Some new deviations from Alexandreev. He's by far my favourite painter and concept artist. He's got it all.
Concept art by Eyvind Earle from Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty: I busted out the Blu-Ray last night and was stunned—I had absolutely forgotten how breathtaking this movie is! After what I consider a rather weak first 15 minutes or so, but once we're in the forest, this is the most beautiful art I think I've ever seen in an animated movie. Screengrab: The animators were afraid the background paintings were so beautiful nobody would look at their animation! And I don't blame them a bit. Inspired by Medieval paintings and Persian miniatures. I hope it's ok to post a video in here—I mean, it's a picture with motion, that's what animation is, right? My god!! The BACKGROUNDS!!! Most amazing landscape paintings I think I've ever seen.
I don't know that I've ever seen that movie but it's really gorgeous; I don't think Snow White or Cinderella were quite so stunning. It reminds me of Where the Wild Things Are actually in an odd way, even if it's less dark and forbidding in style--I think there's a common sense of foreignness and fantasy. The geometry is slightly exotic, really fresh looking for me even if the movie came out in the 50's or whenever. That tree next to her there, it's so beautifully stylized. And the concept art is exquisite, I'm saving that for a wallpaper or lockscreen or something.
It's Disney's peak actually, as far as sheer beauty of background paintings. The next film was 101 Dalmations, which was set in a much less lush environment. Bambi had some amazing watercolor paintings in the background, which the artists vowed never to attempt again for the insane difficulty of achieving realism (albeit cartoonish) in transparent paint. But those backgrounds look like empty sets if there are no characters present. These images live and breathe all by themselves. I think after Sleeping Beauty Disney was forced to cut back on expenses film by film. As far as I'm aware, their most beautiful are Bambi, Sleeping Beauty and Fantasia, though there are a few I'm not very aware of, like Cinderella, and I haven't seen Snow White for a decade or so. Oh, how could I forget, Pinocchio is pretty amazing, especially the early sequence with the camera moving out over the village.
My conclusion on characters in Sleeping Beauty—only Maleficent has any depth, but the moment she shows up she 'animates' the movie, and her visual design is also far and away the best: Edit—The thorn sequence is also pretty amazing:
My Bambino report: Not as spectacular, but the backgrounds and characters work perfectly together. Neither steals the show. These characters have far more character than in Sleepy Beauty and move much better. Look at the sinuous grace! Overall as an animated movie it's vastly better, but it doesn't hold a candle to the sheer gorgeousness of the Eyvind Earle background paintings in SB. Not only are the forest animals here sinuous and sleek, they move with unbelievable grace and power. The focus is much more on them and the way they move and the story. Plus they look integrated, they belong in this environment. The characters in Sleeping Beauty stood out—too brightly colored and flat against the backgrounds Try not to cry or cheer out loud, I double-dare you: Correction—this looks like it was done with opaque paint. I think it was Pinocchio where they used watercolors for backgrounds.
Reading some WWII history today and found this little bit of Gernsback deliciousness. Yes, it needs to be taken out of its immediate context, but...
I never bothered to look on the inside of a rail before. 1910...it makes you wonder. How many dining cars, how many sleeping cars, how many graffitied freight cars, have rattled right over those rails? The weight of an entire century, come and gone. It was just a little rural line before they tore half of it up, but still. I'm no photographer but there's something about railroads
I found a video showing Eyvind Earle painting a tree. This video comes from the special features for Sleeping Beauty. First here's the finished painting: And the video is called 4 Artists Paint 1 Tree. I set it to start when his painting is starting to get interesting:
There is. They’re one of those deeply evocative sights, but I defy anyone to explain why. Do they evoke a sense of escape, freedom, adventure... or just memories of Stand By Me?
Though this isn't an actual scene from the series, "Count of Monte Cristo" has probably the most unique art I've ever seen in anime since I started watching them. I wish more studios would push the envelop like this, but it's probably not very commercially viable.
My favourite D film. Followed by The Rescuers. I really should have grown out of things like this by now