear Woolie and Mel discuss at length the new picture they had been developing called, "Little Broomstick". The music they were playing on their record player as background for their reel was stimulating. They had both already done a tremendous amount of visual work and had the sketches pinned up on boards surrounding the entire room. Woolie would stop by my desk and talk every once in a while and eventually took an interest in some of my little pastels I had pinned up over my desk. Before I knew it he had invited me to work on the flying sequence where the little girl first takes her ride up into the clouds. My proudest moment in what I call my career was having my pastels pinned up on those boards among Mel's masterworks. Woolie and Mel were 100% supportive with this fresh wide-eyed geek and I was a kid in the candy store. Before my goosebumps could settle though, I was suddenly removed from "Broomstick," and dipped into a scalding hot Cauldron of chaos.

"Double-O-Darkwing"

2010-08-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

An early design sketch of mine for the pitch.

"DuckTales" had been a wildly successful series for Walt Disney Television. It was inevitable that among the 100 episodes produced for the "DuckTales" series that somewhere among those stories would lurk a possible spinoff. "What do you mean spinoff?" you say? "Disney would consider spinoffs?" Well, like pretty much all the Hollywood studios, in one word- YES! Sometimes they turn out well, and other times you wonder why they even made a sequel (moolah). However this project was to turn into the kind of spinoff to be very proud of. "Double-O_Duck " and "The Masked Mallard" were a couple of "DuckTales episodes that were able to stay around in the minds of a few folks back at the studio. They originally aired on November 17th and 18th, 1989 respectively during the DuckTales run. The original concept had Launchpad McQuack not Drake Mallard, as the star of the show. "Double-O-Duck" was written by outstanding DuckTales regulars Ken Koonce and David Wiemers, and along with "The Masked Mallard", became very popular in the "DuckTales" universe. So popular that they would be at the top of a very short list of sequels to be placed into active development and ultimately become a new show a year after "DuckTales uttered its last quack.

My secret lair bridge suggestion and its cable "road"

Disney Television had been sheparding this spinoff into a pitch and with the sudden demise of the new "Bullwinkle Show", Mike Peraza was an artist without a series and became immediately available for show concepts and washing windows. As I wasn't crazy about heights, I chose the former. There had already been a number of character pieces done based on the original shows that I was given for reference. Gary Krisel asked me to "Disney-fy" the characters up a bit while still keeping the original design intact. I wasn't crazy about the Double-O-Duck character designs. The models exhibited no exaggeration, peppy proportions or interesting dynamics within their shapes. Double-O looked like a very stiff non-descript sterilized combination of the absolute dullest features from 2 great iconic mallards: Donald Duck and Daffy Duck. The beak was short with barely any curve, the head was so round you would think they had regressed to tracing quarters to get the shape. You have to realize that the character design this was being based on was most likely created in less than an hour during our fast paced "DuckTales" days and was obviously never intended to be a star in his own right or to stand out too much since he was created as a sidekick for Launchpad in those episodes. Even though our hands were tied with character art, some changes were made in the premise including reversing the two roles so that Drake Mallard, alias Double-O-Duck was now the star instead of just second banana. He would live in a quiet suburban home with his adopted daughter Gosalyn, Launchpad would now fill the sidekick slot, and Honker Middlefoot the son of a next door neighbor would also come along on the adventures. When villainy attacked the fair feathered city of Saint Canard, Drake would change into his super hero alter ego, Double-O-Duck!

Kids don't try this at home

This was now Friday morning and the presentation was Monday. Yeah... no kidding. I sat down with Tad Stones who would eventually be assigned as producer and went over ideas for setups that would give the feeling of this show and hopefully help sell the pitch. We tossed all the setups that had been done to date by another crew and started with a fresh slate. The pieces done originally for the presentation made the show look like another extension of DuckTales. Tad wanted something more visually exciting and with a combination of "The Shadow", "James Bond", "Green Hornet", "The Scarlet Pimpernel", and the new Tim Burton film, "Batman" mixed into the artwork so I kept that direction in mind while sketching. I VERY quickly drew up over a dozen pieces in thumbnail size and showed these roughs to Tad. He liked most of them and gave suggestions to bring them closer to what he wanted and round filed a few of my less successful sketches.

Storysketch I based on Tad's script

I still couldn't stand the Double-O-Duck design but this was the character design we were expected to use and at this point we were behind the 8-ball time wise. After lunch I xeroxed my drawings up in size to about 8 inches across and did a rough color pass over each with pastels. I had one of the few balconies with a sliding door so that I could go outside and spray matte fixative on the pastels to keep them from smudging. Tad also had a balcony and each time he heard my door slide open, he closed his to avoid the evil odors of asphyxiation wafting over into his domicile. I didn't blame him. My goal was (and I met it ) to have all the setups roughed and in color before the end of the day and then go home over the weekend and complete them in a larger 11" x 17" size for the pitch presentation. That was one of many "lost weekends" serving the mouse factory. Lost weekends it seems are a part of most animation folk I've known and worked with. It seems no matter how long something has been in development talks, there is ALWAYS a last minute, "we needed it yesterday" pressure that comes up right before a presentation date.

Very quickie setup, no time for reference or studies.

On Monday, I brought the artwork for the pitch in and Gary was thrilled with it. My only guess was that he must have had a heckofa great weekend but who am I to argue. I had added a location atop a cable suspension bridge where Double-O could have a secret base of operations to look out over the city and bay of Saint Canard. I also had a "car lift" to use one of the few vehicle designs we salvaged from the earlier artwork. Someone had mentioned having him ride on a motorcycle so I thought it would be a dynamic shot if I had him ride it directly up the cable to his secret hide-a-way. Tad loved the idea and I included those setups in the pitch. Thank goodness my simple chunky motorcyle design along with the rather pedestrian old model car was later put on some artistic steroids for the series resulting in those very cool Darkwing vehicles he uses to track down the villains with. We composed a very entertaining script for the verbal part of the presentation that would have made a great radio show all be itself without any artwork to back it up. The pitch went very well, especially when you realize we had originally planned to be presenting the new updated "Bullwinkle" show instead of a last minute replacement named "Double-O-Duck".

tomboy baking her first cake

One interesting side note was the when Jeffery Katzenberg saw the secret lair on and in the tower, he remarked that it reminded him of the "Great Mouse Detective" (Basil ) clock tower which he said might be a "good thing." Since I had developed both of these locations, I took it as a compliment. The truth was that I had zero time to develop the idea beyond my basic proposal and so relied on my own memories sans any reference and motivated by sheer desperation. The pitch included my color setups along with the character suggestions by Bob Kline who would go on to do spectacular Art development for "Talespin". In fact in my opinion it was his stunning designs along with some great pieces done by Carol Police that made the "Talespin" series such a visual treat, but that as they say, is another story. To say I wasn't very happy with my pitch artwork shown here is an understatement but you have to keep in mind that it was done in a couple days from beginning to end, or at least that's my only excuse. The bottom line is though, the series sold!

A dingy dank dark desolate artwork encrusted alley in St. Canard

Two major changes were to come next. The first was renaming the show. As it turned out, "Double-O" was copyrighted by "007" creator Ian Fleming and owned outright by "007" movie producer Albert R. Broccoli. We had skated by unseen with one "DuckTales" episode but they were not going to allow a new series to do the same with a knock-off of their registered name. So we went from the overtly sounding James Bond spin "Double-O-Duck" to the overtly sounding "Batman" take, "Darkwing Duck". Still, it was an improvement. The main character got redesigned, thank goodness, through the talent of Toby Sheldon, who was the most responsible for the dynamic look you saw on the series. The cheeks were an obvious adaptation of Roger Rabbit's head shape but it worked well in that it separated Darkwing from his famous cousins, Donald and Daffy. Also included in the mix were catch phrases (all the best super heroes had em') like, "I am the screeching fingernail on the chalkboard of justice!" and "I am the terror that flaps in the night, I am the batteries that are not included. I am Darkwing Duck!". Obviously some lines worked a little better than others.

A doodle I did of St Canard's waterfront based on Naw'lins

Like most of the work I did for WDTVA, I moved onto the next set of concepts for new shows, commercials and specials and didn't work on the actual series. Tad and my "DuckTales" buddy Alan Zaslove supervised production of the show and with their expertise along with a solid talented crew, this series would become yet another notch in the Disney TV belt running from 1991 to 1995. "Darkwing Duck" was the first Disney Afternoon offering that was created as a parody of a specific genre. It was a marvelous send-up of superhero , pulp fiction presented within a canvas of film noir imagery. You would think that after cancellation, that would be it for our mighty mallard but only recently Disney revised the franchise by licensing an ongoing monthly comic book series entitled, "The Duck Knight Returns." I mean really, can a new series be far behind? Do I hear...
"LETS GET DANGEROUS!"

Bullwinkled

2010-08-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

A quick sketch I did for a pitch that was never presented.

It was in early August 1989 and I had recently finished up with Little Mermaid when I once again returned to Walt Disney TV. It was a different animal entirely by then. The once tiny staff had ballooned enormously and had taken over much of the once almost empty address on Cahuenga. I eventually found my all official looking name tag formally spelling out Michael Perazza instead of Michael Peraza, posted on a nice room with a balcony view. I figured with a room like this, the spelling was close enough. I was just moving in when I got a call to come to a meeting. I was immediately asked to help kick off a new series idea that Gary Krisel, President of Walt Disney Television Animation, along with Tad Stones were putting together for a pitch. Gary was an unusual executive in that he was approachable with suggestions and took time to listen to any valid opinions. He had taken a wildly diverse background in finance and marketing and progressed from producing hit records as president of Disney's Worldwide Music Publishing to overseeing some very successful animated creations for Disney TV. .Like most of us, Gary was also a fan of the old classic Jay Ward show "Rocky and His Friends" later to be know as its more famous moniker "The Bullwinkle Show". Tad was the point person on this and he was likewise excited over the possibilities. I remember all too distinctly though, my first question to both of them. "So does Disney actually OWN the rights to these guys?" I went on to explain that I had been to Universal Studios only the day before and watched the "Rocky and Bullwinkle" live show right next to the "Duddley-Do-Right" Emporium, so how could Disney have the rights? Gary answered quickly that we (Disney) did in fact own, "all the video rights." That answer didn't quite settle my questioning little mind but I assumed we wouldn't be going forward into development without the rights all sewed up. Boy was I ever wrong.

A few of the sketches I made for the pitch

Jay Ward created many iconic characters for his shows including Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Peabody and Sherman, Hoppity Hooper, George of the Jungle, Tom Slick and Super Chicken. Those of use who like to start out our mornings right will never forget his other creations like Cap'n Crunch, Quisp and Quake breakfast cereals. His Bullwinkle show however was most likely his most fondly remembered cast. He had segments within the show such as "Fractured Fairy Tales" and "Aesop and Sons" that were a hilarious send up of childhood stories told with a wry satiric wit. The announcer, "William Conrad) might be out of breath prompting another onscreen character to question his huffing and puffing while very often "breaking the forth wall" and addressing the TV audience at home. Just a few of the terrific voice talents used on the show included Bill Scott (Bullwinkle,George,Dudley Do-Right, Mr. Peabody), June Foray (Rock,Natasha, Nell Fenwicky), Paul Frees, Hans Conried, Charlie Riggles, Edward Everett Horton (Narrator for Fractured), and Daws Butler. Subjects from current events to politics and famous celebrities were often the genesis of these satirically entertaining shows. An inside joke around the Jay Ward studio was to add a "J" throughout the shows for middle initials or store front signs in homage to "Jay". Examples are Bullwinkle, J Moose, Rocky J Squirrel and so on.

I had known Tad back when he was at Disney Features Animation for a bit and his excitement over this project easily matched mine which was bordering manic. Tad was as talented behind a drawing board as he was on the typewriter, yeah, no laptops in those days. Gary asked if I could have a full presentation ready by the following Monday morning. As it would give me a week plus the weekend, I said most definitely yes, no problem. Tad and I went back to his room to kick around ideas. Tad was a terrific artist and spit out some jiffy doodles about a butter and popcorn caper cooked up by Boris and Natasha that Bullwinkle and Rocky would foil of course by the end of the episode. I came up with "Fractured Scary Tales", a spin on Jay's famous series within a series. The basis of this would be to lampoon the then never ending slate of horror films the way the fairy tales had been targeted for an earlier generation. It wasn't easy gathering the reference for the Ward characters back then but luckily Tad was way ahead of me and had scrounged up a few video tapes of the old shows that I could study. As I viewed the old episodes I quickly realized that although some references- like the cold war, was dated it all still had such a sharp freshness about it that was a joy to watch and listen to. The limited animation Jay had used was well planned and designed to work exactly in that format and the overall art direction was wonderfully reminiscent of the UPA styling so prevalent of the 1950s.

More drawings of mine that never saw the light of day

I dove into staging the setups to illustrate Tad's funny ideas for the popcorn caper building upon his suggestions. One nice thing about working with Tad is that he listened to your ideas. You could bounce things back and forth, improving the storyline together instead of a producer just ordering a single inflexible direction with no opportunity to improve. After I did Tad's "popcorn" segment, I then did some drawings for the horror spoofs I had concocted including "PieDay the 13th" and "Nitey Nite on Elf Street". The first would take that mask motif and turn it into a pie tin as helpless victims were soon eating custard pie without aid of knife or fork. I also made fun of the Freddy Krueger character by making him an elf with cooking utensils instead of razor blades on his glove. He would visit chubby kids on diets during their dreams and stuff their gullet full of junk food. I came up with some snappy writing to back up the visuals along with the never ending puns. I also added a "Mr Know-It-All" segment that would pay homage to Jay's original segment. I wanted to have Mr Know_It_All (Bullwinkle) show the folks at home how to set up their home tape recorder. Yes this was many years before Goofy would find himself in a similar situation. He would also help get rid of that annoying "flashing red clock" for good. I had Bullwinkle's voice down and a so-so version of Rocky to hep with the presentation. I showed Tad my assembled setups on Wednesday morning and he liked them. For the rest of that day and til the end of the week I had plenty of time to complete the entire pitch in color. Tad meanwhile worked away writing up a hilarious verbal storyline that would be narrated during the pitch while I just kept my nose to the grind ... er... animation desk. Our offices were literally side by side so we could constantly check in on what the other was doing and add some suggestion or remark or just bug each other. I could hardly wait to see this show get into production.

Happy Landings Bullwinkle.

I came in early Friday morning around 7:30, my usual time and turned on the coffee maker in the kitchen to make a little wake up juice. While I waited for the caffeine brew to drip, I sat down to finish up a couple of minor color details on the Bullwinkle presentation. I'll never forget what happened next. Gary Krisel came running down the hall shouting, "We don't have the rights! Put down your pencil! We don't have the rights!" Gary was a tad upset. When Tad got in a little while later, he too would be a tad upset. I was a tad upset and I wasn't even related to him! Gary had unfortuantely been given the go-ahead by the Disney legal staff telling him that we indeed had all the necessary rights when we in fact only had rights to the "video distribution" of the old Bullwinkle show. In other words he was up Frostbite Falls without a paddle. It wasn't his fault nor mine or Tads. Placing blame was pointless anyway as we were all in panic mode now as the presentation was only days away. We had to get a replacement pitch and fast! Luckily at about the same time Tad had also been hard at work in development with a possible spinoff series coming out of an old "DuckTales" episode I had worked on that had paired Launchpad with a superhero of sorts called "Double-O_Duck". He secret identity was Drake Mallard but we woiuld eventually know him as "Darkwing Duck".

Days of DuckTales, PART 4 (fin)

2010-08-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

I opted to re-deisgn the small comic Mansion completely into a Tudor estate

I had done work for TV years before like Hanna-Barbera but had long since settled into working for Disney features. As such we had the budget and the time to put in extras and push the quality. Even the Disney TV division had devoted more resources into their product than most of the other studios and it had showed in "Gummi Bears". I had busted my hump like everyone else to make "Ducktales" special so when the day came to screen the first episode I had been busy finishing a couple of keys for a future show. Everyone started coming down to tell me how great the show looked and I finally caved in and went down to enjoy it. I wasn't quite prepared for what I was to see. I was less than enthused over the results on screen. I think everyone's accolades beforehand made it seem all the worse when I viewed it. When the lights went up I saw a lot of happy faces looking at me to get my opinion. What could I say? I just smiled and nodded, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings. Over time I realized my reaction was one of outright ignorance. The show had a set and limited budget and schedule. Everyone involved did the best they could.
Disney Fine Art announces latest works from Disney Art Director Mike Peraza

A scene based on but not found in Carl's comic

I confided my feeling with Alan that maybe the "DuckTales" show wasn't exactly up to par as a Disney production and he assured me that it was actually a good effort by the studio. He was right of course and when "Ducktales" aired, it was an immediate hit with fans of all ages. Soon after it premiered and over the years since that time I have been fortunate to meet many fans from all over the world who really love the series. I guess sometimes we just get too close to our own work and need to step back, take a deep breath and listen to other opinions a bit more. As I looked back through my notes and artwork while researching this blog, I realized I had worked on two out of four versions of "Scrooge McDuck" to reach the screen. The first was "Spirit of '43", followed by "Scrooge McDuck and his Money" in 1967 (Ward Kimball supervised and wanted to include the darker side of Money, something he said Walt would have done but was vetoed), "Mickey's Christmas Carol," and "DuckTales". I guess maybe we could include the 2 second clip of him during the opening of "Mickey Mouse Club", ... nah.

Studio invite to Wrap Party

"DuckTales" went on to a second season in 1990 with 25 additional episodes and eventually reached a total of 100 for the entire series. It also became a theatrical feature with the release o f"DuckTales, Treasure of the Lost Lamp." There have been two spinoffs to date, "Darkwing Duck" (which I did the original concept art for over a long weekend when it was just known as "Double-O-Duck") and another one I did not work on entitled "Quack Pack" and tons of merchandise from clothing to action figures. Carl Barks was very impressed with the "DuckTales" series when it first aired on television but lost interest in the later episodes citing too many characters and the complicated plots. I received a mysterious yellow envelope addressed to Michael Peraza delivered by the traffic boy. I opened it to find a small yellow invitation to celebrate our hard work. So late on a Monday evening after work, the Disney Studio threw a nice little wrap party for us at Maison Gerard. Looking around the restaurant I realized how lucky I was to have worked alongside these people, from management, writing and the art department they were all amazing and I was kind of sad to see it end. Still, it is truly fitting that the series originally inspired by Carl's' creation in a comic book was now not only a hit Disney series but would be re-introduced to a fresh generation within a new line of comics entitled what else? "DuckTales"!
Disney Fine Art announces latest works from Disney Art Director Mike Peraza

Days of DuckTales, PART 3

2010-08-09T00:45:00.000-07:00

Scrooge on thrilling ride thru a dinosaur skeleton

In the mid 1980s, Disney Television Animation was comfortably ensconced in a dark walnut stained multistoried building that resembled an accordion from the side. I had a nice spacious office in one of the accordion "flaps" with windows sandwiched between the writers' rooms and the directors' rooms. Alan Zaslove was next door and Steve Clark one more beyond. Alan would come in and we'd kibbitz about the latest script and he would want to see what I was designing for it, especially if he was directing the same tale. He was also a veteran animator and contributed wonderful ideas for his episodes. I enjoyed his company immensely and loved to listen to his stories of life at UPA working on classics like "Gerald McBoing! Boing" and his experiences alongside animation greats like Bo Cannon and Shamus Culhane. He gave me a heaping helping of model sheets and art from those UPA days after seeing how enthused I was over that era of animation and the artists involved. The impact of the style and technique not to mention subject matter that the innovative artists at UPA employed cannot be understated. The UPA "look" has been retro-fitted by every studio to some degree since in one series or another from Nick to Cartoon Network and Disney to Warners. Alan was also an "old school" director and by that I mean he earned his way up through the ranks with talent. He was excellent at distilling the story given to him in a script and producing remarkable little thumbnails to hand out to his storymen to further illustrated his perception of the actions he wanted. He was also just plain fun to hang out with.

Olivia Miner caught working

Our staff at this point was still very small which was wonderful as far as we were concerned. When someone had a birthday party, our Production Manager Olivia would squeeze the entire crew into the kitchen to warble the song and blow out candles. I can assure you that that simply can't be accomplished anymore with the large Disney staff sizes of today. We all had out assignments and got things done on or ahead of schedule. Back then we were a "Lean, Mean Animating Machine". That didn't stop a few of our rowdier prisoners from scaling the walls with gags and jokes. We had many, MANY characters designed for the series, some memorable, some well.... We had one cartoon weasel drawn with a nose that resembled something that should not have sprouted out of that part of the anatomy. Actually being a Disney character, he really shouldn't have sprouted anything anywhere. Let me first say this, I knew the guy who drew it, and he didn't mean it to be mistaken for anything other than a nose. In face when someone mentioned it, he grew so red I thought his head would sizzle and pop. Now keep in mind all this work made us hungry and the studio would sometimes order pizza for lunch from a place called Pizza Man to thank us for our efforts, or thinking back maybe it was to punish who knows?. Both of these events came together one one day when we had a frantic scramble to ready a pitch to extend the series into the second season. At the last minute it was discovered that we needed one more art piece so I was asked to rush out it less than an hour before the meeting. Brad explained it was OK if I didn't get it done which I of course took as a personal challenge.

DuckTales crew Halloween 1986

I had previously blown up the offensive weasel character to five feet high using the xerox cut him out and glued him to foam core and was waiting for the right time to unlease the varmint. I might add that the enlarged drawing not have a nose job done but was still "au naturel" as his original design at this point. I attached a used Pizza Man box to his cut out and articulated hands and along with my fast and fresh "DuckTales" drawing, some cord and tape, scurried up to the roof. The corner room meeting was going along smoothly although Brad told me later he really missed my drawing. Suddenly mid sentence, eveyone looks to the window to see the 5 foot tall weasel being lowered and holding a pizza box. After a moment to swing in the breeze the "pizza weasle" opens the box and displayed my sketch. I would hear the details later. I dropped the paper puppet and hauled back downstairs to my room. I barely got to my desk when I heard the uproar down the hall with Brad leaning into my doorway gasping between laughter and wheezing out, "Thanks Mike, I owe you one!" They were still cracking up as he went back to the meeting and closed the door. That gag was hardly the last prank played by me or others during "DuckTales" production but I just don't have room to list more except as simply their secret code phrases: rubber band door, trashcan pyramid, smoke in the kitchen, moving stink bomb, elevator attendant and other innocent escapades. Oh by the way, we got a second season in spite of all the fun.

Days of DuckTales, PART 2

2010-08-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

I designed Scrooge's estate to have a heliport, pool, etc.

If I listed every single member of our remarkable "DuckTales"crew, this chapter would be 3 pages longer so please forgive me if I only mention a few. Fred Wolf wore the bill as "Top Duck" Producer with Tom Ruzicka watching his back, direction by Alan Zaslove and Steve Clark, with Tedd Anasti and Patsy Cameron story editing the "tales" supported by seasoned writers Jymn Magon and Mark Zaslove. The Ducktales Art staff included our fearless leader, Brad Landreth as Art Director, Skip Morgan was his trusty associate, Mike Peraza on Key Layout Styling and concepts with Ed Wexler providing additional layouts. Storyboards were expertly sketched by Thom Enriquez, Rick Chidlaw, Marty Murphy, Steve Gordon and Hank Tucker ( They even allowed me to storyboard a couple of shows). Background Painting wizard Paro Hozumi brought breathtaking color into the settings assited by Gary Eggleston and topped off with Jill Stirdivant adding perfectly matching color models.

Our character designs were greatly enhanced by a couple of friends of mine also from Disney features, Ed Gombert and Toby Shelton. I had contacted Ed and Toby, telling how much greener the grass was growing over at TV. To my happy surprise they liked my spiel and joined up. Toby went on to become a producer in later years at TV while Ed and I were to escape back to features for "Little Mermaid". For some reason a schism developed that wedged between the two animation divisions as far as what was perceived as "raiding" the feature talent pool. It sounds preposterous but it was very real. Staff was called in and asked not to contact feature folks about joining our ranks. I'm just glad we smuggled Ed and Toby out before the barb wire wall went up. Of course they never did discover the third escape tunnel...

My first assignment was to create concept art that would be used to pitch the series to management. Having a great idea for a series and getting a greenlight to produce it doesn't always go hand in hand in Hollywood. We formed ranks and went to work. Brad was in charge of assembling the pieces and I was joined by Skip and Paro to round out the team. We created about a dozen pieces that looked like mini posters of what we perceived as the "DuckTales" world. Some were inspired by Carl Barks comics while most were completely original creations. It was real teamwork as we all shared working a bit on this one, then add something at that one, redo this other one, etc.. The pitch was presented and we held our collective breath. Would the suits like the series proposal or was it "duck season" with us as targets? Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg and the rest of management loved it! Bob Jacquemin who was in charge of the new syndication unit really flipped and convinced Eisner to let him ramp up the series 13 episodes to a full slate of 65 for sydication. Michael Webster got us together and relayed the good news and we were ready to fly! Donald Duck would in essence drop off his nephews Huey, Duey and Louie with his Uncle Scrooge while he joined the Navy. Together with their housekeeper Mrs. Beakly and Scrooge's disaster prone pilot Launchpad they would travel the world over during their colorful feather-brained adventures. Now I was sweating. I had to design the mansion Scrooge lived in not just interior and exterior but cut-a-way sections of the various rooms and scaling charts for character placement. I also had to crank out settings from the City of Duckburg to Wild West towns. In short, I had to have settings ready to supply to the storyboard department and to give the background artists something to paint. The hectic hurried "we need it yesterday" pace in television production is a bit different from the ho-hum leisurely shall I say ... relaxing pace one works under when vacationing at the resort villa we call feature animation.

I start with a tiny thumbnail 2" wide

An average week for me on "DuckTales" went as follows: Monday morning arrive as usual at 7:30, either first one in or second following Michael Webster. Tedd and Patsy also got in early and would give me a heads up on the latest story. Plenty of doughnuts and bagels in the kitchen, hey maybe THAT"S where I started my "animator's gut! Damn those rainbow sprinkles! Anyway, I would have a script soon after and would zip through the story in a few minutes. I love to read which helped me digest the nonstop scripts quickly. By the time the rest of the crew arrived I could give any who asked what the breakdown of the storyline was so they could just sit and draw. I also made a list of locations as Skip did with characters. I then would thumbnail about 15 very tight drawings of those locations, handing out a few to the layout staff to blow up and finish after running them by Brad who almost always OK'd my doodles. Working off little thumbnails was something I had learned from veteran Disney Legend Ken O'Connor. Using his methods I could generate from 10 to 12 layouts a day and these were keys, meaning each was very different.

Blew it up on xerox then cleanup 12"wide

Cranking out the large number of exotic locations so quickly was possible for me due to a huge clip file I had assembled in my room with reference on subjects from ancient Egypt to rocket travel, basically anything that might be a location for an episode. This was a tip I was handed by Disney storyman Vance Gerry who maintained a marvelous clip file in his room at the studio. My mini library was open to anyone who needed it. The next step would be for me to caricature the location to fit the story and business while adding a few "duck" features whereever possible. Sometimes if I had a few moments I would do rough color treatments to pass along to Paro, not that he needed any help, just that sometimes when you're drawing in black & white, you're thinking in color. He appreciated my suggestions and always used them. Paro was a fine example of the traditional step used by Disney production in theory, that every step gets improved as it goes through the creative process. That certainly was the case on "Ducktales" due to the dedication of the staff and management. As the day wore on we would get our assortment of corrections to the script. I say assortment because they arrived in a multitude of colors, blue pages, pink pages, yellow and so on. A troubled script could look like some kind of freaked-out technicolor phonebook within the span of just a couple days.

Days of DuckTales PART 1

2010-08-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

A color rough I did as a suggestion during the series

Michael Webster, was an animation veteran from Quartet Films, Hanna Barbera, Murakami Wolf Films, Leo Burnett Advertising and Rankin Bass but when he answered the call to join Disney Studios, animation history was in the making. In 1984, CEO Michael Eisner created the Walt Disney Television Animation division and placed Michael Webster in charge to oversee the production of its programing with help from Production Manager Olivia Miner. Apparently Michael Eisner's son had one heck of a sweet tooth for a specific candy and so "Gummi Bears" was quickly put into development before he got a tummy ache. The small but extremely talented staff included Producer Art Vitello, Layout Ed Wexler and BG Painter Gary Eggleston and Thom Enriquez doing storyboards. This crew was really sharp. The studio asked me to help out with the launch so I did some promotional art under Art's able supervision to be used in spots like TV Guide and Disney veteran Ken Anderson whom the studio also roped in contributed his usual great design eye for Gummi Glen. Of the two early series that the fledgling department produced, "Adventures of the Gummi Bears" and "Wuzzles", only Gummi Bears became a success and subsequently aired on NBC for four seasons.

1 of over 600 key layouts I designed

Two years sped by and I was working for Ross and Jan Bagdasarian on their first full length animated feature, "The Chipmunk Adventure" when I got a call from a friend at Disney TV Animation. They were doing a pitch for a new show called, "Fluppy Dogs". I worked on it because the person who was in charge was Brad Landreth, one of the nicest people in animation. I also did it for the money which was very good. Unfortunately the plot was a little insipid, they were "not actual dogs, they just looked like dogs" and because of that, they were escorted to a dog pound. These "dog-like" creatures used a "fluppy crystal key" to open inter-dimensional doorways to their lame adventures. Umm... yeah, that was the setup. It wasn't Brad's fault, not mind either, just another less than terrific idea for an animated series donated by the suit factory. Oh yeah, almost forgot, they were each a different color, like Teletubbies or any other the other endless parade of rainbow hued character gangs substituted for children's programming.

"Back to the Klondike" key setup

I did some concept art and storyboarded the opening sequence that was used as presentation art to help greenlight the project. Fortunately for the children of the world this stinker bombed and was never heard of again, at least not in our inter-dimensional portal.

I kept working on the chipmunk feature doing boards and concepts alongside my good friend and amazing artist Dan Haskett when I was once again contacted by Disney TV. They were going to do a new series based on Carl Barks' famous creation Uncle Scrooge. They were still "negotiating" with the main studio whether Donald could be a part of it but the nephews were on board already. Yes, Disney was and is very protective of its stars. Maybe they had seen Fluppy Dogs? Nevertheless, being a comic book collector and fan, I had also met Carl a few years earlier (Great guy!) and I was ecstatic at the possibilities of putting his genius on the screen. My "Fluppy" friend Brad was heading it up as Art Director and when they asked if I was interested, I couldn't quack YES fast enough. The artwork posted here I didn't know I even had as I thought I had thrown out most of that stuff many years ago. My wife Patty found the ones that are shown here in some boxes filled with animation memories in our garage and looking back, I'm glad I didn't toss them.

Ariel's Undersea Adventure

2010-07-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

I recently had the pleasure of spending the day at WED, now referred to as Walt Disney Imagineering, to see a couple old friends and to get a tour of one of their latest attractions, "The Little Mermaid" ride. The people there are old school friendly but definitely high tech with innovations when creating these wonders for the Disney parks.

Bob Weis set up an in depth session for me with the lead imagineer on the project, Larry Nikolai. I was met at the door by Tori, a young lady whose smile was contagious, and she led me through the maze to my destination while answering my many questions.

I was shown models, audio animatronics, paintings, and even got to see some of the scenes up and running with animation. The ride will be narrated by Scuttle while the guests ride on a Disney omnimover which is what is used in the Haunted Mansion. The effect of going down into the water is fantastic! You will love it. Many classic scenes from the Disney film have been recreated for this adventure with a delightful embellishment added for the ending that I was happy to see. Jody Benson, who was our voice of Ariel reprised her role so with all the care the imagineers have taken here it really has the feeling and soul of the film in this wonderful new attraction.
Disney Fine Art presents new works from Disney Art Director Mike Peraza

House Party Host Passes

2010-05-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

Art Linkletter passed away today at the age of 97 although I believe he was still young kid at heart. His original "Kids Say the Darndest Things" was priceless and was never equaled. I Remember squirming in the audience in some kind of CBS Studio City complex in the 60s watching "House Party" with my family on vacation and laughing even though I didn't understand why we were laughing half the time.

I have Art's 1957 book, "Kids Say the Darndest Things," based on his TV show. It was illustrated throughout by Sparky and the forward was by Walt Disney who praised Art's ability to showcase a child's unbridled imagination in ways Walt had been described. They were both known in Walt's words, "... for never having quite grown up." Wish we had more people today giving young people a chance to enjoy their innocent childhood a bit longer than they seem to be allowed.

Basil of Baker Street, Part 4

2010-04-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

Vincent Price was perfect as the vocal embodiment of nefarious villian, RATIGAN! Or as his character would remark, "... an extremely large mouse!" I usually didn't attend voice recording sessions because I really liked having only the audio in my mind when testing for new characters, unblemished by the live session although the expressions and physical traits could be helpful at times to study if we choose that person to provide the voice. You wouldn't believe the physical theatrics I've seen when someone was trying out for a role waving their arms, making faces and jumping around instead of concentrating on their vocal acting. A few times after such a session a director would be excited after what he thought was a great recording test only to find the rest of us who hadn't attended the recording less than enthused because we were able to concentrate solely on the voice. My other excuse was that I was usually swamped with work. When Vincent Price came in though, well that was different. As we all knew who he was mainly due to his horror themed later films and the booth was packed with most of our small crew. John Musker was directing the recording on the floor with Vincent Price when he asked for the same take one too many times. We were dying in the booth, laughing and I'm sure John thought it was funny in time too.

We had a lot of fun in those days at Disney. John instigated the first of many Caricature Shows in the studio library where his wife Gail worked. Everyone at the studio was invited to contribute and most of us did. At Halloween, the animation staff would wear their finest and strangest mostly homemade costumes. I'll have to post some of those around October. And any Disney animation artist worth their salt could flip a pushpin into a facing wall or ceiling and hit the spot. It was a benefit of long hours of having so much ready ammunition around. We became adept with whipping out those tiny terrors of pintacular precision. Sometimes we used the wall, other times the ceiling. We could toss them with a curve or slight rise, like a baseball player on the mound pitching to a heavy hitter. On Basil we took it up a notch. We used to make blowguns out of pan cels and shoot special darts which were our solid lead pushpins from the 1930's and 1940's. We could hit the target from one end of the hall to the other. The pins hit so hard that when we pulled the softer lead, the steel points stayed in the back side of the closed door. Wonder what they thought after the animation staff left to relocate to Glendale? Must have looked liked a metal porcupine had farted cold steel quills! Tons of silly sketches flew back and forth among artists during production a lot of which I kept copies of thankfully. A funny gag drawing could make a long day seem a lot shorter. A prop I had brought in for the Toyshop sequence was an old hand crank bubble machine I had picked up in an antique store on London. I put it to good use when Musker had to leave his office across the hall to attend a meeting one afternoon. I had found some "Super-Duper Long Lasting Bubble Liquid" for the fuel but when John returned, there were bubbles over his desk, moviola, floor, everywhere. Those bubbles just stayed, and stayed! Luckily when they finally went away they didn't leave behind any damage, only that springtime fresh clean smell, ahhh.

The film was enjoyable to be a part of because it all seemed to work. The story and the crew were a good matchup. The directors were all top notch. I was lucky to work with people like Matt O'Callahan whose story sketches were great inspiration to all of us. Rob Minkoff and Mark Henn breathed life into the violin playing mighty mouse of deductions and his trusty sidekick Dawson. Glen Keane was unleased for one of his best performances to date with his portrayal of the notorious Ratigan. Henry Mancini was and still is one of my favorite composers and I was able to work with him on other films besides Basil and he even invited me to his studio office early one morning for a chance to see and hear his latest magic. Then out of the blue, the title was questioned. Management decided to test market the name "Basil of Baker Street" to some small kids and came back to us that it wasn't working and that the children preferred the name, "The Great Mouse Detective" much better. This ridiculous move by management led to the infamous memo that went out with new titles for all the classic Disney Animated features to date. One inside joke of course was that "Aristocats" was the sole title unchanged in the fake memo. This memo circulated throughout the company and internationally and the animation staff thought it was hilarious. Management was furious besides being embarrassed and called an inquisition to nab the perpetrator but to no avail. No one on the crew was going to rat out the culprit although we all knew the author. It's funny that decades later the current Disney management team has renamed, "Rapunzel" to "Tangled" somehow because "The Princess and the Frog" didn't meet someone's box office expectations (I thought it did well) and they are blaming both titles with attracting girls only. As the old saying goes, "... only the names change," especially at later day Disney.

By this time Don Griffith had retired, along with Woolie, Frank, Ollie, Milt, and other great disney alumni. Part of the magic for me was seeing these guys and learning what I could from their immense talent. I also missed hanging with the veterans during break times or lunch and hearing some great stories of "the old days" with Walt. Brad Bird, Tim Burton and John Lasseter had also moved on and so the studio had lost even recently acquired top talent. In addition to the creative ranks being depleted, we had also been moved in the middle of production, to a converted warehouse in Glendale off the studio lot and out of the old animation building. I missed our old digs, the backlot walks, the morgue and its history. At this point I also decided it was time to move on. All the locations on Basil were set and the background keys were done. There was tons of reference we had collected and donated if anyone needed to go back to the source. I went to work for the Bagdasarians on, "The Chipmunk Adventure", and for Disney TV on their new small screen offerings, "Gummi Bears" and "Ducktales". Ken Anderson was also brought on board for the launch of "Gummi Bears" designing the main tree so that was a highlight to be paired with the maestro again if only for a brief stint on publicity concept art. Some of my former crewmates on "Basil", Ed Gombert, Toby Sheldon, and others soon joined the party at Disney TV which added to the fun we had over in North Hollywood.

My wife and I were eventually invited back to the House of Mouse for the wrap party with the film officially entitled, "The Great Mouse Detective". We could each bring a guest so I brought Bill Frake and my wife invited his lovely wife Kathy. Bill had introduced us to Rowland Wilson and his equally talented wife Suz. We had quite the adventure one night at the Magic Castle which for time I won't go into here. Bill was a layout man I had known and worked with and he had contributed a bit to Basil and I wanted him there to enjoy the party . As the evening went on, two of the film's directors, John and Ron came by to say hi and catch up. As he sat down at our table, John Musker leaned forward and asked if I was interested in Art Directing a new film he and Ron were going to direct, something called, "The Little Mermaid."

Basil of Baker Street, Part 3

2010-03-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

My wife and I made hurried plans for a trip to London to gather reference for the film.We contacted Eva Redfern who managed the Disney Studio in our London branch and she worked tirelessly to set up the things we requested. Paramount to our quest for reference was a trip inside Big Ben itself. Security was and probably still is very tight around Big Ben as it is not only a famous London landmark but is considered part of the Palace of Westminister. We took our video equipment up those steps into the bell chamber. In those days, video equipment was heavy and in multiple pieces (camera and recording deck). After trudging up never ending sets of stairs, we found ourselves literally standing behind the huge face of Big Ben's milky white glass face. When the unseen bells were struck by the hammers above us, the tower actually vibrated with the sound. After that treat we then crawled up and lifted a sort of trap door with a pillow on top and found ourselves face to face within the bell chamber including the big one, BIG BEN. While being up in the bell chamber, we only had about 10 minutes to snap pictures and run video before the bells would chime on the quarter hour. Being close to noon, we knew we were in for some real ear splitting harmony and the ear muffs were very welcome. We spent the afternoon going inside, outside and around the structure until we were sure we had plenty of reference material of the tower for my needs as well as the crew back home.

We must have been quite a sight to the British as I was perpetually lying down on the ground trying to get Basil's 6 inch high POV of London with my Nikon lens. We performed the same antics in front of Buckingham Palace,Tower Bridge and everywhere else that our brave intrepid little mouse might travel. Patty and I spent a late night in the East End of London because at that time it was filled with dilapidated buidlings bordering the waterfront dating back to the Victorian age and beyond which was perfect for the Ratigan section. When the tube stopped off in Whitechapel, Patty and I were the only ones to step off into a deserted station. During our quest we also crossed the footsteps of Jack the Ripper while taking our photos. We became uneasy as we realized that we were alone in a deadend rundown section of cobblestone. The cabs didn't come to this part of town so we starting walking to the nearest tube which wasn't as close as we were hoping. As our imaginations kicked in, our pace got quicker until we eventually found ourselves safe and warm in our B&B back in Kensington Gardens. We also hit Toystores while in London and brought back a collection of wind up tin toys and Victorian styled dolls that would make your hair stand on end. I made a corner of my room at Disney into a sort of turn of the century toyshop complete with fake iron window mullions made of balsa and cardboard.

We also searched for the home of London's most famous detective. Although the 221 B Baker Street address of Sherlock Holmes didn't exist when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the adventure, we were able to find the Shelock Holmes Museum which is situated in a 1815 house similar to the one described in the stories. We also spent the afternoon in the Sherlock Holmes Pub which featured an extremely detailed replica of Mr. Holmes' apartment along with his collection of oddities. Don Griffith and Vance Gerry had both tipped me off about this place and I was glad they did. The basic structure for Basil's flat came from underneath my house. I crawled under my bathroom to take shot photos of the plumbing and wood/concrete construction. The sewer pipe was a wonderful device to set into the ceiling for proportion. Items like that gave it the identity of an area UNDERNEATH another living quarters and not just a miniature Holmes flat. I kept the large nails and wood grain which enhanced the scale and turned a piece of short pipe into a framed window. After sketching out the layout of Basil's flat I built a fairly detailed model of it that could be viewed from all directions. I even sculpted small posable figures of Basil and Dawson to scale to place into the set. This technique of building small set models had been done at the Disney Studio since before Snow White as an aid to directors, layout, BG artists and animators in visualizing scene settings. Ken Anderson had built a mill model for Walt Disney's 1937 Silly Symphonies, "The Old Mill ,"with detailed movable parts before production on that Academy Award winning short for those reasons. It was invaluable to many departments especially layout and story in planning unique angles and lighting patterns. He went on building with Snow White's cottage for the next film also with great visual results.

Basil of Baker Street, Part 2

2010-03-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

It was a joy to arrive at work in the morning at Disney in those days. It was like a second home to most of us and we enjoyed the comradery of good friends who were all working towards creating something special. My wife Patty was an effects animator on the film (just off her duties on Cauldron) and created things from exploding feather pillows, menacing shadows to soap bubbles for Basil. She was the first female to make full animator at Disney since Retta Scott in the early 1940's. Joan Lunden from Good Morning America flew out to the Disney Animation where she interviewed Patty from her office in the animation building. It was great working on the same production because we both were understanding when the other had to work late on a scene or two to get it out for the production. Rob Minkoff, future director of "Lion King" was new to the animation department and would hang out in the corner of my room releasing a constant stream of doodles of Basil, Dawson and other character designs. His designs would be combined with those of others like Matt O"Callahan, Glen Keane and many others. In animation, there is always quite a few people contributing to the final result through a lot of stages. Then of course you don't truly know if the design works until the animator breathes life into the form with his stack of drawings and with the added element of the voice. Bruce Morris was another Cal Arts alumni who was excellent in multiple areas, one of which was story development. He fleshed out Basil's motives and also came up with a Victorian twist to an elaborate mouse trap that would put Rube Goldberg to shame. The crew list could go on and on and I apologize for omitting anyone but I fear this will never get posted if I don't draw a line somewhere.

On Basil we employed the old unit system which had a director set up with his own little team within a team. I was thrilled to be in John's unit as I thought he had the most exciting sections in the film but everyone pitched in ideas or sketches to help the entire creative process. One of his sequences I was assigned to early on was the climactic fight on Big Ben. I had known of Hayao Miyazaki's "Castle of Cagliostro" and had copies of his storyboard and concepts. I was very impressed with his staging and idea of placing the characters amidst giant turing gears. When John Lasseter brought that film among others to show in the Disney theater I was really blown away seeing it on the big screen so when I read about the clock tower in the script, my imagination went into overdrive. At the time the original script called for the fight between Basil and Ratigan to take place on the hands of Big Ben until Ratigan falls to his demise but I wanted something more. I've always been a fan of big finales using interesting locales a prime example being Alfred Hitchcock's, "North by Northwest" on the gigantic and potentially dangerous faces of Mount Rushmore. I went into John Musker's office, and told John I had a new idea for the climax. Knowing John I expected a devastating but witty retort but instead he listened as I explained my idea of having the fight break through the face of Big Ben and continue inside amidst the menacing gears as a sort of homage to the Miyazaki film. John liked the idea and told me to develop it. Now all I needed was a way to make it all come together.

Dave English and I met while I was creating some multiplane shots using his Academy Award winning computerized rig called ACES for Epcot and Dsineyworld. Unlike the old multiplane, we could repeat camera moves using the computer system which gave us more flexibility with layering. It was also set up like our old horizontal multiplane as opposed to the vertical one which gave us more room for trucking into the scenes. With his rig I created visuals that were later combined with audio-animatronic figures for the parks. I told him about Basil and my hopes for a computer sequence and he introduced me to a couple of guys at WED, Lem Davis and Tad Gielow. I would go over after hours (without permission) and we put together plot drawings of computer graphic settings for the gears turning and the chess board sequence. I chose those two setups because they were made up of simple (or so I thought) geometric shapes that we could easily reproduce in the new digital format. In those days, the computer systems didn't use a mouse and everything was input using a keyboard. Yeah, not easy. For the gears I had to get mechanical drawing made over in the machine shop on the backlot that would then be input point by point into the system. Did I mention that the system liked to crash? It did, frequently especially with the heat those machines built up. I took the colored line plots and sent them to our camera department to be shot with my animation poses exposed on top. After seeing the clips, John and Ron were enthusiastic over the possibilities. However the producer felt it might not fit into the look and it was dropped. Now I didn't agree with the decision but you have to understand that at the time it was a radical new concept and if not handled properly could indeed have stopped the visual flow so I understood his point of view.

I pinned the pastels and charcoals I had done next to the plotted line drawings and they were forgotten, for a while. At least until a visitor came in one afternoon, Roy Disney. He was showing Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg around the studio and came in to see what was up in our wing. During the tour, Roy was looking over my corner intensely and smiled, "Glad to see we're putting some computer images into the mix." After they left, I was given the go ahead to put the computer graphics into production. I remember John Musker's grin as he left the room was almost as big as mine.

Basil of Baker Street, Part 1

2010-03-24T19:42:00.000-07:00

"The Black Cauldron" was to be a return of greatness for Disney Feature animation. There was a lot of fresh new talent alongside veteran Disney artists to bring it to the screen. Somewhere along the way as it slowly creeped through production, I just found it difficult to get excited about the direction Cauldron was taking. I wasn't as thrilled about it as I had been when I first saw Mel Shaw's dramatic pastels for the film. He had captured a tale of sweeping adventure and fantasy in brilliant colors. For me, that excitement had been watered down. I wasn't alone. There were others too who wanted to work on something else. That something else became, "Basil of Baker Street."

Mel Shaw had also been sketching pastels for a new film with the working title, "Basil of Baker Street." Among the early participants were Producer Burny Mattinson, Directors, John Musker, Ron Clements, Dave Michener, animator/character designer Ed Gombert and storyman Vance Gerry. Don Griffith provided some excellent visuals for the Dancehall/Waterfront dive area and I was moved over to likewise create some concepts. The group was dynamic to say the least. Burny could make these gorgeous charcoal story sketches with lots of appeal and he was an upbeat person to be around. I knew John from Cal Arts days and he was a mark above most even back then with a satirically sharp edge on his drawings. Ron had heart, plenty of it and really studied film techniques as in the 3 C's. Dave was a true veteran of Disney, working close with Milt Kahl for years, and his draughtsmanship was impeccable. Ed was a keen talent in many areas whether designing a character or executing a story sketch and I enjoyed his offbeat humor. Vance was just an easy going mellow soul who was fun to talk to and he could knock out beautiful story panels that nailed each moment in the story arc.

The story was based on a series of children's books by Eve Titus where a mouse fashioned after London's greatest detective lives just beneath that famous 221B Baker street address. His archenemy is Professor Ratigan, a nod to Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes world. At one point the little girl, Olivia, was older and a possible love interest for Basil but it was deicided a small girl searching for her father would gain more feeling between our leads in the story dynamic. Basil also plays the violin quite well in our movie whereas in the books he's horrible with the instrument. Basil was named in honor of Basil Rathbone who played the detective role famously for MGM and Universal studios for many years.

Ken Anderson had done a marvelous workbook for "Ben and Me", and I was using copies of those as a guide to workbooking for Basil. The productions hadn't been using workbooks in their planning for many years. I'm guessing because the older crew with icons like Don Griffith and Mac Stewart and others had gained so much experience that they could just go from story sketch to layout with a minimum of problems. Well I wasn't as experienced or comfortable doing that so I liked relying on workbooks to aid in the staging process. I did all my thumbnails and even full size layouts in charcoal, sometimes using a carbon pencil for tight detail line work. I also made what I called "Color Ribbons" in small thumbnails to show the progression of color which is so important to setting mood and having an emotional impact. I got that idea from Fantasia, where they had these great little charts showing the abstract color in a sequence and how it would flow through the story. These were then set using workable fixative. In those days we were still in the original animation building where they had done everything from Pinocchio onward and thank goodness the windows could be opened. This way I wasn't asphyxiating myself or my crewmates although that fixative odor could really linger. John Musker would routinely enter my room and ham up his gagging when he heard me spraying. HA, HA, HA, what a card, sheesh, hey I had to do something to make that stuff quit rubbing off! The sequences I was mainly responsible for designing were the opening title, Basil's flat (Basil's introduction), the Toyshop and the climactic fight (chase across sky onto and into Big Ben). Gil Dicicco who was also an Art Director on Basil for a while and did Ratigan's Lair along with the final waterfront look with marvelous watercolor studies. He introduced me to using FW Inks which gave you these brilliant colors and had an excellent permanence in light. Sadly the FW formula changed from carbon to acrylic about 10 years ago and the colors are milky these days. Brian Mcentee did Mr. Sherlock Holmes' flat upstairs and exterior streets of London with wonderful pastels. He did a series of those pastels set in the early morning just after my toyshop chase as Basil, Olivia and Dawson trot homeward on the back of bloodhound Toby while the lamplighter douses the gaslights one by one. Henry Mancini set music to them based on Big Ben's bell chimes and the total effect which brought tears to your eyes. It had the potential of, "Feed the Birds" from "Mary Poppins", to my mind. Unfortunately it was cut. It's a shame because the pacing gave us a heartfelt piece of emotion and a breather between two chase sequences and I really thought that helped the overall pacing.

Join Team Epilepsy!

2010-03-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

Join Team Epilepsy at the Los Angeles City Marathon on March 20 and 21, 2010 to raise funds to help support vital programs, services and research to ensure … not another moment lost to seizures.

What is Team Epilepsy at the LA Marathon?
Team Epilepsy is made up of individuals participating in the LA Marathon to increase awareness about epilepsy and raise funds to support the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Los Angeles. Members may be running alone at his or her own pace in the Stadium-to-Sea Marathon course on March 21st, or running/walking as a group in the 5K beginning at Dodger Stadium on March 20th.

I'm doing this in honor of my beautiful daughter Kim. Please do this for your daughter, son, mother, father or anyone else you may know that is suffering from this illness. Together, we can all make a difference in other's lives.
Disney Fine Art announces latest works from Disney Art Director Mike Peraza

Remembering Don Griffith

2010-03-12T19:35:00.000-08:00

Don Griffith was the head of the Layout Department at Disney Studios for many years. During the 1970's he helped usher in a young group of kids hungry to learn the tricks of the trade from this master. I had a special affection for Layout as it was explained to me by a teacher at Cal Arts, Ken O'Connor. Layout was the area where the film was staged, where the setting was designed to best portray the character and further the story with specific background design. Ken had recommended me to Don and I was flattered to be able to work with him. Don had been Ken's assistant once upon a time many years ago.

Don was born on February 3, 1918 in Montana. His dad had passed a way when he was a boy and his mom moved the family to Hollywood where she operated a boarding house. He got a job at 19 after interviewing with Walt at Hyperion. He moved over to the Buena Vista address where he met a bubbly secretary named Kay. They married and had a lovely daughter Dolores.

The first day I arrived at the studio, Don took it on himself to show me around. He took me out to what was then one of the Disney Studio watering holes I believe was called El Chiquito Restaurant across from Warner Brothers Studio. We all just fondly called it, "El Sloppo's". Don held court in the corner booth as our regular waitress, Madge kept the glasses and the chips filled as we balanced spoons on our noses along with shot glasses on our heads to gain her attention.

"Rescuers" had just finished and I was put into production immediately on, "Fox and Hound" with a sideline stint doing concepts on new film proposals that never got the greenlight. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston had done some of their usual sparkling personality animation with the young fox and the puppy playing around the old watering hole, not knowing that they weren't supposed to be friends. The morality tale was heartfelt as the animation and I loved being able to work with Don on those scenes and many others. He really took me under his wing and showed me some great techniques and general approaches to laying out scenes he had gleaned over the decades on movies from Pinocchio all the way to Rescuers. Don, like many of the Disney guard, was a very patient and generous person. He could take a drawing I had tried to instill some strong staging into but was still lacking something and make it work. I knew I could always ask his advice with nothing but positive feedback from his lips. He would take my sketch and place it on his scene planning board. With an overlay of vellum and an occasional cigarette ash, he would proceed to add just a bit here, tweak a bit there, and voila, it looked like a masterpiece!

He handled everyone there at the studio with kindness and respect and they in turn reciprocated that same outlook to him. I can't state clearly enough that Don Griffith was one of the key Art Directors at Disney over his over 50 year time at the mouse house. His sketches from Hook's ship and Neverland or his ink drawing from 101 Dalmations and Winnie the Pooh are breathtaking in their beauty, clarity and key use within their prospective films. Famous scenes such as the meatball dinner in "Lady and the Tramp" were also Don's setups. He was one of those fellas who flowed liquid talent from their pencils and we were all very sorry when he finally retired.

Some good friends getting together to appreciate a great guy.

The studio wanted to throw a huge retirement party and kept after him but Don wanted nothing of the sort, being the humble guy he was. My wife Patty and I however did something about that. We threw an intimate Retirement Party for the "Griff" with old friends like Jack Hannah, Ken O'Connor, Ray Aragon, Dick Lucas, Ed Gombert, Mike Hodgson and many others in our backyard. They enjoyed a boisterous and funny roast along the lines of the old TV show, "This is Your Life" with guests first "appearing" as voices on an offstage microphone as Don sat listening and laughing. The guests enjoyed dinner amidst lifesize plywood cutouts I had created of Walt Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" including the teaparty sequence Don had layed out. I'll have to get those pictures (and video) out and post them when I can find them.

Don checking out Santa's (Mike Peraza)
sack of toys while Roxie eggs him on.

A lot of the Disney vets lived by the adage, "He who dies with the most toys wins!" Don's warm corner at the old studio was chock filled with toys, puzzels, gags. That sense of fun carried over into endless rounds of Uno and other card games between the Griffiths and Perazas and any hapless guests who stumbled into the fray over at their house on Friday nights. Sadly Don passed away on February 9, 1987.
He also left us with the admiration of all lucky enough to know him.

Welcome

2010-03-12T16:33:00.000-08:00

At the behest and downright good natured pushing of some close friends who I know mean well, I am embarking down this road know as blogging. I'm going to be posting personal photos from my time at Disney Studios along with stories of those wonderful days that although now gone will fondly be remembered by those of us who were there and possibly by the curious who are looking for a peek inside yesteryear when the pixie dust was created by hand and heart. I will also include memories of my stints with Warner Brothers, Don Bluth and MGM Studios.

As Isaac Newton once remarked,"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." That phrase more than any other comes to mind when realizing how fortunate we are to have worked with talented veterans of the animation business. I will always owe what career I may have to enjoy to the generosity of so many kind and wildly talented artists. Those "Giants" were the foundation or "shoulders" for so many of us that gained opportunities in the 1960's through the 1970's. I hope I can help some new faces out there get to know those people just a little better and maybe hoist them up on those very same shoulders as they traverse their own path. I have been invited to join the Disney Fine Arts program and part of my proceeds from sales will go towards Epilepsy research.

I invite old colleagues and new acquaintances to come aboard and share artwork, photos and tales of a time gone by.

http://mikeperaza.com/pages/fineart.html
Disney Fine Art announces latest works from Disney Art Director Mike Peraza