Sunday, July 19, 2009

Bill Tytla - Stromboli Pencil Test



Animation by Bill Tytla of the character Stromboli from "Pinocchio".

I found good quality scans of this scene on Michael Sporn's excellent blog: http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/

I wanted to try syncing it up with the sound, so am reposting it here. If you compare it to the final color version there are a few drawings missing. On the hold after he says "knock you silly" and is looking menacingly off-screen at Pinocchio the animator had a moving hold on drawing marked "D H-66" . The body is traced back from D H-66, but the beard continues to overlap and settle for 10 frames as Stromboli glowers . I covered this by adding a small interpolation within that 10 frame hold so D H-66 isn't completely held. Later drawing D-132 is missing , so I added another interpolation between D-130 and D- 134 so the timing would be accurate when adding the sound .

Then again from drawing D- 174 to D-178 the inbetween drawing D-176 is missing. This is covered by interpolating D-174 and D- 178. If you look closely you'll notice these little "dissolves" , but it's not too distracting and it keeps the flow of the timing .

Also at the very end when he says "my little wooden gold mine" on the end of the word "gold mine" there should be a blink , but those drawings are missing from the scans. I simply held the last drawing D-224 for the length of time that the blink would take place if it was there. (again, the body was traced-back as a moving hold , with the eye blink. )

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Milt Kahl - Mr. Snoops Pencil Test



Mr. Snoops from "The Rescuers" , animated by Milt Kahl. I've seen a version of this recently that had some of the drawings missing . I don't have the Medusa level, but this one has all the Snoops drawings , except for during the long hold his nose level and his eye blinks are missing. (as Medusa says "You are TOO SOFT" she pokes his nose with her finger) . Lip sync is a little off , but this was as close as I could get it working with sound grabbed from a 30fps video, changing it to 24fps and trying to match to the 24fps pencil test. (for context I added the scene right after this one as he finishes his line "fuss about her teddy bear getting wet".)

Something else missing here is the dynamic way that Kahl moves the character within the layout . There is a subtle pan behind Snoops as he backs away from Medusa at the beginning, and again as he moves away from him after she says "You are TOO SOFT" ... You can't see it as much here with all the drawings centered, but if you watch the actual scene in the movie it has more of an illusion of space to it. Check it out on DVD or see a low-res clip on YouTube for comparison to the pencil test:

Rune Bennicke - Koda's Mom Pencil Test

Rough animation of the character "Koda's Mom" from BROTHER BEAR , animated by Rune Bennicke.
(looped three times for your viewing pleasure) .

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Badger Pencil Test - Fox & the Hound by Glen Keane ?

I've had photocopies of this scene from The Fox & The Hound for years. I've finally decided to scan them and make a proper pencil test of the scene so it can be shared. The person who gave the copies of the drawings to me said that Glen Keane animated this scene, but I'm not 100% certain about that because it didn't come with an X-sheet or a copy of the original scene folder. Could be Glen's ... If anyone has the draft from the film and can positively ID who animated this scene I'd appreciate it.