Snow White: Trees and Leaves

When the witch appears with the poison apple, little birds emerge from a nearby tree to attack the old crone. Snow White innocently shoos them away.

Here are two versions of the tree and leaves. The first digitally eliminates the birds, revealing a lovely palette of autumn colors..

The second, as we've never seen it, recreates a pan shot (background) as the birds fly back to the tree.

Truly lovely artwork, typical of the care and attention to detail that went into all aspects of SNOW WHITE.

Decorating Dwarf Style! (Snow White)

Excellence is in the details!

Look at the wood texture in the stairs - and the carved owl heads!

Here's a digitally re-created pan background, full of more wonderful wood textures.

A different view inside the cottage...

Snow White sets a mean table!

A beautiful window design; notice (again) the texture of the wood grain, the play of light, the hardware on the windows, and the cracks and discoloration on the wall.

SNOW WHITE Cottage Pan B/G

The obsession continues. I hammered away at this pan B/G for another three hours tonight.

Here's something we have never seen - the full length of the dwarfs' cottage!

All that's left to do is attach the hearth to the left side and it's done. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe...

SNOW WHITE: Dwarfs' Doors

It's intriguing comparing different views of the same area, in background art. Disney's attention to detail has always set them above and apart from all other studios.

The first view of the dwarfs' cottage doorway is when the animals and Snow White first enter. Note the cobweb left and above the door. (The door itself was intentionally removed to uncover as much B/G art as possible.)


This second view is at night, cel overlay of the door intact and closed. Note the warmth of the light, and many subtle differences between these two renderings.

Here are two views of the bedroom door:

SNOW WHITE

These scary trees are located in the forest area just outside the dwarfs' cottage...

SNOW WHITE continued

Here's a lovely background from a scene in the woods, with the old crone.

The Dwarfs' Cottage

We'll get back to POPPINS... but I couldn't resist the urge to share these SNOW WHITE masterpieces.

The first three are large recreated pan B/Gs. Notice the apparent differences in detail and finesse in the second, compared to the first and third. Probably by different artists.

The last B/G is a closeup of the front door during the "Dopey kiss" segment.

A New Way of Looking at SNOW WHITE

I have recently had some intriguing correspondence with a young artist named Patrik Spacek. Originally from the Czech Republic, he has lived in Illinois for the last three years.

A few days ago he wrote me, asking if I'd suggest a Disney background I'd like to see rendered in 3D computer graphics.

After thinking about it for a day, I suggested the interior of the dwarfs' cottage from SNOW WHITE.

When the graphics arrived in my email, I was absolutely floored.

This young man is a brilliant talent. The computer graphics he's created are nothing short of astonishing. SENSATIONAL!

Here are two shots of the cottage re-created in CGI 3D - the bedroom staircase and the entire interior pan shot of the cottage. I have included a close-up of the area under the stairs.

Look at the incredible detail - the curves on the staircase's wooden planks, the texture of the wall's stucco, etc.

This young man spent days creating this, and it took 20 hours to completely render.

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!

Patrik, thank you for sharing your work with our blog readers. I think you have an amazing future ahead of you.

Patrik's goal is to work for Disney (ideally) and/or another major animation studio. Someone should sign this young man immediately.

(Readers - be sure and click on the images. They will open in a new window full size so you can really savor the incredible detail.)

Dopey's Drums

The SILLY SONG sequence in SNOW WHITE is ingenious and charming. Dopey gets a couple of starring moments playing percussion. Here are the digitally recontructed backgrounds featuring his curious array of instruments. Note the incredible detail!

The bright gold cymbals and cowbells are cel overlays. (I left these intact on purpose.) Everything else is indeed background art. Imagine: duck drums, owl temple blocks, swan and squirrel cymbal holders, sleigh bells and more!

I am likely going to be away from the computer for a day or so, and unable to blog during that time. I'll return to posting ASAP. I have more delightful artwork from MGM's Tom and Jerry cartoons.

So come back again, soon, and there will be more treats from animation backgrounds!

Grumpy's Kiss and Departure

Today, another couple of recreated pan B/Gs from SNOW WHITE.

First, we have "Grumpy's Kiss and Departure." Interesting problem... the first frame in the sequence, starting on the right has Grumpy with his shadow. I couldn't eliminate it completely.

So here you'll see two versions: one with Grumpy and the entire first frame intact. Here's the first frame:


This version of the digitally re-created pan B/G contains the entire first frame on the right:

This second version of the digitally re-created pan B/G is almost completely cleared, as much as digitally possible... revealing quite a bit more of the B/G. Sorry, nothing I could do about that bit of shadow and a fragment of Grumpy's shoe!

As usual I've split the Pan B/G in halves so you can have a good look at detail Here's the left side:

And the right side:

And finally, another completely separate woodsy pan B/G. Grumpy gets his nose stuck in the hole in the tree. A funny bit!

SNOW WHITE: Dwarfs' Cottage

OK, a brief break from POPPINS. Ever been to a fragrance counter, and the salesperson had you sniff coffee beans to clear your head?

Same idea here.

With the incredible intensity of color in the POPPINS backgrounds, seeing this SNOW WHITE view of the dwarfs cottage is refreshing.

The muted earth tones of this background were mirrored by a rainbow of subtleties in the animation color palettes.

Both great films, both wondrous artistic achievements, but realized through very different stylistic approaches.

Heigh ho!

Snow White: Dwarves Cottage Interior Pan

Here is a digitally recreated pan background of the dwarves cottage interior, from Snow White.

The subtlety of the color palette is lovely. This would never be seen today, when explosively colorful color palettes are a must.

Sometimes less is more...

SNOW WHITE

In honor of the 70th anniversary of SNOW WHITE and the forthcoming Disney DVD re-release, I've created some newly digitized restorations of some obscure B/G art pieces from Walt's first feature.

The first is a recreated pan B/G (with cel overlays of waterfall, vultures and their shadows.)









If you'd liek to see more, check out the archives by clicking the SNOW WHITE label link (below).

SNOW WHITE Dungeon

Grumpy's Pipe Organ

Another brief respite from Poppins...

I was doing some research tonight. I always find myself drawn back to SNOW WHITE. Today I had a revelation... and finally figured out a way to digitally clear this incredible background of Grumpy's pipe organ.

What a marvelous piece this is... you can almost hear "The Silly Song!"

SNOW WHITE: Soup's On!

Snow White runs down the stairs to check the soup...

Here is about 1/2 the pan B/G, recreated, as SW runs through the dwarfs' cottage...

And here, the homey hearth... SW, the mantletop spoon and the soup pot lid digitally eradicated for your B/G viewing pleasure...

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)

In 1937, Walt said "let the magic begin..."

Disney's first animated feature!