515 lectures at schools. Turner's life was the subject of the 2001 documentary, "Keeping the Faith with Morrie," produced by Angel Harper for Heaven Sent Productions Inc.

Kim Munson

Once Upon a Dream: The Art of Sleeping Beauty. San Francisco: Cartoon Art Museum, July 18, 2009-Jan. 10, 2010.

This excellent exhibition celebrated the 50th anniversary of the release of Disney's visual masterpiece "Sleeping Beauty." On display were concept paintings, model sheets, cels, production drawings, color keys, photos, and other ephemera that tell the story of the making of "Sleeping Beauty" from design concept through the finished film. "Sleeping Beauty" was a Disney milestone: a Technorama 70, six-channel stereophonic vision of the Perrault fairy tale that took over five years and $6 million to make. Stunning as it was visually, the film cost so much to make that it lost money when it was released in 1959, even though its box office take was only beaten by Oscar-winner "Ben Hur." The film had a comeback with 1979 and 1986 reissues, when it finally took its place among the rest of Disney's classic (and money-making) films.

rig. o. rroouicion ueti I ine evii witcH Courtesy of the Cartoon Art Museum.

Unlike many Disney features, the visual style of "Sleeping Beauty" was IJOCA, Spring 2010 516

driven primarily by one man, supervising color stylist/inspirational sketch artist Eyvind Earle. Earle was a painter and greeting card designer who was hired at Disney in 1951. Earle painted backgrounds and concept paintings for shorts such as "The Little House" and "Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom" and the features "Peter Pan" and "." When decided he wanted to do something with a completely unique look, he took a chance on Earle, and gave him unprecedented control over the project. Earle created a "medieval tapestry" inspired by the paintings of Durer, Van Eyck, Breughel, and 15th Century French illuminated manuscripts, especially the "Tres Riches Heures de Jean," "Duc de Berri," as well as Persian miniatures and Japanese art. Another influence was the minimalist, streamlined style of 1950s' graphic design. Many of Earle's concept and background paintings are featured in this exhibit. I was spellbound by the contrast of the stylized sharp angles, rich color palette, and dense detail work. At one point in the exhibit, there is a concept drawing by for the cover of a "Sleeping Beauty" storybook, and it's interesting to contrast Blair's whimsical style with Earle's, and imagine how different the film would have looked based on Blair's designs.

Fig. 4. Concept painting of Sleeping Beauty's castle by Eyvind Earle, collection of Ron Dias. Courtesy of the Cartoon Art Museum.

Many of the animators, which included the famous Nine Old Men and Production Designer Ken Anderson, were concerned that the backgrounds were too cold for a romantic comedy and that the detailed backgrounds would swallow the characters. This struggle was mapped out in a series of model sheets and character concept sketches that show the amount of work that

IJOCA, Spring 2010 517 went into finding character and costume designs that would stand out against Earle's grandiose backgrounds. Of particular interest in this section of the exhibition were drawings of Princess , who was loosely based on Audrey Hepburn. The princess presented special problems as she has only 18 minutes of screen time to establish herself as the sympathetic heroine before she's fated to meet up with that nasty spinning wheel and sleep through the rest of the film. On top of that, she is living in the forest when the character is introduced, and is dressed in a muted wardrobe that echoes the natural surroundings. The drawings show the character's progression from forest maiden to a princess regally attired in blue or rose colored gowns. Other items of interest were different versions of the three good fairies, a photo sheet of Maleficent's two-homed "devil" headdress from every conceivable angle (the animators had a really hard time drawing it), and photos of the "live cast" who acted out the characters for the animators, enabling them to achieve more realistic movement in their drawings. Much of the work featured in this show was drawn from the collection of Ron Dias, a Disney artist/illustrator whose first professional job in the animation industry was as an in-betweener and clean-up animator on "Sleeping Beauty." Dias went on to become one of the most highly-regarded and sought- after background artists and color stylists in the business. The exhibition included a spotlight section with a selection of Dias' own work, such as background paintings and color concepts from "The Secret of Nimh," "," and "The Little Mermaid."

Kim Munson

Sounds and Pauses: The Comics of David Mazzucchelli. New York City: Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. May 19-Nov. 1, 2009.

"Sounds and Pauses: The Comics of David Mazzucchelli" offered a look into not just the art from two of mainstream comics' most recognizable stories, but also an artist's experimentation into his medium. On display were original pages, drawings, preparatory sketches and covers. Readers of mainstream comic books would easily recognize Mazzucchelli's superhero art. His work on the Daredevil "Born Again" issues as well as iconic images from the 1986 Batman "Year One" story arc were on display. The latter is known for the portrayal of Gotham City and the focus on color and tone in the book, leaving open spaces that were filled in by Richmond Lewis' atmospheric coloring. One striking page shown from this story was the scene in which a bat crashes through Wayne Manor to inspire the future crime fighter. Turning from superheroes, the exhibit also contained work from IJOCA, Spring 2010 COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Author: Munson, Kim Title: Once Upon a Dream: The Art of Sleeping Beauty. San Francisco: Cartoon Art Museum

Source: Int J Comic Art 12 no1 Spr 2010 p. 515-17 ISSN: 1531-6793

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