Production art from to the 1932 Disney cartoon, Flowers and Trees.

Production art from to the 1932 Disney cartoon, Flowers and Trees. It was the first Technicolor cartoon, and went on to win the first ever Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

How to draw Maggie Simpson: more Simpsons model sheets.

Model sheets of Maggie Simpson: construction models, a turnaround model, action poses, and so forth. These were, and perhaps still are, used during production of The Simpsons.

Models for Bart can be found HERE. Models for Homer can be found HERE; that will also lead you to Marge and Lisa.

Lastly, production drawings of a (deleted) Marge/Homer scene from Season 15′s My Big Fat Geek Wedding, can be seen HERE. I always find such production drawings fascinating: it’s like seeing how a magician does it. And you can see how well drawn the series really was, which wasn’t always obvious because of the sloppy coloring.

Model sheets for Dumbo.

Model sheets for Dumbo. All these (except the last one) are from the 1971 Disney Publications pack, which means they were used by Disney comics artists, in the US and elsewhere.

Model sheets for Briar Rose/Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty (1959).

Intricately drawn model sheets and construction models for Briar Rose/Princess Aurora from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (1959). They contain practical tips on how to draw her hair and clothing.

Betty Boop: model sheets, a mouth chart, and a walk cycle.

Model sheets, a mouth chart, and a walk cycle, for Betty Boop.

Her early Fleischer shorts (1932-1935) are masterpieces of delightful surrealism; they probably are my favorite cartoons. The characters are all casually deranged, happily bonkers, just going about their business, like lunatics in an open asylum. Betty is the one sane element–she’s the asylum’s nurse–so everyone is drawn towards her, swinging and bopping along whenever she starts to sing and dance. But the shorts could have eerie elements too, as one like “Snow-White” (1933) shows.

The draconian Motion Picture Production Code (or “Hays Code”) put an end to all that, unfortunately.

Original pencil drawings from Disney’s 1936 Mickey Mouse cartoon, Mickey’s Rival.

Original pencil drawings from Disney’s 1936 Mickey Mouse cartoon, Mickey’s Rival. It was directed by Wilfred Jackson, the animation was handled by Les Clark, Frenchy de Tremaudan and Gerry Geronomi.

Look at those fine, gently flowing pencil lines.

Roger Rabbit production art and animation cels.

Some Roger Rabbit art and animation cels. The first image (by Todd Kurosawa and Ron Dias) graced the cover of a comic, the second one of a tied-up Jessica Rabbit is from the short Roller Coaster Rabbit. The other two are from the film’s finale, of course.

More Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies model sheets.

talesfromweirdland 

Even more Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies model sheets. They are for: Tweety, Pepé Le Pew, Miss Prissy and Eggbert, Michigan J. Frog, Marc Anthony, Hippety Hopper, Foghorn Leghorn, Henery Hawk, Tasmanian Devil, and Witch Hazel.

Other Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies characters can be found HERE.

Character models and concept art for Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner can be found HERE.)

How to draw Mickey Mouse.

talesfromweirdland 

How to draw Mickey Mouse? Behold, a truckload of model sheets for Mickey (and Minnie) Mouse. I always thought Mickey was hard to draw, but I could never quite put my finger on the reason why–but it’s the ears. It’s basically two-dimensional ears on a three-dimensional character.