fancysomedisneymagic:

Animated Animators

The pictures show the animation disney legend Frank Thomas, explaining animation principles during a TV show from the 1980’s. Many say Frank could have made a living out of being a live actor. These are all sketches by Frank that were inspired by typical expressions of his.

He is not alone. Andres Dejà was told continuously during the production of Beauty and the Beast that Gaston’s expressions and gestures were looked just like him! Also,  Disney story man Vance Gerry told Dejà once that he thinks that all of Milt Kahl’s characters have Milt’s eyes; slightly cross-eyed, they look like they are up to no good. You can see that in characters like Peter from Peter Pan, Roger and Pongo from 101 Dalmatians and Madame Medusa from The Rescuers.

I’m not sure if the animators do this on purpose or not, as they obviously study themselves and their expressions in the mirror to portray a more real character. So they do it intentionally, but in a way, not intentionally. An animator can’t help to give some of his own characteristics to a character.