Hans Erni

Did you ever wonder which artists Disney's animators admired ?From the conversations I had with them, I can tell you that the range was pretty wide. They all knew about the lively drawings of Heinrich Kley, and they appreciated the realism in Norman Rockwell's work. Frank and Ollie liked Edgar Degas very much, Marc and Milt were big fans of Picasso.During early visits in the 1980ies to their homes, I noticed that both animators, Marc and Milt kept...

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Horned King Pencil Test

This test was the first piece of animation I did after completing the Disney training program under Eric Larson.Just for fun I  just added my voice to the scene. (30 years later).Way back we had talked about the Horned King's face always being in the dark, you would only see his eyes. So for the test I didn't bother animating dialogue.I didn't have a voice track anyway. I remember I acted the scene out in front of a mirror, it helped me with...

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Early "Black Cauldron"

Here is a blast from the past. I have been going through my old application portfolio for Disney, and I am taken back to around 1979. There are life drawings, animal sketches and attempts at character designs. (I will post some of that stuff soon.) But even then I was already drawing (potential) Disney characters. I knew the studio was gearing up to produce "The Black Cauldron", based on the books of Lloyd Alexander. So I bought the books, read...

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Animation's Most Beautiful Squirrel

There are many great squirrel characters in the history of animation.Tex Avery's hysterical Screwy Squirrel, Chuck Jones' charming squirrel from"Much Ado about Nutting", and the list goes on.To me the most beautiful and elegantly designed is the squirrel from "Sleeping Beauty". Based on rough character sketches done by Tom Oreb (first Image), it was Milt Kahl -again- who drew the final design and animated a few important personality scenes....

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Madam Mim

Of all Disney animated classics, "The Sword in the Stone" was the last one I saw way back, in a re release in theaters. I was already an art student by then and appreciated beautiful design and animation.When Madam Mim appeared on the screen I was blown away. There is great sophistication in her design, and her acting is fresh and full of life.Walt Disney assigned Milt Kahl and Frank Thomas to this character, knowing that if you combine their creative...

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