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My money is on Paperman.

I’m torn between Paperman and Adam and Dog.

Something interesting to note is that this year you could find all of the nominated shorts to view in the internet in a legal way. I guess the directors/studios have decided that their chances to win increase with more peolple being able to see their shorts.

Yes. But then Magnolia had them pulled because it conflicted with their theatrical release.
The Academy also sent out screeners of the short subjects, including documentary, for the first time.

The winners and nominees are obscure, no matter the year. Warners and Pixar have issued DVDs, but from UPA onward, the films trend to be independent and film festival based.

Bambi was so beautifully made. You see how the Disney artists had really grown and learned from their earlier endeavors. The research of wildlife really paid off.

James I've seen you post about Bambi several times now. It must hold a special place for you. Did you see it at a young age? Or is your interest in it something that sprang up later in life?

Keith, I started out my professional art life as an animation background painter, so I have a special interested in the the early Disney films for their background treatment. I've mentioned Bambi, but actually Pinocchio made a stronger impression on me on several levels: story, animation, shot design, and characterization.

Little wonder. The animators nearly bankrupt Disney just on the opening sequence of Pinocchio from what I understand.

James, many of us grew up with Disney and especially Pinocchio, Bambi. Thanks for keeping us connected to our early love of this art form...

The book by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston "Walt Disney's Bambi, the story and the film" covers little-known art and inspiration developed for the film. A great deal of beautiful work was not used due to the studio's money crunch forcing them to drastically cut footage.

I seem to vaguely recall hearing/reading somewhere that the Bambi BG paintings which were done on glass were often scrapped clean after being filmed.

Could anyone confirm this?

That beautiful snowy background immediately put me in mind of Gustav Fjæstad - especially the reddish notes of the foreground branches... thanks for the post, James!

DZ Art, Yes, I read that too. I believe Lisa Keene mentioned that when she visited the archives. I think she said a lot were on glass because of the multiplane and some were on cardboard.

Does anyone know if Vellum paper is called something else in the UK? I asked for it in a shop here once and they said it was a colour/dye rather than a paper type.

What I believe we're talking about here is a 100% cotton rag paper used by architects. It comes on a roll and is fairly expensive. Rockwell also used it for his preliminary charcoals. It had to be slightly translucent for blueprints. "Vellum" is also used to describe the slight roughness of other surfaces, such as illustration board. Vellum was originally an animal skin, I believe.

@karlsimon
I think you Brits refer to it as parchment.

As James said it was originally from calf or animal skin and is translucent.
The modern equivalent is made from plasticized cotton and is more stable than linen or paper which is why is preferred for large formats like architectural plans.

As achingly beautiful as these paintings and drawings are, what inspires me most, what i most want to learn from them is how carefully composed they are.

James, David,

Thank you! I'll go to the shop where the architects buy their paper.

Absolutely wonderful in all aspects - animation, backgrounds, color, mood, direction, etc. The animation of the dog is so true to life! A winner!

It is so beautiful both visually and emotionally...it captures the essence of dogs completely.

Thanks for posting this link. I've been looking all over for the full version.

Paradisal:-)

What a fine observation and animated rendering of a dog's expression and movements.

Unbelievably good in every way. Just... this has to win.

I'll be rooting for this on Oscar night. Very touching. I'm gonna hug my dogs when I get home. Loyal and lovable....man's best friend.

Pure zen. I usually expect this level of art from the best achievements in Japanese animation, not Western style. All done with hint and suggestion, empty space rather than action, meditative timing.

It is wonderful to see how fresh the feel of loose concept art stays in this short film. This is the utmost in the immediacy of transfer to screen, in everything from the background art to simplification of form and animation. Somewhere, the spirits of Frank and Ollie are laughing softly with joy.

(the video didn't play for me, but I found it elsewhere on Youtube)

This film is so beautiful. It drew me in so fully that I realized partway through that I was holding my breath.

I love both this one and Paperman. I think it is pretty cool that an independent film like this holds its own with films that were produced at companies like Disney where there are scores or even hundreds of people working on them.

I love Marc Davis's drawings. It's also interesting that because Walt Disney canceled this project Don Bluth ends up making a movie about Chanticleer. It's called Rock-a-Doodle. Even though his version is definitely different from the Disney version.

Interesting, huh Phillip? Though a completely different film, Rock-a-doodle has alot of the same elements. James mentioned that it was tabled in favor of "The Sword in the Stone"(1963). Most people know of Bluths work with Disney in the 70's, and his exodus in 1979, but not everyone knows that Bluth originally worked at Walt's from 1955-57, before freelancing and working at Filmation. It's just a fun little conspiracy theory of sorts, but Davis would have probably been working at Disney around the same time Davis was working up his story? Hmmmm (Not a hack at Don Bluth, whom I am a big fan, just curious if he was around when the pre-production for this was going on, and maybe remembered it years later.)

the early disney artists were PHENOMENAL!!!! each of those early disney classics are true works of art, alice in wonderland, peter pan, pinocchio, sword in the stone, cinderella, snow white. no computers, all hand drawn, hand painted backgrounds and cells.

something secret and so powerful about that kind of hand created magic, so beautiful! computers and 3d really have not been able to recreate that kind of tactile intensity you feel when seeing those images. something very raw and wonderful about something being hand made.

These are wonderful! I've been drawing chickens lately, too, and for similar reasons. http://www.janetoliverstudio.com/1/post/2012/11/chickens.html

Yeah. I wasn't sure since it says Don Bluth was the assistant director for The Sword in the Stone. I'm sure he must have seen something. But I have recently started looking at so much drawings from legends who worked at Disney. And Marc Davis is definitely on my list.

Yay chickens!!! This are incredible! XD

chantecleer is a character from disney.... in a movie called rock-a-doodle

Yourself and Andreas Deja are the writers of my top two favorite art blogs. It's fun to see a little crossover! Mr. Deja always has fascinating posts with beautiful art from the Disney archives - even the rough sketches are great. And he always has interesting insights from his own time at Disney. He has a real love for the craft of animation.

Thanks, Gina. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Deja last year at the CTN convention, and I really enjoyed watching him draw.

Janet, I love your chicken drawings!

Super V: You said it. As much as I love some of the more recent animated films, there's nothing like the handmade feel of Pinocchio or Fantasia. The amount of labor and care in those films is incredible.

I'm glad you guys brought up Rock-a-Doodle--that's another fascinating connection.

Now this would have probably been a wonderful movie, unlike Rock-a-Doodle which to me was not.

Coincidentally I have a rooster character that was originally created a number of years ago based on a spoof title page for a sketch book which I called my doodle book back then. Then I took the pun based on my doodle book and named the rooster Mr Doodle. I don't have my rooster character showing any more on my web site since of course that was a number of years ago but I do plan on writing and illustrating a children's book based on this character. I already wrote a prequel but it still isn't right for for the first story about a rooster with an obsession. The story has to be just right for its intended audience.

I'm a huge Marc Davis fan, both for his work as one of "the 9 old men" and as one of the first "Imagineers". There is a book detailing his work on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride filled with Davis' great pirate drawings and concept designs (unfortunately they are printed on the small side.)

I think I remember from Canemaker's "Paper Dreams" that there was some sort of creative power struggle going on at Disney's at that point, between a lot of the star animators on one side and storyman extraordinaire, Bill Peet, on the other. According to Peet's point of view, they made a bunch of pretty drawings but failed to solve the story problems to structure a compelling story.

Its a good lesson for the artist-storyteller to not get blinded by good drawings and lose the story thread. Few people can outdraw the uber trio of Davis, Kahl and Anderson.

I got to meet Marc Davis back in the 90s and also his wife, Alice, who BTW, designed/fabricated the costumes for the animatronic cast of the pirate ride.

Thanks James! Fantastic Find!

Inspirational! What a delightful person and artist Wong is.

Thank you for posting this, James. Can you give us a link for Tom's Kickstarter campaign?

Hi, Diana, I've added the link into the post.

Glad you enjoyed it, Dwight. Give my best to Swain and Adrian.

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Thanks for introducing us to this project documenting a remarkable artist! It's worth noting that Tom has an ascending list of Kickstarter goals, she has only met the first one, for minimal editing and sound. If more contributions are made, more work can be done, creating a stronger finished movie.

Hi,

I just want to mention that today a digital download option was added for this kickstarter. Cheaper than the dvd and more practical for the international backers.

Cool! Are you genetically related to Sir Goldsworthy Gurney?! My guess is YES! - mp

The painting is almost as cool as the name "Goldsworthy Gurney"!

Cassidy gave me "Color and Light" for Christmas--yea! Thanks for the little sketch!

MP, We can trace our line back to England, which is where Goldsworthy was from, but haven't found the exact connection with him yet. Gurney's a pretty unusual name, which ultimately traces back to France.

Suzy, glad you enjoy it.