For nearly thirty years, the artists that passed through the gates of Disney Animation, and even non-artists like myself, were infl uenced by the craft, skill, wisdom, writings and sketches of Walt Stanchfi eld. — Roy Disney Walt was a kind of Mark Twain for us at Disney. He always taught with humor and skill. You learned to see the world through his eyes. I remember him one day encouraging us to leap into our drawings with boldness and confi dence, “Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. We all have 10,000 bad drawings in us so the sooner you get them out the better! ” Sitting in Walt’s class was as much a psychology course as it was a drawing class. One couldn’t help walk away with your mind and soul a little more open than when you entered. — Glen Keane, Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Stanchfi eld’s classes and writings were little distillations of the man: quirky, strongly stated in a genial voice, and brimming with a lifetime of sharp observations about story telling and graphic communication. Whether he drew with a ball point pen or painted with a brush dipped in his coffee cup, he got to the essence of things and was eager to share what he learned with his eager disciples, myself among them. He was grizzled and he was great and proof that there was more than one Walt at the Disney Studio that could inspire a legion of artists. — John Musker, Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Stanchfi eld was one of Disney Animation’s national treasures. His classes and notes have inspired countless animation artists, and his approach to drawing of caricature over reality, feeling over rote accuracy, and com- munication over photographic reproduction gets to the heart of what great animation is all about. Huzzah to Don Hahn for putting it all together for us! — Eric Goldberg, Walt Disney Animation Studios During the Animation Renaissance of the 1990s, one of the Walt Disney Studio’s best kept secrets was Walt Stanchfi eld. Once a week after work, this aged but agile fi gure jumped from drawing board to drawing board, patiently teaching us the principles behind the high baroque style of Walt Disney Animation drawing. Being in a room with Walt made you feel what it must have been like to have been taught by Don Graham. Having one of your life drawings be good enough to be reproduced in one of his little homemade weekly bulletins was akin to getting a Distinguished Service medal! Senior animators vied with trainees for that distinction. — Tom Sito, Animator/Filmmaker/Author of D rawing The Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson This exciting collection of master classes by the great teacher Walt Stanchfi eld is destined to become a classic on the order of Kimon Nicolaides ’ exploration of the drawing process. Stanchfi eld (1919 –2000) inspired several generations of Disney animators and those of us outside the studio fortunate enough to happen upon dog-eared copies of his conversational notes, which we passed around like Leonardo’s Codex Leicester. Stanchfi eld beauti- fully communicates the essence and joy of expressing ideas through the graphic line and accumulating a visual vocabulary. Drawn to Life is a treasure trove of cogent, valuable information for students, teachers and anyone who loves to draw. — John Canemaker, NYU professor and Academy Award ®-winning animation fi lmmaker W alt Stanchfi eld, in his own unique way, taught so many of us about drawing, caricature, motion, acting, and ani- mation. Most important to me was how Walt made you apply what you had observed in his life drawing class to your animation. Disney Animation is based on real life, and in that regard Walt Stanchfi eld’s philosophy echoed Walt Disney’s: “We cannot caricature and animate anything convincingly until we study the real thing fi rst.” — Andreas Deja, Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Stanchfi eld’s renewed emphasis on draftsmanship at the Disney Studios transformed the seemingly mori- bund art of animation. His students were part of a renaissance with The Little Mermaid and Who Framed Roger Rabbit,a renaissance that continues with fi lms ranging from The Iron GianttoLilo and StitchtoWall-E. — Charles Solomon, Animation Historian DRAWN LIFE TO THE WALT STANCHFIELD LECTURES: VOLUME TWO DRAWN LIFE TO 2 0 G O L D E N Y E A R S O F D I S N E Y M A S T E R C L A S S E S Walt Stanchfi eld Edited by Don Hahn AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG• LONDON NEWYORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SANDIEGO SANFRANCISCO• SINGAPORE• SYDNEY• TOKYO Focal Press isanimprintofElsevier Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK Copyright © 2009, Dee Stanchfi eld. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. This book makes reference to various Disney copyrighted characters, characters, trademarks, marks, and registered marks owned by The Walt Disney Company and Disney Enterprises, Inc. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher and the copyright owner. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: ( (cid:2) 44) 1865 843830, fax: ( (cid:2) 44) 1865 853333, E-mail:[email protected] . You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage ( http://elsevier.com ), by selecting“Support & Contact ” then“Copyright and Permission ” and then“Obtaining Permissions. ” Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Application submitted British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-0-240-81107-9 For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website atwww.elsevierdirect.com 09 10 11 12 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in Canada Dedicated with love to Dee Contents Foreword xiii Acknowledgements xv Innovation 1 1. Review and New Approach 3 2. Artist/Actor 6 3. Don’t Be Ordinary 9 4. Sketcher 12 5. Plus or Minus 18 6. Mood Symbols 21 7. Breaking the Constraint Barrier 26 8. The Agony and the Ecstasy 30 9. Making All Parts Work Together to Shape a Gesture 34 10. Forces (Energy, Animation, Power, Vim, Vigor, and Vitality) 37 11. Pure Performance 42 12. Different Concepts 45 13. A Time for This and a Time for That 48 14. Look to This Day 53 15. Entertainment 57 16. Follow-Up Department 61 17. Entertainment II 62 18. Playing to the Balcony 66 Drawing 71 19. A Sack of Flour 73 20. Pantomime (Drawing) Preparation 76 21. That Darned Neck 80 22. Crayolas? 85 23. Hands (Those Darned?) 89 24. Plight of a Gesture 94 25. Concepts for Drawing 97 26. Drawing Appropriate Gestures for Your Characters 100 27. Drawings Ain’t Just Drawing 104 28. The Importance of Sketching 109 29. Getting Emotionally Involved 111 30. Gesture Further Pursued 113 31. Caricature 119 32. Perspective 124 33. Have Something to Say and Keep It Simple 129 34. Keeping Flexibility in Your Drawing 132 35. Seeing and Drawing the Figure in Space 137 36. Don’t Let the Facts Get in the Way of a Good Drawing 142