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A question I received on this drawing was the size, this is a four foot long drawing.
ToonTown was a really special project for me because I was able to participate at multiple levels all the way through the process. Typically, someone will be asked to come on board a project, and participate in one thing. It's part of the problem I have with the industry in that it is so compartmentalized.
To give you a run down on my participation, I started as one of the four principle designers for ToonTown -- and the youngest member of the team -- that launched the project for Disneyland in Anaheim. I did designs for several buildings in the town, designed the ToonTown Trolley, was the lead designer for the Roger Rabbit Ride, did the show set drawings for many of the dimensional props...including the Benny the Cab that sits in front of the Roger Rabbit Ride and greets the guests as they come in, and ultimately illustrated the ToonTown silkscreen poster for Japan... where I combined all those elements in one painting.I'm gonna roll the clock back to when I was the lead designer for Disneyland's Roger Rabbit Car-Toon Spin Ride in 1990/92. The goal was to end the ride with our guests going through a cartoon portable hole to escape, so I did this drawing of Roger Rabbit as we exited the ride. But how to make it work?
The second solution was to have a wall with a hole cut into it, and a thin sheet of fog would be blasted in front to create a surface — and we would project a portable hole that appears as we exit the ride. But, that didn’t make any sense as you can project light, but can’t project the absence of light! That’s impossible. We had to choose between one of these two options!
So, my artist friend and Imagineering colleague Andrea Favilli reached out to magician Jim Steinmeyer — and it was Jim that helped us create the wonderful portable hole effect with a simple magic trick. Jim was an expert magician that built magic tricks for the biggest names in magic. He came up with a brilliant solution, and THAT is what we built in the ride. (I’m not going to divulge the secret here!)
I also designed this particular scene so that the figure of Roger was NOT entirely audio animatronic, but rather show-action animation. This meant it’s the extending arm that places the portable hole against the wall, not the Roger Rabbit figure. Again, another simple solution that helped to stretch our budget. This means the ride and this illusion can continue to work even if the equipment isn’t working. The posing of the character also works with or without animation.
Limiting the expenditures allowed us to spend more money on the rest of the sets so that the ride never felt neglected, stayed exciting... and prevented break-downs. More tech heavy rides have a tendency to shut down when their complicated equipment stops working. Not so with the Roger Rabbit Ride.
More LOST DISNEY ART. (Brush Pen Ink and Watercolor 1994)
I know... the title is a little "click-baity". Technically this work is not lost -- I'm sure the originals are buried somewhere in the vaults at Imagineering, but these drawings haven't been seen in nearly 30 years.
It was before the digital age, so hard copies of these drawings remained in my flat file tucked away inside a manilla folder mis-labelled "Tokyo roughs". I found them by chance while going through my files looking for theme park work for my website, www.vignalistudio.com
The Big Idea
Legendary Imagineer Eddie Sotto had come up with an idea called Pirate's Island where we were going to revamp Tom Sawyer Island (TSI) at Disneyland and turn it into a pirate island. This was back in 1994, way before the Pirates of the Caribbean movies... so the idea was truly ahead of its time.
At the center, Eddie imagined there would be a large cavern where the pirates had brought their booty, and in there was built a bar where guests could dine. Eddie had asked me to come up with some ideas for things to put in the bar, I sketched out several things, and that's when I thought of these lovely ship's figureheads. I worked them out in color so we could add this to our pitch.
I even remember I had roughed out the entire bar and was planning to do one of those large drawings of the interior... unfortunately soon afterwards the project was scrapped. Eddie's Pirate's Island was a great idea that was short lived... but the big idea was so strong that when the Pirates of the Caribbean movie came out this idea resurfaced and TSI was turned into Pirate's Lair.
Did you know that part of the Roger Rabbit Ride queue line and pre show at Disneyland was going to be outdoors?
Yep! It was the 1990s, and I was one of the four principal designers of Disneyland's Toontown, and the lead designer for the Roger Rabbit Ride.My office mate at the time, legendary Imagineer Eric Robison, really liked this drawing… so I gave it to him. All these many years later he kindly mailed it back to me.
I took the prismacolor drawing and placed it on my drawing desk. A 33 year round trip.
Newell Convers Wyeth, also known as N. C. Wyeth — Born in 1882 – died in 1945 at the age of 63. He was an American painter and one of the greatest American illustrators of the 20th Century.
Throughout his career, N.C. Wyeth created more than 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books.
It was incredible to dive into his work and discover so many storytelling tips and visual tools. In one painting Wyeth is giving the audience three panels that tell a story. We read his illustration like a comic book... without ever realizing it.
Just $5 bucks on Gumroad; learning has never been so affordable.
So, I made copies of Heinrich Kley's artwork and pinned them over my desk. I kept these drawings as a reminder of what it meant to be in charge of one's own craft. For decades these drawing were like a lamp of light, illuminating my path.
However, it was only decades later that I began to unravel the mysteries of Heinrich Kley's work. And now, I have the pleasure of sharing with you my knowledge and understanding of this beautiful artwork. So, join me @Gumroad: Into the Design Lab - Heinrich Kley
https://vignalistudio.gumroad.com/l/qszjmz
I give a short bio of Heinrich Kley, and then take an analytical look at the drawings of Heinrich Kley. And finally reveal the mystery behind these enigmatic drawings. We'll look at the gesture, balance, silhouette, overlap, structure, animation and echo.
I've put together a series called Into the Design Lab, it's an artist retrospective, an analysis and a design dissection that reveals the compositional tricks and storytelling tips by successful artists.
Part One: A quick biography for those that aren't familiar with his work. And an in depth look at the transition from ink to paint. How the directional strokes in Frazetta's comic book inking influenced his painterly illustration style... and his compositions. This is fundamental to understanding his work.
Great artists throughout the ages have left their art lessons encoded in their works. In this series I deconstruct the artwork to find the compositional, story, and structural devices... as well as reverse engineer the thinking involved in creating their magnificent art.
You don't know what you don't know, so it's hard to imagine what you're not aware of, so I've posted a free video lesson on Youtube to show you what you've been missing. It's a short 10 mins excerpt from one of the upcoming lessons, Into the Design Lab: featuring the work of Frank Frazetta.
I want folks to know what they're getting in this series -- it will blow your mind. Into the Design Lab -- a Gumroad PREVIEW It's an academic dissection of history's most indelible artwork. And it's free!
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