Scribner Eye Theories

Should You Be Looking At This On A Sunday?

Here's the real reason you watch Peter Pan, right?
People ask me sometime, "why do I need construction? Won't that hamper my individuality and style?" I say if you want to do animation that is from difficult and interesting angles, that's why.
The fact that Tinker Bell looks so solid makes her all the more sexy. Of course she is a pretty stock design except for a couple subtleties in her angular eyes and body, but she is very beautifully animated and posed.
and it allows (Marc Davis?) to draw her from any position and do very tricky animation with her.
By the way, look at how well her eyes are handled. Just where the thick and thin lines are, how they wrap around her head from every angle.
Hre's that cutting trick I talked about in the Corny Concerto post. Just before the cut, Tinker looks in the direction of what she wants you to look at.
And what all the kiddies want to look at.

Finally, a girl's butt in a Disney cartoon! I wonder how this got past Walt, who had a fetish for boy's butts? I like the butt dust too.



You gotta be able to draw a head on a down shot to be able to make a head move convincingly in space.



OK, here's what everyone's been waiting for all through the boring opening of the movie.
I'd swear that someone at Disney's knew what people were paying their money for, but only would give it to them in small does. The whole opening of the movie takes forever and is about a bunch of stock bland characters walking around talking to each other and setting up a long depressing situation for kids.
They should have added a lot more Tinker Bell to the movie, since she is obviously the star. They have finally figured that out 60 years later, but it's too late. Now there are way too many rules against giving the audience what it wants.

I know some folks who work on the new Tinker Bell movies and from what I hear she doesn't look like this anymore and they have spayed her. Here's the Jolly Green Giant's wife in her weed burka.
"Pixar and Disney have given Tinker Bell a makeover. She's now wearing a jacket, leggings and knee-high boots. She still has the little white pompoms on her boots that she had on her little shoes. The new Tink first appears in Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, an upcoming film that's going straight to DVD and blu-ray. You can find out more about the film on Amazon.com and Disney.com. The release date for Lost Treasure is October 27th.

USA Today reports that Tinker Bell's last DVD adventure sold nearly 3.5 million copies - a very impressive figure. It's about time, then, that Tinker Bell dropped that skimpy leaf-hemmed frock and stepped into something more comfortable - and practical. After all, these days she's more than simply a flying Disney mascot who waves a wand and leaves a trail of golden dust. "Did we cover every race? Are we missing a pixie Aborigine?


But here's the original fun.
http://www.cartoonthrills.org/blog/Dis/53PeterPan/TinkerButt.mov

Animation School 14: Toot Head Construction

USE NEGATIVE SPACES WITHIN THE FORM!

Face is kept well to the front, with lots of negative space behind it. Top of face (eye area) is smaller than bottom of face (mouth area) for design contrast, Nose isn't in the middle. It's not symmetrical or evenly proportioned. If it was it would look mechanical.

Here is a common mistake in modern design. CRAMPED AREAS - No Negative Space
Dino's whole face is squashed together at the top of his head. Same with the top of his body where his arms are cramped together with no negative space. These are easy corrections if you are thinking about it.
A vertical line running down the top of the face. Horizontal lines under and at top of eyes. These construction lines follow the form of that part of the head. This is where today a lot of people get it wrong. They have the plane of the eyes contradict the plane of the face they are sitting on. (It came from a mistake in a Ren and Stimpy cartoon, and everyone thought it was on purpose.)
Disney eyes are very specific to them and their followers. You can always tell a Cal Arts animator by certain things they can't break out of - like Disney eyes. Sometimes the eyes have 4 corners. 2 subtle ones at top. But they always are thinner at the top, wider at bottom.Disney eyes and same head construction on all these characters.
From Mark Mayerson's site:
By the time of 101 Dalmations, the handful of stock Disney designs were all morphing into one. Every character in Dalmations has the same construction and eyes. Maybe Cruella has a very slight variation in head proportions, but the exact same eyes and eye expressions. This is the Don Bluth bible, and later in degraded form, the Cal Arts bible. Same character designs, same eyes over and over again.Slightly different jaw. Same eyes, only bigger. New nose! The Goth cartoonist's template.

Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom is on this set. Buy it.

These humans all have the same basic head construction with slight variations in proportions and details. They don't have Disney eyes. They have regular cartoon eyes. Actually Ed draws very unique eyes, but they are so tricky that the rest of us miss it when we try to draw his characters.

Animation is infamous for recycling designs. (And even more for recycling stories-but I'll save that for a rant)
Here's a much funnier variation on the head shape-and with original specific eye shapes. Try to catch all the subtleties. It's hard!

FLAT BUT FUNNY