Thursday, January 24, 2013

Watch Frank Thomas Animate!



Frank Thomas animated a few beautiful scenes during the Rescue Aid Society meeting at the beginning of The Rescuers.
Janitor Bernard retrieved a written note from a bottle, then Bianca and the Chairman try to decipher the washed out writing on the piece of paper.
I find the acting here very real, the way Bianca holds on to the Chairman's arm as she moves cautiously across the sheet. One could argue that the motion is more human than mouse-like, but that's a discussion for some other time.

The sketches above are staging ideas for the moment when the two leading mice meet for the first time.
Below are a few expressive key drawings of the Chairman.

The video clip is from a 1977 UK TV show. I knocked down the color, which was overly saturated.
A big Thanks to Hans Perk, who got me a copy of the show.
A little window into a time when Frank was working on one of his last animation assignments.