Sarah's Ramblings

So here I am today, just surfing away at lileks.com when he linked to a blog of '50s animation. You may not know this, but I love old children's illustrations. Not to knock Pixar, but there's something in the old pen and ink that simply cannot be beat.

In fact, I was watching The Bugs Bunny & Tweety show this morning and just watching the backgrounds, ignoring the story. (It was a Sylvester and Tweety short, too. Rather meh to me.) There was one of those couches that you know you have hurt so much to sit on, but boy was it gorgeous. For example, look at the trees in this picture. They're so delicate and airy. I believe it was on the DVD for Finding Nemo (oooh, another great example is the style of the credits in Monsters, Inc.) where an animator commented that they can't believe the work that went into the old movies. Take Pinocchio, for example, when Pinocchio and his father are in the whale (Nostrum?), and we see all the bubbles in the water. Every single one was hand drawn, for every single frame. Oy. Nowadays it's all computer, of course, and again I don't mean to malign computer animation, but there are some things you can't replicate.

Oh, or another example is in Cinderella, when she's singing and washing the floor, with all the bubbles that all have her reflection in them. Singing and moving. That movie's never been at the top of my favourites, but it is simply a work of art to look at.

So take out a few minutes to check out Cartoon Modern. Oh, and did I mention it's a blog for a book? *koff*