Fantasia Animation Cel of Mickey

Fantasia Animation Cel of Mickey

Fantasia animation cels are one of the most popular animation cels. Many collectors in the hobby feel this way. The most desirable Fantasia animation cel is probably one of Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice preferably with a broom.

Fantasia animation cel of Mick

 

 

Click here for more on this animation cel 

 

 

 

 

Fantasia was produced by Walt Disney and released in 1940. It really broke ground combining animation and classical music. Story direction was by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer. The production supervisor was Ben Sharpsteen. It was the third Disney animated feature film released. The first two were Snow White and Pinocchio. Fantasia consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski. Deems Taylor, also a composer and music critic serves as the film’s Master of Ceremonies. He introduces each segment in live action. Some collectors want a Fantasia animation cel from each of the eight segments.

The first segment is set to Bach’s Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor. Animated lines, shapes and cloud formations reflect the sound and rhythms of the music. The second is to The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky. A variety of dances are presented with fairies, fish, flowers, mushrooms, and leaves. They include “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”, “Chinese Dance”, “Dance of the Flutes”, “Arabian Dance”, “Russian Dance” and “Waltz of the Flowers”. 

The third segment of the film is set to The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas. Mickey Mouse stars as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. The Sorcerer is named Yen-Sid; Disney spelled backwards. Mickey casts a spell which goes horribly wrong for him. A Fantasia animation cel of Mickey as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice is still the gold standard of any Fantasia animation cel.

MickeyFantasia

 

 

 

 

Click here to see Mickey on the mountain 

 

 

 

 

 

The fourth segment is the Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky. A visual history of the Earth’s beginnings is depicted to selected sections of the ballet score. The sequence progresses from the planet’s formation to the first living creatures. This is followed by the reign and extinction of the dinosaurs. The fifth is a jazz jam followed by a humorously stylized demonstration of how sound is rendered on film is shown. Next is Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. A Fantasia animation cel from this segment would be from a mythical ancient Greek world. With centaurs, cupids, fauns and other figures from classical mythology. Of course portrayed to Beethoven’s music. Seventh is Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli. It is presented as a comical animal ballet. Finally the film closes with Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky and Ave Maris by Franz Schubert.

The Sunshine Makers

The Sunshine Makers

The Sunshine Makers is a story of happy gnomes who have the ability to distill sunshine and bottle it in milk bottles, which they deliver around the village. The scenes with the gnomes are in reddish-orange and white. The forest nearby is inhabited by goblins and they are sad. Their scenes are all in blue-and-white. The goblins can’t stand sunshine, because it makes them happy. “They don’t want to be happy. They want to be sad. They’re happy when they’re sad. They’re always feeling bad.” They attack the gnome village, but the gnomes fight back by bombarding the goblins with milk bottles. Soon the goblins are assimilated and everyone is happy. Why milk? Well, the cartoon was “brought to you” by the Borden Milk Company. I don’t believe as is often stated that Borden’s actually commissioned the cartoon, rather that they paid to have the ending added after The Sunshine Makers was completed. This wonderful cartoon was produced by Van Buren Studios and released by RKO pictures in 1935. 

 

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Those gnomes definitely did worship the sunshine; that’s for sure. That worship can be understood in more than one way. Many people interpret the film a bit differently and see it somewhat ahead (sic) of its time. If you’re old enough you might even remember it playing between sets by the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore East in 1969 and 1970. (But if you remember it you probably were not really there.) Those gnomes do look just a bit too much like Jerry Garcia. And I guess that the type of sunshine being bottled and distributed by these little Jerry Garcias were actually milk? Who knows for sure exactly what is was supposed to be? One thing – original animation art from this film is essentially non existent. And it sure is one great cartoon.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – The First One of All

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – The First One of All

Snow_White_1937_posterSnow White & the Seven Dwarfs was the first full length feature animated film released anywhere in the world. Produced by Walt Disney Studios it premiered in December 1937 and was shown in multiple theaters staring in February 1938. Snow White was loved by the public and critics. It is still considered by many to be Walt Disney’s greatest achievement. There are many reasons for this. Snow White’s technical brilliance was overwhelming. The production was four years in the making. Six hundred to seven hundred artists worked on the film. More than two million sketches and paintings were used. All of this was why the film was so adored by all. It was obvious that this was really a masterpiece.

Audiences still love the film and all of the characters. This love for and the look of all of the characters is what drew everyone to the film. Of course the first and most beloved is Snow White herself. She really was the fairest of all. SW at the Well

Each of the Seven Dwarfs had their own look and character. Dopey, Grumpy, Doc, Happy, Bashful, Sleepy and Sneezy all became part of the national consciousness.(Trivia question – Which two dwarfs were voiced by the same person? The answer is Sleepy and Grumpy. They were both voiced by Pinto Colvig. Pinto was also the voice of Goofy in the Disney shorts.) When Snow White is running away from the Evil Queen it is the dwarfs who take her in. She becomes a sort of mother to them all.         http://animationartstudio.com/animation-art/animation-cel-snow-white-well-w-toby-bluth-bg

As for villains, the Evil Queen and her alter ego the Wicked Witch are two of the scariest of all. They were drawn to instill fear and the artists succeeded.

Evil Queen with Heartbox

WitchAppleQueen967

http://animationartstudio.com/animation-art/animation-cel-evil-queen-heart-box

http://animationartstudio.com/animation-art/animation-cel-witch-poison-apple

http://animationartstudio.com/animation-art/animation-cel-drawing-snow-white-evil-queen-0

Here are two animation cels and one animation drawing of the queen and the witch. You can see the care and detail that went in to the creation of them. Snow White was not released on videotape until 1994. Until then only the lucky few of us able to procure a bootleg copy of the film were able to view it with regularity. After 1994 it sold over fifty million video copies. It was released on DVD in 2001. It remains the first one – and to most the best of all animated films.

 

 

Movie Posters – How to Play Football

Movie Posters – How to Play Football

                                     CARTOON MOVIE POSTERS NOT FOR KIDS ONLY

Movie posters that are vintage original release posters are quite rare and collectible. They are also fun to collect and display. One reason is the wonderful graphics. Another reason is that movie posters come in many sizes. A standard lobby card is 11″ X 14″. A window card measures 14″ X 22″. An insert poster is 14″ X 36″. This is a really nice size. They display really well. A pair of insert posters can really frame a wall or bay window on either side. This is an example. It is an original insert movie poster from 101101Dalmatian insert movie poster Dalmatians – 1961. Next is a half sheet poster which is 22″ X 28″. The most desirable posters to most collectors are one sheet movie posters. They measure 27″ X 41″. Often, looking at a great one sheet poster is like gazing through a window into another world. Now we start getting into large sizes. Any of these larger posters are quite impressive when framed and exhibited. A three sheet movie poster measures 41″ X 81″. A six sheet is 81″ X 81″. Finally a twenty four sheet poster is usually used on a billboard. That measures 108″ X 246″. There are even more sizes in between.

Cartoon movie posters are not actually animation art. They were not used in the production of a film. They of course were used to advertise and promote them.

Really vintage movie posters from the 1940’s and earlier can be incredibly rare. For many early films there can be only a only a small handful of movie posters known to exist. Even though there were certainly hundreds or more of many posters produced, for some films there are no known copies.

Goofy Football movie poster

 

Walt Disney Studios produced a series of “How to” cartoons starring Goofy. Many of them were how to play different sports. How to Play Baseball, How to Swim and How to Ride a Horse are a few. In 1944 Disney released How to Play Football. The poster is quite striking as you can see at the right. This poster has only one known copy.

http://animationartstudio.com/animation-art/goofy-football-cartoon-movie-poster

These movie posters were used at a theater, then folded up and sent to the next theater or just stored away. No one really thought at the time that they were collectible in any way. Anyway, over the years all copies except this one were lost or thrown away. Vintage cartoon movie posters are collectible because they have a natural scarcity. This is true about all objects that are truly collectible. If something is created with the plan to have it be collectible the odds are that it will never truly become collectible. It is the things that attain this natural scarcity kind of by accident that become really collectible.

 

 

Animation Art for Sale

Animation Art for Sale

On this blog I discuss all that relates to Disney art, other studios’ animation art and cartoons in general. If you would like to skip right to my set of animation art for sale go to Animation Art Studio. New art for sale is posted there.

Animation Art Cel from Traffic Troubles
Animation Art Cel / BG from Traffic Troubles/The Picnic – 1931/1930

From the early 20th century through Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988 cartoons were created using hand colored celluloids (cels). The movement in each one was slightly different from the cel before it. The animation cels were placed over a painted background and photographed. These photos were projected onto a screen at the rate of 24 frames per second, creating the illusion of motion. Since Roger most major animation is done using computers or stop action. Vintage animation art cels are truly a thing of the past in more ways than one. Read more

Animation Art from Mickey Mouse The Band Concert

The Band Concert is a Mickey Mouse short cartoon film released by Walt Disney Studios on February 23, 1935. It was directed by Wilfred Jackson. It was the first theatrical release of a color Mickey Mouse film, and it is looked upon as one of the finest that the studio ever produced. Animation art from this early film is quite rare.

In the film Mickey Mouse’s band is performing a concert in a park. One piece they attempt to play is the William Tell overture. Donald Duck continually interrupts the performance as a vendor hawking lemonade, popcorn and ice cream. He has his own flute, jumps onto the stage and begins playing Turkey in the Straw. The entire band is enticed by this to follow along making our bandleader, Mickey Mouse, quite agitated. Mickey breaks Donald’s flute, but a la Harpo Marx, Donald  immediately pulls out another. In fact he has dozens of them and can seemingly produce them out of thin air. Read more