Ollie johnston

Ollie Johnston’s cameo in Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant We asked Brad Bird, Oscar-winning director of Ratatouille and The Incredibles, if he could share a few thoughts about the passing … Continued

Ollie Johnston animated most of the orphan girl Penny in The Rescuers, but other animators did key acting scenes as well, including Milt Kahl and John Pomeroy. John had joined Disney in 1973 with the intent to do background paintings, but he soon developed a fascination for character animation. He showed extraordinary talent, so Ollie put him under his wing to be part of the Penny unit. These are John's drawings for a scene in which the girl has just met the mice Bernard and Bianca.They had…

Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston

The life of a pampered cocker spaniel named Lady slips away once her owners have a baby. When, after some tense circumstances, Lady finds herself on the loose and out on the street, she is befriended and protected by the tough stray mutt Tramp…

Another great example of how animators translate a story sketch into the staging for their scene. This beautiful story sketch is of course by Bill Peet, who's drawings always stimulated the animators' imagination. There are whole sequences in 101 Dalmatians and The Sword in the Stone that maintained Peet's story continuity and staging. Virtually no changes from story sketch to final film frame. In this scene Merlin is pouring some tea for Wart who just "dropped in". Ollie loosened up Wart's…

Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston

Frank and Ollie animated most of the personality scenes with the Three Fairies in "Sleeping Beauty". Ollie said that originally Walt wanted them to have the same personality, like Donald Duck's nephews. "That wouldn't have been too much fun", Ollie remembered, "so Frank and I suggested they'd have different personalities". And the picture is much richer because of the contrast between the three. But it goes to show you that Walt took his top animators suggestions seriously. Here are three…

Disney Illusion of Life

Bernard from The Rescuers concept art by Ollie Johnston