About Fred Moore-a flashback, and forward.

Reposting this entry from 2005. More Moore is coming!

I've got this thing for Fred Moore.
Yes, me and about 5,000 other animation geeks, professional and otherwise.
Fred:  by all accounts a likeable, ordinary guy with a natural drawing ability and a predilection for cartooning women in a style all his own-immmediately recognizable.  His achievments include redesigning Mickey Mouse into the appealingly boyish character he became, and likewise refined and animated much of the dwarfs in "Snow White".
Like most artists what he drew somehow seemed to physically resemble him and took on his brash, pixilated personality.  When I became aware of him there was nothing at all about him in print, save one or two lines and drawings in the Finch book,  "The Art Of Walt Disney", but the appeal of those was enough to make me determine to find out more about him.  A brief conversation with Ward Kimball started me on the best treasure hunt of my life: Ward suggested I call Ken O'Brien at WED("He was a big fan of Fred's", Ward drawled with more than a hint of amusement).  I did, and interviewed Ken, as well as Art Babbitt, Ollie Johnston, Larry Clemmons, Carl Urbano(who'd gone to high school with Fred and his brother), and of course, Ward himself.
These were priceless experiences, a kind of time travel.  My motivating question, "what happened to Fred Moore?" was answered very quickly.  I knew beforehand that he'd died very young in a car accident, but the greater mystery for me--as it's been to many other animation lovers--was why someone with such sterling provenance and amazing talent had faded so fast fom the pinnacle he reached at Disney's in 1933-39.  The brief answer, well known today, is that his talent and his health were ruined by alcoholism, but that's a bald-fact answer to a complicated set of circumstances.  What I really learned from Fred's former colleagues was quite a lot about the optimism, opportunities, genius and frustrations of more or less inventing your own job description--as Fred did.  He seemed to be as intuitive an artist as it was possible to be: self-taught, self-improving, an innate sense of the ever-elusive "appeal" so desirable in all things drawn and gestured, a natural grace.
When sitting across from these titans of animation, asking about Fred and Disney's, I was very young, a teenager, and I couldn't grasp all of the adult nuances of the business of animation then as I could now.  I do remember coming away from hours spent with Ward and Art feeling as though I were in a trance.  Clearly, to have one's heart's desire and animate at the best studio in the world during the "golden age" wasn't all a bed of roses.  This seems absurdly obvious now, but even though I had a pretty good idea of history, I just didn't have the life experience to interpret it at 18.  Many times I've wished I could go back and do it all over again, but sadly all but one of my generous interviewees are dead.
Ward, Art and Ken O'Brien (Fred's assistant in the early 40s at Disney; he was loyal to Fred to the extent that when Moore was fired in 1946, O'Brien quit too, and accompanied Fred to Lantz' studio for two years) all lent me materials to copy; Ward showed me some of his incredible collection of hilarious drawings, collected in voluminous scrapbooks.  Several books--fat as phone directories--contained nothing but daily (often hourly) gag drawings of Fred, Ward and Walt Kelly by Kelly himself (curiously not nearly as many that Kimball saved were by Kimball--or perhaps those were in other books. Very likely.).

Looking at us looking at them: Walt Kelly, Ward Kimball, and Fred Moore, drawn by Kelly and saved for posterity by Kimball.

As the years roll along and not just Fred but his peers and world disappear, his influence has actually continued to grow among artists. Why his talents mattered in a unique place and time are subjects worth discussing, as is the best animation he helped to realize. Look for more to come-and feel free to weigh in on him yourself!

Wednesday, March 14th, 2018: Mindy Johnson presents "Ink & Paint" in Hollywood

The cover of Mindy Johnson's Ink & Paint invites you into the world of Disney's past, but there's much more inside.

It's been a long time between updates, but that means there's plenty to write about in the world of animation art and history-in particular this wonderful new book by Mindy Johnson: Ink and Paint, The Women of Walt Disney's Animation. 

If anyone knows more than Ms. Johnson about the women who worked at the Disney studio from it's inception to the present day, I'd be stunned. Last year I was able to see her present a preview of her book, the scope of which amazed me-it's not only about the roles of women at the studio in the ink and paint department and elsewhere, but presents everything in context of the times, of Hollywood, of the United States and women in the arts here and abroad. It's a wow. The physical volume itself delivers visually as well as intellectually-the rare photographs and illustrations are endless.

 Are you interested in what daily life was like at Disney's in its Golden Age? Here you go: 348 pages of how the Disney studio operated, was organized, how the staff-all of them-worked and played and lived. You'll want this book.

I've more to say, but in the very near term if you're in Los Angeles this week you have an opportunity to see Mindy give one of the most fascinating and pleasureable talks a Disney afficionado could ask for. At the De Mille "barn" in Hollywood this Wednesday evening Mindy will be giving her presentation of the stories in Ink & Paint. It's $15, and well worth it. Details below. 

Ink & Paint - The Women of Disney Animation

In honor of National Women's Month, The Hollywood Heritage Museum and The Hollywood Foreign Press Association present author MindyJohnson with her recent, acclaimed work on the women artists in theWalt Disney Ink and Paint department. Miss Johnson will be signing and selling her book at the event.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

7:30pm-9:30pm 

2100 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, CA 90068

The Hollywood Heritage Museum is located in the Lasky-DeMille "barn" across Highland from the Hollywood Bowl; there is plenty of free parking in the lot surrounding the barn.

Diane Disney Miller 1933-2013

 

Sad news. By all accounts a very smart, gutsy, caring, determined woman: daughter, wife, mother, sister, philanthropist.

 

 

 

Outside the Walt Disney Family Museum.

 Here are Michael Barrier's impressions of his visit to the Disney Museum in San Francisco-the very existence of which is due to Diane Miller's vision and hard work.

A Disney Story Session-for the Camera, 1951

I came across this today and thought I'd post it; I haven't seen it elsewhere although as one of many hundreds of such photos taken for publicity purposes, it's likely floating around somewhere. So here's a pretend-impromptu story session for "Alice in Wonderland" with some of the gentlemen of Disney's story department, including its first head, Ted Sears. Walt's holding the glasses he'd rather not be photographed in...actually, perhaps it really was an actual meeting. I wonder how many shots exist of Walt wearing his cheaters? There are some stats of Mary Blair's paintings down there amid the Milt Kahl model sheets; the sequence on the boards behind them is the Queen of Heart's croquet game.
The caption affixed to the reverse is reproduced here also. Erdman Penner, on the far right, died in 1956 aged 51; Ted Sears died two years later at just 58 years old. Winston Hibler passed away in 1976.

Just for the heck of it, here too is an example of one of Ted Sears' Christmas cards, upon which he expended a good deal of ingenuity and charm, and featuring his young family. This example comes from the Flickr stream of one molliesc, who posted a trove of them.

There is only one Glen Keane...

As long as he's been working and as great as he is, he always seems to get better.
From the page about his upcoming Paris exhibition Nov. 10 through Jan. 8th, 2011 at the Galerie Arludik, here's a sketchbook drawing done in 1999. Click to see it properly.

Great Inspiration: music-only soundtrack for Lampwick's transformation in "Pinocchio".

I just found this on the blog written by Jaime Weinman, Something Old, Nothing New-which he in turn found on youtube. It's arguably the most frightening scene in animation history-Pinocchio witnessing the wages of childhood sin on his new friend Lampwick.
Everyone's seen it numerous times, but here it is presented with no dialogue or other track-nothing save the dramatic score of composer Leigh Harline. The character animation is primarily the work of Fred Moore, Ollie Johnston, Milt Neil, Milt Kahl and Eric Larson.



I can't remember how I initially found Weinman's blog (and in all honesty I don't check in with him often enough these days), but in my internet wanderings he's one of the best writers on film and other popular entertainment I've come across. His entries are frequently so fascinating that I'll become interested in a title I either had no patience for or any curiosity about before he examined it. That's obviously not the case with "Pinocchio", a film I probably put at the top of my animation mountain, but it figures it's Jaime who shares something that's a must-see for anyone who loves animation. Be sure to read his accompanying comments about composer Harline.

Torch Tiger tales

Cover painting by Paul Felix

Last year the story department at Walt Disney Feature Animation put together an amazing book, "Who Is Rocket Johnson?" just in time for the San Diego Comic Con. It sold out in very short order, and remains a bright gem of a compilation. Utterly unique and as representative of the talents at work at Disney as anything could be. One should never miss the chance to see--and own--the personal work of men and women like this-mostly story, a couple of directors and animators in there too-who are at the top of their game.

No sooner had he pulled the first copies of Rocket Johnson out of the box than the chief instigator of the project, Paul Briggs, laid plans for this year's book: "What Is Torch Tiger?"

Well, the books have arrived and as was done last year, Briggs and the gang are kicking off its official debut with an Ebay auction for a special copy of this beautiful book-signed by all the participating artists, as follows:

Steve Anderson
Aaron Blaise
Paul Briggs
Kevin Deters
Rob Edwards
Mike Gabriel
Nathan Greno
Don Hall
Byron Howard
Trevor Jimenez
Mark Kennedy
Joe Mateo
Nicole Mitchell
John Musker
Jeff Ranjo
Aurian Redson
Jeremy Spears
Lissa Treiman
Josie Trinidad
Chris Ure
Mark Walton
Dean Wellins
Stevie Wermers
Chris Williams

And as if that lineup isn't enough, there are also some pin-ups by:

Andreas Deja
Andy Harkness
Jeff Turley
Jin Kim
Shiyoon Kim

Remember, all these artists have signed the special copy now on auction at Ebay. The actual book itself doesn't otherwise go on sale until Comic Con opens next week, so if you can't make it to the Con and would like to both snag a lovely, brilliantly produced book and have every penny of your bid go to a worthy charity--the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, click on this link and give it a go. I did last year--and was outbid. Well, try, try again. You won't be sorry and you can write off your winning bid, both feeling good and having something rare and good to read at hand.

Torch Tiger Signed edition plus extra goodies Ebay Auction

I haven't seen all the stories, but since I did see this one and I can't help embarrassing him I want to add that it'd be worth it for Jeremy Spears' story alone. He did a wonderfully atmospheric tale with appealing characters and fantastic staging, completely lovable.
Now multiply that times 30 and that's Torch Tiger. They've each put their hearts and souls into their own versions of the theme and always, of course, had to navigate their day jobs at the same time, with the redoubtable Briggs cracking the whip and wrangling the printers on top of everything else. What's that bit that Bud Plant always adds? "Highest Recommendation"

Ward had a hell of a nerve

click to enlarge

Over at the union blog Steve Hulett posted a link to a Life magazine photo archive that deals with Walt Disney. Lots of interesting shots there, not all just of Walt. But I really love the one above. I've seen others from this same session but I can't recall ever before noticing that killer caricature of The Boss smack dab in the middle of it, pinned prominently next to Ward's desk. What an expression.

It looks like there's one of Walt Kelly's "Ward's life" gag drawings hanging from the shelf under the lamp, too. You know, one of these days someone's going to do a book...

Kahl Conversation

A short time ago the motion picture Academy had a tribute to Milt Kahl that sounds like it was quite an evening--if you managed to get in (many ticket holders didn't, due to a snafu of some sort).

I wasn't there, unfortunately, but the ensuing mention of it on Michael Barrier's blog and the comments that followed are well worth reading, even though I find I don't entirely agree with anyone's opinions. But that's what makes a horse race. I only just discovered it and suggest you have a read here.

The screen cap above is from a scene near and dear to me and the friend I first watched it with back in the early 80s: the brilliant animator captured in the act of drawing. Talk about intensity.

We watched this episode of the "Disney Family Album" series on Kahl with a lot of awe and a wee bit of fear. Actually, the shots of Kahl relaxing outdoors somewhere up in the beautiful Bay area sunshine were charming, but nonetheless there seemed some undercurrent of coiled tension, of his just barely tolerating the process of being interviewed. Having also heard once-in-a-lifetime stories about working with Milt from his colleague Dale Oliver involving the breaking of Bakelite and other forms of studio equipment might have colored our view. Imagine handing this man some cleanups!

But make no mistake: we were in total thrall to the man's artistic skill. I would have "suffered" working around him gladly for the experience-and it was clear that Oliver and others had relished it and wouldn't have traded it for anything. Such is the spell of genius. I'll bet it didn't hurt that he also appeared to have had a terrific sense of humor. Here's to "Miltie-pie".

Oh, Miltie-pie, if I should die,
Please bury me in 3C-12.

Then I'll know why, but never cry,
About the pictures that they shelve.

I'll gaze upon, what's going on,
And get it straight from Walt—

And then I'll see who's blaming me,
When it is not my fault!

I'll get firsthand, the things they've planned
That animators never know.

See color shots, hear story plots,
Gee, I can hardly wait to go.

Yes, I like Forest Lawn, but when I'm gone,
You know where I'd rather be. . . .

I don't mean heaven, or 3C-11,
It's 3C-12 for me.

-attributed to Milt Kahl & Frank Thomas

Fred Moore, Cuban style

click to enlarge

Many moons ago during the Fred Moore marathon here I posted some terrific rough character drawings Fred Moore did of this little Cuban rooster.   Here's one more, perhaps one of the best.  As with the vast majority of the others this is from the collection of James Walker--a man whose generosity (as well as his love of Fred Moore's appealing drawing)  is boundless.  A little end-of-year treat for readers of the Blackwing Diaries.

At the time I knew only the sketchiest details of the project they were created for, but thanks to a post by Wade Sampson that you can read here, I know more.  Fred Moore...in Cuba.  Something tells me that trip would make the wild spree in Guys and Dolls seem like a girl scout bake sale. But as nothing much has ever been said about it before to my knowledge, perhaps not. Either way, Fred did some wonderful work on that trip that shows he still had it in '46-about the time he was fired from Disney's.
As Sampson mentions, Disney historian J.B. Kaufman has been working on a book about all of the Disney Good Neighbor/Latin American films; after seeing the Ted Thomas documentary recently I'm especially looking forward to its seeing print.

That Hamster in Story

Mark Walton at work © 2008 Marc Smith

This is story artist Mark Walton's year, no question. He was tapped for some scratch a while back and it's worked out okay for him.

In Sunday's (11/15) New York Times: "The Voice Behind the Disney Drawing Board". It's fun to see the Times apply their Grey Lady treatment to a description of Mark and his infamous cubicle(shown above in a photograph by fellow artist Marc Smith). I don't believe for a second that he was really "nervous", though--more like his regular-grade joie de vivre.

And here's a brand-new, fun companion website for "Bolt", You Are Fully Awesome!, where the fanboy hamster becomes your biggest fan.

Check him out!

Feast your eyes-appeal and style

If you don't visit Michael Sporn's blog (or "Splog") regularly, you miss not only his great reports on animation life on the east coast, but also many things like these stunning boards from the Disney short "Melody: Adventures in Music". The artwork is loaned to Mike from his good friend and a man who needs no introduction to readers here, John Canemaker, whose collection is something else again.

Lots more where this came from--and again, it comes via John Canemaker and Michael Sporn.

Go there now!

"Bolt: One Ridonculous Adventure" by story artist Aurian Redson

Front and (below)back covers for Redson's book. Sorry about the glare-it certainly looks better in person


In my initial fizz over finally getting my copy of Joe Moshier's new Bolt Golden Book, I completely forgot to mention that I'm expecting yet another children's adaptation by an animation artist, Aurian Redson--a bright light in the story department.

He worked long and hard on "Bolt" the film, and he too has accomplished quite a lovely piece of publishing with "Bolt" One Ridonculous Adventure". A larger-format, longer picturebook than the Little Golden, it's also fascinating to see how Aurian has chosen to design his own version of the characters and settings. I've just seen a copy belonging to another story artist at work who's received his, and while I may sound like a shill for the publisher, I care not. This is a gorgeous and appealing book and a perfect compliment to your library.

a cropped photograph of one of the large (9x12)pages; these moving men look familiar...

"Bolt"-a Little Golden Book by Joe Moshier

This came in the mail yesterday from Amazon: ""Bolt", a Little Golden Book".

As most of you know, this film is coming soon to a theatre near you. But right now you can order the wonderful picture book by Disney designer/visdev artist Joe Moshier, which I recommmend doing stat.

I love the Golden Books done by Joe's former classmate Scott Tilley for such titles as "Finding Nemo" and this is just as appealing and beautifully done. I believe it's Joe's first book (his day job as a character designer at features is a busy one), but you'd never know it; the compositions, color, posing-all are completely assured and just so terrifically cute. There isn't a kid or artist alive that I can't imagine would love this eye candy. And by the way, "Bolt" is quite the same way in its other incarnation.

"The Art of Bolt" comes out soon as well-that I haven't seen, but have ordered. Believe me, the work by the directors(both of whom have drawn lovely storyboards), story, the incomparable art direction by Paul Felix as well as the work by everyone involved is beautiful. There are stunning displays in the animation building with all kinds of visdev and story work blown up lifesize and larger on the walls, and it not only holds together but is so solid that it makes one feel good just to walk by them. The film works that way too: it's one that reminds me of "Basil of Baker Street", which I loved and was a huge gift from the animation department to us--the audience. If you know what I mean. The early 80s were a nail-biting time for aspiring animation people.

I need to apologize to Joe for the rough iphone photos reproduced here, but I think as raw as they are you can tell what a swell little tome this book of his is.

Ollie Johnston: a Life Celebration

Mark Kirkland on the El Capitan stage, in front of one of his photographs of Ollie Johnston. Ollie's holding a portrait of Walt Disney. This is the best I could do from the balcony with an iPhone.

When a man passes from the scene who's been as historically and artistically significant and as personally loved as Ollie Johnston, he deserves a great tribute from the animation community.
That's exactly what the last of the nine old men got last night, in a nesting doll of an evening at the El Capitan in Hollywood. From the stroke of 7 till well after 10 Leonard Maltin(doing a splendid job) introduced and moderated for these colleagues, friends and family:

Roy Disney
Andy Gaskill
Andreas Deja
Charles Solomon
Glen Keane
John Musker
Ron Clements
Brad Bird
Howard Green
Bob Kredel (train enthusiast and friend)
Michael Broggie (Disney/train historian)
Mark Kirkland
John Lasseter
Ollie's sons Rick and Ken Johnston
Carolyn Johnston (Ollie's daughter-in-law)
Jeanette(Mrs. Frank)Thomas
Ted Thomas
Andy & Marshall Ayers (Frank’s son-in-law and grandson)

Leonard noted that in the audience were Kathryn Beaumont, Margaret Kerry, Dick Jones, June Foray and Virginia Davis. The names of those notable animation folk filling the rest of the theater are too numerous to list. The age range of the attendees was probably 5 to 95.

Ollie was discussed by those onstage as "the family man", "the railroader" and "the mentor"-a backdrop of portraits representing Ollie in those guises was projected on the screen. Clips of his animation were shown(including the seldom seen "Reason and Emotion" and a never seen pencil test of a very Fred Moore-like girl removing a brassiere-wow), but it was particularly lovely to see rare glimpses of Ollie's personal work: gesture drawings of his sons, paintings and drawings of his wife, the Johnston family Christmas cards--even early student work from Stanford(these last courtesy of Calarts alumnus and Simpsons director Mark Kirkland, whose presentation of his photographs of Ollie taken in later years was beautiful). I could have looked at the watercolors, pastels and paintings of Marie Johnston for hours...it's stunning to see such different material from an artist whose drawings you think you know well. I wish there was a book that could encompass that art.

All of the speakers were eloquent, funny, emotional and thoughtful by turns. Glen Keane, John Musker, Brad Bird, Ron Clements, Andreas Deja, Andy Gaskill...all of them became the young, neophyte animators of 30 years ago once again when remembering Ollie's work and mentorship. Ollie's sons Rick and Ken, Carolyn Johnston, Frank Thomas' son Ted and his mother Jeanette Thomas remembered their dad and friend as he was in his private life, full of enthusiasm and fun; outtakes from Ted Thomas of Frank and Ollie blowing take after take of discussing "Jungle Book" made obvious how much of a spur each was to the other as pals.

The penultimate speaker was John Lasseter, whose learning from Ollie began before they'd ever met(he spoke of memorizing the particular 16mm prints of the then-difficult to see Disney features in the Calarts library so completely that when he later saw copies without the same splices and pops, he'd be jarred by their absence) and eventually extended beyond animation into the heart of Ollie's great hobby, railroading.
John's story of rescuing and restoring the Marie E.--the little mine train that Ollie had owned and run for years at his property in Julian, California before having to sell it due to advancing age--was achingly bittersweet. Watching via video shot on the day a fragile Ollie, surrounded by family and friends being surprised with the sight of his beloved steam locomotive pulling up to the New Orleans Square depot in Disneyland fully restored...terribly poignant, and unforgettable.

Ollie Johnston lived an exceptionally long life-long enough, sadly, to see his best friend and his wife go before him into that good night--but also long enough that he was able to bask in the warmth and gratitude of his artistic heirs, many of whom became his friends. He saw the influence of his work in the achievements of dozens he personally guided and others who've acknowledged their debt to him and his colleagues. Everyone last night had stories and memories that overflowed with goodwill and thankfulness for the life of this quiet, unassuming and profoundly talented artist. It was a wonderful thing to be able to share in those memories and reflections, put together beautifully as was done last night. To those responsible-most especially the Johnston family-a heartfelt thanks.

Another Joe Grant tile design

Excuse the sorry quality of the photo-it's from an Ebay auction I sadly didn't win. What a great little image by the great Joe Grant.

Presenting Walt Disney Animation-on the web

"BOLT" artwork by director Byron Howard

Walt Disney Feature Animation has a new name(Walt Disney Animation), a new head(John Lasseter), a new logo(see below)--and a new official web presence that went live just a short time ago:

WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS

No doubt it'll grow and change as new films are released. For now there's a released films timeline(with links to the colorful Archives entries on each title), a comprehensive FAQ for artists and interested parties, and other relevant information --not least a page devoted to this week's SIGGRAPH and Disney's various presentations there. There are many tantalizing projects in the works in the hat building at present, all detailed on the Projects pages. Be sure to check out the "Bolt" visdev that illustrates the "Careers" pages. One such example is above.

I'm looking forward to a solid online place for Disney animation past and especially present to be publicly celebrated.


A neon replica of The original Hyperion studio sign, executed by Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily. The original was adapted for the new animation studio logo.

Coming in October

224 pages. Bill Peet. Joe Rinaldi. Don DaGradi. Roy Williams. Ub Iwerks. Burny Mattison. Vance Gerry. And probably some other people we know.

Eric Goldberg's New Book

"Character Animation Crash Course!", a brand new book by legendary animator, Freddie Moore expert, collector of exquisite stuff, sage and all-around nice guy Eric Goldberg is on its way to the bookstores in a few weeks.

Here's the official description from the publisher, Silman-James Press:

Character Animation Crash Course! is a veritable Genie's lamp stuffed with everything the aspiring animator could wish for! Renowned animator Eric Goldberg's detailed text and drawings illuminate how to conceive characters "from the inside out" to create strong personalities. Classic animation techniques are analyzed and brought to life through this unique book and its accompanying CD that offers readers animated movie examples that show, in real time or frame-by-frame, the author's principles at work. Add to this Goldberg's discussions of classic cartoons and his witty, informative observations based on the wealth of knowledge he's gained during his 30-plus years in professional animation, and you have a tour-de-force guide to character animation with the classic touch.

As described above it comes with not only a distillation of Eric's prodigious knowledge of the craft of personality animation but a DVD as well loaded with quicktime tests he's done himself, illustrating the principles he describes in the book--all the essentials.
Through the usual .05 degrees of separation that seem to exist between everyone in Los Angeles, I learned of this book's imminent birth while visiting the publisher at her home. Gwen Feldman is not only "Silman-James Press" but is an artist herself--she's a member of Chouinard's last graduating class in '71, former pupil of the great ones such as the late design teacher Bill Moore (about whom-like all his students-she's got some great stories). One of the most intelligent and creative people I've ever met, my husband's good friend even before I met her, she's an amazing photographer, art collector--someone whose range of interests still surprises me after twenty-some years.

Case in point: I blew a gasket when she casually mentioned a few months ago that she was publishing a book by Eric Goldberg. I got a glimpse of it completed then, and I was thrilled to see what was going to be in it. I'm sure you won't need me to tell you it's going to be a must have.
Eric's going to be debuting and signing it at Comic Con, on the Friday and no doubt at several other venues in Los Angeles as well. I'll add more details as I get them. For now it can be pre-ordered at Amazon and through the Creative Talent Network's portal.

Can't wait. And some guy named Brad Bird wrote the forward, too.

The Ninth Wonder Of the Universe

Michael Sporn posts beautiful examinations of animated films and their artists so frequently that unless I'm sharp I miss them. Don't make the same mistake, especially where this one's concerned; last week he did an entry on the tent-raising sequence from Dumbo. It's well worth your time.
No one who cares about clarity, beauty and appeal in film can stop learning from and just plain enjoying the charms of Dumbo, especially when Mike makes it so visually stunning. He must have spent a lot of time capturing screen shots, a few of which I've reposted here. But make sure you read and view his entire post:

"Tent building"