How to use this Page

I loved my view master-still fascinated by these mini environments!

Disneyland and animation have gone hand-in-hand for 60 years now.

Christopher Robin returns to the Hundred Acre Wood; what he finds there may surprise!

Geneviève Godbout is an illustrator from Quebec who studied in Montreal and Paris before moving to London where she currently works at Disney Consumer Products and moonlights as a book illustrator and fabric designer.

Her soft, friendly pencil renderings and dot-eyed characters make it easy to imagine that she is an expert drawing the Disney design of Pooh Bear at her dayjob, which she mentions is one of her primary assignments.

You can see more of her work on her blog.

Sometimes when I’m animating, I recharge my creative batteries by watching some of my favorite scenes or pieces of animation. There’s a handful of animated pieces that I watch again and again, but only one that I always return to without fail. It blows me away every time I see it, and upon each viewing, I always seem to discover something new. After every viewing, it makes me strive harder and harder to become a better animator.

No surprise that this scene from Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968) is a Milt Kahl scene. I may be one of the very few people who has had the gall to say something remotely negative about Kahl’s animation in the past, but I still think all the admiration for him and his work is completely justified. He could handle anything, and make it look and move beautifully. It’s a shame he wasn’t given more assignments like this one, because I feel that his more cartoon-oriented animation really stands out as some of his best.

While the entire four-minute sequence of Tigger in Pooh’s house is wonderful (great personality animation, dialogue, pacing, etc.), it’s the shot of Tigger bouncing around Pooh that stands out for me. The reason I love that scene so much is that it perfectly encapsulates all twelve principles of animation. In about 7 seconds, each principle is flawlessly showcased, some multiple times, and some intertwining and overlapping one another. As broad and over the top as it is, there’s layer upon layer of intricate elements that make the scene work. It’s a masterpiece of animation, but isn’t brought up too often compared to some of the other characters in Kahl’s career.

For starters, watch when Tigger first begins bouncing:

There’s little to no anticipation in his legs, but instead the anticipation is shown in the movement of his head going down before the take off. The tilt of his head, in relation to his arms, legs, ears and whiskers as he first jumps show a great use of arcs. Also notice the successive breaking of the joints on Tigger’s arms, from his shoulders to his elbows to his wrists, and the drag on his fingertips.

As he bounces in place, you can really feel the energy transferring through his body, from his head down to his tail and right back up to his head again, much like a wave action. The folds and wrinkles in his body as he squashes down not only tell us that Tigger is a well-worn toy with loose stuffing, but how much force and weight that Tigger is exerting with each bounce.

Now, Tigger begins to bounce in a circle around Pooh: 

This is why Tigger’s stripes play such an integral role in his design. The stripes sell the idea that Tigger is not a flat drawing, but a three-dimensional living creature. His stripes wrap around the forms of his body and give the illusion of volume. So when Tigger is bouncing around Pooh, those stripes make it clear that Tigger’s body is turning away from us in perspective. Also notice the overlapping action on Tigger’s tail, and how it bends and swings at the kinked parts.

Tigger then jumps up and spins on his tail:

There’s so much going on in this one-second action. Tigger’s torso is twisting and contorting, his top half slightly delayed than his bottom half. Like before, his arms and legs following arcs, and his hands, ears and whiskers are dragging behind. And while all this is going on, he’s squashing and stretching on every bounce until finally easing into his final pose before making physical contact with Pooh and charging offscreen.

And throughout that entire scene, on every bounce, footstep and contact, Tigger is hitting every single beat in the song. Each of Kal’s key poses are appealing, with clear staging and strong silhouettes. Even the animation on Pooh, who takes a back seat in this sequence to contrast Tigger’s outlandish behavior is wonderfully done. It’s almost contradictory how Tigger moves. While he’s galumphing around the screen like a roughhouse, there’s a certain level of grace in his movements. And both Tigger and Pooh’s personalities are easily distinguishable, Tigger being confident and boisterous and Pooh being underplayed and submissive. Overall, a tour de force of animation.

Coincidently, Kahl was also animating Shere Kahn in The Jungle Book around the same time. They’re both tigers (Tigger loosely so), but look how drastically different in approach and execution they are from each other. Shere Kahn is restrained and more subtle—built and functioning like a real tiger, while Tigger is so full of energy and enthusiasm that he’s practically bursting at the seams, and is a completely graphic design. Compare them to Kahl’s caricatured tiger from the Goofy short Tiger Trouble twenty years earlier and you have some sense of how broad Kahl’s abilities were as an animator.

I would’ve loved to know Kahl’s opinion about his own work on Tigger. I know there’s plenty of information floating around about how he felt about Medusa, Shere Kahn, the Brers or any of the human characters he animated, but barely anything about his work on Tigger. If anyone has any insight about this, please share!

For those that want a closer look at this scene, here’s a video of it slowed down 500% with annotations:

Tigger Goes Ice Skating!

A Dartmouth bookshop opened by the son of Winnie-the-Pooh author A A Milne is closing down after 60 years.

Harbour Bookshop on Fairfax Place was opened in 1951 by Christopher Robin Milne, the inspiration for the character Christopher Robin in his father’s famous Winnie-the-Pooh stories.

Milne owned the bookshop for several years before selling it to Bruce and Nicolette Coward. The shop has been owned by Rowland and Caroline Abram for the last 15 years.

read more

Winnie-the-Pooh will turn 90 years old on August 21st.

The New York Public Library will collect birthday cards to celebrate the occasion. Three to twelve-year-old kids can make cards for Pooh Bear and his friends at a special craft event on Tuesday, August 9th.

Everybody can join the party inside the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Saturday, August 20th. While you’re there, you can take a peek at an original Winnie-the-Pooh & friends doll set.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Winnie the Pooh, Disney’s first hand-drawn animated feature since 2009’s The Princess and the Frog, opened in 6th place with an estimated $8 million dollars. Cars 2, another Disney release, pocketed $8.3M (est.) in its fourth weekend, good enough for a 5th place finish and an overall gross of $165.3M. Below are the openings for the other recent films in the Pooh franchise:

The Tigger Movie (2000): $9.4M
Piglet’s Big Movie (2003): $6M
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005): $5.8M

The film’s reason for existence has nothing to do with box office, however. Like Cars 2, it appears to be a corporate obligation first and foremost. Winnie the Pooh is the second-largest character franchise in the world, earning $5.7 billion in revenue last year. To put that into perspective, Pooh earned more in 2010 than the combined Toy Story and Cars franchises, which are the fifth and sixth highest-earning character franchises.

The world’s most valuable franchise is Disney’s Mickey Mouse, which took in $9 billion last year. If the company’s approach to its other top-earning franchises like Pooh, Cars and Toy Story is any indication, could a Mickey Mouse feature be that far off?

Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | 3 comments | Post tags: Cars 2, Winnie the Pooh

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117944948?refcatid=31

Photo above was snapped in the hallway of Disney Feature Animation (in the “Hat Building”). It’s a full-length mural, painted on the wall, I suppose to inspire the production staff to think 60s style… and, for the record, Disney never released any film in “Deluxe Color” which was owned, then, by 20th Century-Fox. Disney of course, had a long term deal with Technicolor™ (though they did strike an occasional Eastman Color print on rare occasions), but I digress…

Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Winnie the Pooh

Disney released this 60 second excerpt from the forthcoming Winnie The Pooh feature, set for release on July 15th:

(Thanks, Edward Himel)

Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | One comment | Post tags: Winnie the Pooh

It seems that people can read my mind. No sooner do I start obsessing about and pestering people for their opinions on comic books for kids then two prominent comic book bloggers take on the issue. They are both smart and impassioned view and I suggest you read them both then tell me what you think. If not you can tell me if you like my Pooh drawing. The first is by Heidi Macdonald at the Beat, Publisher's Weekly's writer on comic books and comic book culture. You can read about it here. The other post is by Chris Butcher, owner of the Beguiling comic book shop in Toronto and a really insightful guy when it comes to comics. You can read his thoughts here. Both of these essays focus on the problems and obstacles to retailers and publishers. The major problem seems to be that the retailers aren't always getting the right books into the right hands or that parents who want to share the joys of comics with their kids are put off by the edgier atmosphere in comics today.

My opinion is that the problem lies with the creators. We’ve been told over and over again that comics aren’t for kids any more and that the focus should be on telling mature, sophisticated stories aimed at adults. I think creators need to be more persistent in following their visions, I certainly believe the market is waiting for them.

Another post of interest on this subject is from the Joe Schuster awards web site.

Borders’ Educator Appreciation Week Offers 30% Discount
Through October 7th, current and retired educators can save 30% on in-store purchases for personal or classroom use when they bring proof of educator status.

Don’t read that! The secret lives of book banners
In celebration of Banned Books Week (September 26 through October 3), the Chicago Tribune’s Julia Keller shares her first encounter with banned books.

A rainy National Book Festival whets readers’ appetites
In case you missed last weekend’s National Book Festival, the L.A. Times provides a great recap of the Washington, DC event, which boasted record-breaking attendence.

Kids Paying More Attention to Nonfiction
“Nonfiction is gaining more popularity with younger readers, according to the Children’s Choices Booklist-an annual list in which students read, critique, and vote for their favorite books.”

To help boys, school creates the poster men for reading
A Philadelphia school created the “Real Men Read” campaign to locally address a national concern – boys falling behind academically, particularly in literacy – which is achieving impressive results.

Anderson University to dedicate space for rare children’s books
Anderson University’s rare books collection contains approximately 6,000 books—many of which are first editions—by authors such as A.A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh), Beatrix Potter (The Tale of Peter Rabbit), and Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are).

Okay, I'll admit it: I'm not a huge fan of Pooh. I kind of like Piglet, and Eeyore is sort of amusing, but when I tried to read the original Pooh books on my own as a child, there was no connection. Perhaps I've been stunted as a person, but there you have it.All the same, I found myself peeved and protective when I read on the BBC website that a new character, Lottie the Otter, has been created

First look at 'Wimpy Kid' (USA Today gives eager readers a glimpse at the live-action translation of the popular graphic novels. Plus the "Nightmare on Elm Street' trailer premieres on MySpace and from comments it looks like fans aren't too happy... Read the rest of this post

AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com
(The "Freaky Friday" photo is good. I hope these are submitted by family members and not photography studio employees)

© Kathleen Rietz
Childhood is fleeting - hold fast to your memories and don't let go.

Take a look at Gurney Journey's blog highlighting Winnie the Pooh illustrator E. H. Shepard's academic background in art. Shepard's figure drawings and portraits are unsurprisingly gorgeous. I had never seen that side of his art.

(off to dig out my Winnie the Pooh books and Wind in the Willows books to study his pen and ink work.)

The always-awesome BibliOdyssey has posted a great sampling of E.H. Shepard’s original Winnie the Pooh drawings. Seeing them again reminds me how charming and perfect they are, and it almost makes one forget the now-soulless Disneyfied versions.

Bears bears bars! I do so love bears, being one myself.

This week's bear of the week has been filling the hearts of kids (and other bears) since 1926, when A. A. Milne's book, called Winnie the Pooh was published. Other books followed and much further down the track he became a Disney character. I personally prefer the 'old style' pooh to the Disney version, but the Disney one is cute too.

You can learn more about Winnie the Pooh here. this website also has games, wallpapers, links and more.

Enjoy!