In honor of Memorial Day…

This clip is a relatively recent dubbing of “Minnie’s Yoo Hoo” (from Mickey’s Follies (1929), animation attributed to Ub Iwerks) off the German edition of Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black and White Vol 1 (American edition 2002; German edition 2009). Enjoy your weekend!

(Thanks, David Gerstein)

…it might look like these incredible designs by Matthew Humphreys, an artist currently at Hasbro Studios. Click on image above to seen the full line up. Honestly, if it were up to me, I’d be developing at least one Marvel property as a Disney hand drawn film… Dr. Strange, Sub Mariner, The Silver Surfer…

(Thanks Red Pill Junkie, via io9)

Director Steve Moore has finally posted one of my favorite (and rarely seen) Disney shorts of recent (or semi-recent) vintage. Moore recounts the making of the film – a product of Disney’s Television Animation unit, that went on to be nominated for an Academy Award in 1997 – on his Flip Animation blog. Written by Dan O’Shannon (now of Modern Family), narrated by Garrison Keillor, and voiced by Mia Farrow, Michael Richards, June Foray and Adam West, here at last is Redux Riding Hood:

Storyboard artist Jane Wu (Mulan II, Shane Acker’s 9) has posted two of her dynamic boards from Marvel’s The Avengers. Click on images below to see them in animatic form. It’s nice to know that strong work like this, from seasoned animation professionals like Wu, went into creating the blockbuster hit movie.

We’ve entered a new era of Disney-related memoirs—books written by artists who worked at the tail end of animation’s Golden Age or memoirs written by friends and relatives of the artists. Below is a look at four such books. At least a couple of them are self-published. And while some of them may be short on Disney or animation-related content, they should be worth a look for those who are interested in the lives of animation artists.

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Warp and Weft: Life Canvas of Herbert Ryman is a memoir/bio of Herb Ryman by his longtime friend John Stanley Donaldson. Ryman worked as an art director on a number of early Disney features, including Dumbo, Fantasia and The Three Caballeros. He was selected by Walt Disney as one of the artists to accompany him on the famous 1941 South America trip, and he later spent many years working as an Imagineer, where he famously drew the first comprehensive map of Disneyland in 1953.

Warp and Weft has garned more than its share of controversy: this review of the book alludes to the author’s personal squabbles with the Ryman family and rhyming ‘beat poetry’ writing style. Historian Didier Ghez, who is an authority on Disney literature, warned on his blog that, “This book is highly problematic and should be read with an extremely critical mind.” If you’re adventurous enough to try it, it’s available for $20 on the author’s website.

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Disney veteran Floyd Norman has put together Animated Life: A Lifetime of Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Stories from an Animation Legend, which looks to be part-memoir and part-tips & technique. Floyd, who began working at Disney in the 1950s, never shies away from sharing an honest opinion, as evidenced by the multiple gag drawing books he’s published, so this book promises to be a valuable record of his thoughts. The book will be out in June from Focal Press and can be pre-ordered on Amazon for $21.44. Some of the interior pages can be previewed on the publisher’s website.

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Hanna-Barbera designer (and Milt Kahl’s clean-up man) Iwao Takamoto wrote his autobiography before passing away in 2007, and there’s plenty of good stuff in it. Now, his step-daughter, Leslie J. Stern, has written a memoir that will be released in September. Living with a Legend will tell “the story of her step-father’s emotional influence on her and never before told humorous anecdotes of her youth.” The book will include personal drawings by Iwao, family photographs, and holiday cards drawn by Iwao and other animators.

A limited edition numbered hardbound can be pre-ordered on Leslie’s website for $79.95. I hope a less expensive edition will be made available, too.

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It’s Kind of a Cute Story is a memoir by Rolly Crump, written in collaboration with Jeff Heimbuch. Crump started working in Disney’s animation department in 1952, but made his greatest contributions to the company as an Imagineer, where he worked on classic rides and shows like the Haunted Mansion, Enchanted Tiki Room, and It’s A Small World. Crump was a pretty chill dude, and I’m looking forward to learning more about him. There’s no official release date for the book yet.

Thank you Facebook, for allowing us to to see another side of Disney – off model Mickeys, awkward Donalds and suggestive Pigs – courtesy of postings from around the world. Just had to share some of my favorites:

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Disney is previewing the entire pilot episode—”Beck’s Beginning”—of Tron: Uprising on YouTube (sorry, US viewers only). The series, which premieres June 7 on Disney XD, takes place between the original Tron and the more recent Tron: Legacy. It follows the quest of a young program named Beck (not Jerry), who under the mentorship of Tron, leads a revolution to wrest control of The Grid from the sinister clutches of Clu.

If you’re the type of fan that geeks out over new vehicles in the Tron universe, you’ll likely have a different take than mine, but as someone who just wants to see good entertainment, I wasn’t satisfied. There’s some mad artistic talent working under art director Alberto Mielgo, but they can’t overcome the monotonous direction that alternates between flat dialogue scenes and numbingly repetitive (though impressively staged) action scenes. The leaden CG character animation, produced by Japanese studio Polygon Pictures, and ridiculous script (“There you are.” “Here I am.”) don’t help matters.

To be fair, this is just the pilot. As Tron: Uprising director Charlie Bean gets more episodes under his belt, he may yet realize the show’s full potential. On the other hand, it could just be ten more episodes of a guy jumping on a light cycle ad nauseam, which is what this pilot felt like at times.

On a sad note, the end credits include the dedication “For Pete.” That refers to a technical director on the show, Peter Kranjcevich, who passed away unexpectedly last month at the age of 36.

If you watch the episode above, please share your thoughts.

(via Super Punch)

Martin Scorcese made Hugo and, due to its success, might decide to revise his classics for a more family friendly audience. San Francisco based artist Bryan Boyce imagines this mash-up:

(Thanks, Steve Menke)