Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes Volume 1
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For nearly thirty years, the artists that passed through the gates of Disney Animation, and even non-artists like myself, were infl uenced by the craft, skill, wisdom, writings and sketches of Walt Stanchfi eld. — Roy Disney Walt was a kind of Mark Twain for us at Disney. He always taught with humor and skill. You learned to see the world through his eyes. I remember him one day encouraging us to leap into our drawings with boldness and confi dence, “ Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. We all have 10,000 bad drawings in us so the sooner you get them out the better! ” Sitting in Walt’s class was as much a psychology course as it was a drawing class. One couldn’t help walk away with your mind and soul a little more open than when you entered. — Glen Keane, Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Stanchfi eld’s classes and writings were little distillations of the man: quirky, strongly stated in a genial voice, and brimming with a lifetime of sharp observations about story telling and graphic communication. Whether he drew with a ball point pen or painted with a brush dipped in his coffee cup, he got to the essence of things and was eager to share what he learned with his eager disciples, myself among them. He was grizzled and he was great and proof that there was more than one Walt at the Disney Studio that could inspire a legion of artists. — John Musker, Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Stanchfi eld was one of Disney Animation’s national treasures. His classes and notes have inspired countless animation artists, and his approach to drawing of caricature over reality, feeling over rote accuracy, and com- munication over photographic reproduction gets to the heart of what great animation is all about. Huzzah to Don Hahn for putting it all together for us! — Eric Goldberg, Walt Disney Animation Studios During the Animation Renaissance of the 1990s, one of the Walt Disney Studio’s best kept secrets was Walt Stanchfi eld. Once a week after work, this aged but agile fi gure jumped from drawing board to drawing board, patiently teaching us the principles behind the high baroque style of Walt Disney Animation drawing. Being in a room with Walt made you feel what it must have been like to have been taught by Don Graham. Having one of your life drawings be good enough to be reproduced in one of his little homemade weekly bulletins was akin to getting a Distinguished Service medal! Senior animators vied with trainees for that distinction. — Tom Sito, Animator/Filmmaker/Author of Drawing The Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson This exciting collection of master classes by the great teacher Walt Stanchfi eld is destined to become a classic on the order of Kimon Nicolaides ’ exploration of the drawing process. Stanchfi eld (1919 – 2000) inspired several generations of Disney animators and those of us outside the studio fortunate enough to happen upon dog-eared copies of his conversational notes, which we passed around like Leonardo’s Codex Leicester. Stanchfi eld beauti- fully communicates the essence and joy of expressing ideas through the graphic line and accumulating a visual vocabulary. Drawn to Life is a treasure trove of cogent, valuable information for students, teachers and anyone who loves to draw. — John Canemaker, NYU professor and Academy Award ® -winning animation fi lmmaker Walt Stanchfi eld, in his own unique way, taught so many of us about drawing, caricature, motion, acting, and ani- mation. Most important to me was how Walt made you apply what you had observed in his life drawing class to your animation. Disney Animation is based on real life, and in that regard Walt Stanchfi eld’s philosophy echoed Walt Disney’s: “ We cannot caricature and animate anything convincingly until we study the real thing fi rst. ” — Andreas Deja, Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Stanchfi eld’s renewed emphasis on draftsmanship at the Disney Studios transformed the seemingly mori- bund art of animation. His students were part of a renaissance with The Little Mermaid and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a renaissance that continues with fi lms ranging from The Iron Giant to Lilo and Stitch to Wall-E. — Charles Solomon, Animation Historian 01_K81096_DED1.indd i 3/4/2009 6:05:00 PM 01_K81096_DED1.indd ii 3/4/2009 6:05:00 PM DRAWN TO LIFE 02_K81096_Prelims.indd iii 3/12/2009 12:21:43 PM 02_K81096_Prelims.indd iv 3/12/2009 12:21:46 PM THE WALT STANCHFIELD LECTURES: VOLUME ONE DRAWN TO LIFE 20 GOLDEN YEARS OF DISNEY MASTER CLASSES Walt Stanchfi eld Edited by Don Hahn 02_K81096_Prelims.indd v 3/12/2009 12:21:58 PM First published 2013 by Focal Press 70 Blanchard Road, Suite 402, Burlington, MA 01803 Simultaneously published in the UK by Focal Press 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Focal Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2013, Dee Stanchf ield. Published by Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved. This book makes reference to various Disney copyrighted characters, characters, trademarks, marks, and registered marks owned by The Walt Disney Company and Disney Enterprises, Inc. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher and the copyright owner. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Notices Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Application submitted ISBN: 978-0-240-81096-6 (pbk) 03_K81096_ITR.indd vi 10/14/2009 1:32:28 PM Dedicated with love to Dee 04_K81096_DED2.indd vii 3/5/2009 5:48:12 PM 04_K81096_DED2.indd viii 3/5/2009 5:48:12 PM 04_K81096_DED2.indd ix 3/5/2009 5:48:17 PM 04_K81096_DED2.indd x 3/5/2009 5:48:23 PM Contents Foreword xv Acknowledgements xvii Basics 1 1. Enthusiasm 3 2. 2 Principles of Animation 4 3. Consider Anatomy Alone 9 4. Anatomy Continued 10 5. Consider Weight 11 6. Squash and Stretch — I 12 7. Squash and Stretch — II 13 8. Stretch and Squash — III 14 9. Line and Silhouette 15 10. Basic Shapes versus Details 16 11. Using Basic Shapes as Aid in Diffi cult Drawings 17 12. Simplify Where Possible 18 13. Straights and Curves 19 14. Overlap, Follow-through, and Drag 20 15. Eyes 22 16. Avoiding Tangent Lines 23 17. Some Simple Rules of Perspective 24 18. Some Ways to Create Space and Depth 24 19. Some Principles of Drawing 26 20. Great Performance or Just a Drawing? 28 21. Drawing Calories 30 22. Sketching 32 23. Animation and Sketching 34 24. Simplicity for the Sake of Clarity 37 25. Construction Observations Useful in Animation 38 26. The Opposing Force 40 Gesture 43 27. Anatomy vs. Gesture 45 28. Mental and Physical Preparation 47 29. Dividing the Body into Units 48 30. Dimensional Drawing 49 31. The Value of an Action/Gesture Analysis Study 57 32. Using a Simple (But Logical) Approach to Drapery 59 33. Drapery — Its Role in Drawing 61 34. The Seriousness of Head Sketching/A New Phrase: “ Body Syntax ” 63 35. The Head in Gesture 65 36. From the Living Model to the Living Gesture 69 37. A Little More on Heads 72 05_K81096_Prelims1.indd xi 3/5/2009 6:12:31 PM xii Contents 38. Feeling the Pose 78 39. The Pose Is an Extreme 79 40. Pose and Mood 81 41. Pose and Mood Plus Timing and Phrasing and Texture 83 42. Symbols for Poses 86 43. Positive and Negative 91 44. Silhouette 93 45. P.S. The Metaphysical Side 94 46. Draw Verbs Not Nouns 94 47. Osmosis 96 48. Drawing and Caricature 98 Seeing 101 49. What Not to See 103 50. A Bit of Introspection 105 51. It Ain’t Easy 106 52. A Good First Impression 108 53. Stick to the Theme 109 54. Sometimes I Wonder Why I Spend the Lonely Hours … 111 55. Cleanup — General 113 56. Cleanup 114 57. Inbetweening 116 58. Problems with Drawing in Line 120 59. Superfi cial Appearance vs. Creative Portrayal 122 60. Creative Energy 125 61. More Meanderings 126 62. Those Who Cannot Begin Do Not Finish 127 63. Body Language 131 64. Note Taking and Sketching 133 65. Using the Rules of Perspective 139 66. Applying the Rules of Perspective 143 67. Copy the Model … Who Me? 146 68. Talk to Your Audience — Through Drawing 148 69. Getting at the Root of the Problem 150 70. Doodling vs. Drawing 152 71. Purpose in Drawing 155 72. When Acting (Drawing) is an Art 156 Analysis 159 73. Action Analysis Class I 161 74. Action Analysis Class II 164 75. Using Cylinders 167 76. Action Analysis — Hands and Feet 169 77. Angles, Angles, Angles 171 78. Using Angles 174 79. Angles and Tension 176 05_K81096_Prelims1.indd xii 3/5/2009 6:12:31 PM Contents xiii 80. Applying Angles and Tension in Our Drawings 179 81. Tennis, Angles, and Essences 182 82. More on the Same 185 83. More on “ Essence ” Drawing 189 84. Driving Force Behind the Action 192 85. A Drawing Style Appropriate for Animation 195 86. A Drawing Style for Animation, Part II 198 87.