Color Palettes from Vintage Art and Animation

 

Here's some covers from covers, adverts and animated sequences that have great color styling to them.

I love the old Looney Tunes comic illustrations, they can be pretty funny but mainly I'm focusing on the interesting color palette to this one.

The sky has an interesting scheme of blues, and greens.

Here's another Porky Pig comic issue. I like the almost minimal black background, and the yellow word font. 

These 4 sets of colors are for better term "classic colors" they're natural and pleasent.

Now for a cartoon! This is from 1951's Plutopia. This cartoon is equally stunning and underrated, but I definitely like the more grounded moments throughout the film. 

The actual picture has an interesting color for the grass. I seemingly like it. 

This is a Coca-Cola advert from 1936. 

Here's a rare WWII cartoon starring Donald Duck in The Spirit of '43. The colors look so oddly different in this cartoon but I love it, it fits my personality very well. Again I like the limited black background and well-drawn pose given in this frame.

These are only the colors to the Zoot Suit Duck's outfit. The color palette to his fashion is very appealing and warm.

The last picture for now is a stellar shot from One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). I promise I will talk more about this film more often because the colors, the backgrounds, the designs are all visually stunning and memorable, I also like the laid-back and modern feel of this film. 

Sometimes limited colors are the most appropriate. The bottom layer is the shadowing. 

Hopefully you liked all the pictures and if any of these color palettes interest or inspire you feel free to download them. 

Harvey Eisenberg's Mickey And The Beanstalk

 

I'm not a comic geek but I do consider myself discovering comics especially older ones from time to time. It's kinda fun if they make sense, and has some sense of humor.

This is Harvey Eisenberg's Mickey and The Beanstalk comic from 1947, released the same year as the short film. I found Eisenberg's work to be appealing and he's extremely talented. These comics are easily captivating and I find the lettering and narration to be incredible.

Right away, the introduction scene takes place in Happy Valley. I'm learning alot about this particular location. I'm loving the narrator so far. There's alot more character development and conceptual modifications than I imagined. 

I love the narrator pointing out how we didn't expect Donald controlling his temper, since that's what he's most known for in terms of his actions. 

Next we meet The Golden Harp, I honestly felt like she could've had way more potential, because I really like her concept, but she kinda acted like a normal person, which is fine but I just wasn't too big on her scenes. Alot of unique colors in this page. The mysterious shadow has a good shade of purple and light blues.

This was that one scene I remember watching from the short film I admired the best. It was one of those first experiences I had on liking old-school Disney. In the original Fun and Fancy Free movie, the Happy Valley looked dry and depressing. I could mention that this strip uses a natural and joyous blue background, but to me it doesn't work. Still solid though on the other bits, including that one sign near the cow, that's good detail and slice of comedy.

We almost get the same type of reactions from the movie version, except Donald isn't shouting angrily at Edgar Bergen as he breaks the 4th wall. 

I also loved alot of the camera angles and emotion in that film. The part where Goofy and Donald look immensely at Mickey slicing a bean and they look like their sweating is just masterful. I would like to know who animated that entire 2 minute or so scene. 

https://afilmla.blogspot.com/2018/01/prod-2057-fun-and-fancy-free-iii-prod_25.html?m=1

I can freely thank Hans Perk for the excellent drafts. Very useful! 

Anyways back to the comic.

Donald apologizing to his friends will never not be entertaining to me. It's also now canon the cow has an actual name. 

I absolutely love the interactions of all three of these characters. Mickey, Donald and Goofy together was always one of the best that old Disney had to offer. They inspired my characters, Dredd The Moose, Szac and Phillips Bear. 

We still get some excellent drawings and reactions. 

This is what I like about comics, they're not pushing boundaries like trying to only make people laugh or get invested in only pictures. 

The last scene of this image reminds me of the Three Stooges when they sleep. 

Now obviously alot of the Disney books especially the Little Golden ones try to tell the premise like the original movie. I guess it's because these were made when VHS and television weren't releasing/airing these movies yet, and it was better to adapt it in literature. 

Honestly, I might prefer this over the animated version. I remembered watching the Fun and Fancy Free behind-the-scenes documentary exactly a month ago, this was originally going to be a feature film, but was trimmed down to only half an hour. Kinda disappointing, but it's still something. 

The color choice of the green grass is really interesting. I also love how well-drawn the flowers are. It's not easy drawing flowers at all, you have to really see one in order to make it look real.

I like the design of the frog, we get more natural color schemes. Also the 5th panel below where they show Mickey Donald and Goofy as silhouettes is great. 

So much action in this singular page. I chuckled when Donald said "Ya big sissy!" I could imagine almost all the actors who voiced these timeless characters doing these lines. 

I have no idea if I might make a 2 parter of this, it's just a preview of the entire comic. I wasn't originally planning on making this without Michael Sporn's "splog". Once again thanks to him. I'm learning alot from his website feel free to check it out. 

Here's the link to the comics.

http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=3195

http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=3210

Surprising Duos

 

This is a quirky but fun idea I wanted to make as a post. 

You may have known these familiar famous faces, I know I certainly have, in fact, all of these people you see here are people I find legendary in pop culture. These are unique and rare photos I caught on the internet. 

First is Mel Blanc meeting with Clarence Nash. As you might already know Blanc is known for voicing Porky Pig and Nash most famously voices Donald Duck. So what did you expect? It actually happened. 

This is a great picture. 

Who'll win?

Disney or Looney Tunes?

I'm an extremely huge fan of Bing Crosby. I had a huge influence on him for about 2 1/2 years. He has teamed with incredible people. This is him meeting with Glenn Miller. Both are music legends. I was astounded when I first discovered this photo. 

With other people he has met, he definitely has met Sinatra, I loved his radio shows with Judy Garland, and Ella Fitzgerald. 

I also love this picture of Bing and Nat King Cole. 

He also teamed with Walt Disney, the studio was working on The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad, in which he is the narrator in the Sleepy Hollow segment. He truly made that movie a masterpiece.

Recently, I watched some clips of Bing and Fred Astaire and they are truly wholesome and sweet. These were mostly made in promotion to their own album together. This was back in 1975. Have a watch. 

Here's two more you'll be destined to be impressed by.

Lastly, is Nat King Cole and Betty Hutton, the most underappreciated collaboration ever witnessed. 

I'm a big fan of both Nat and Betty, but this was surprising to me because I never expected these two to get together, they even perform so well. Let me just say it was a blast. I know the title of this video says Part 2, but it's way longer and Part 1 only had Betty sing herself in that video. 

Your going to love this one. They do their own version of Anything You Can Do, which is a creatively magnificent song and as always Hutton is just as goofy and entertaining as she was born to be. 

Enjoy! 👍 

There is a slight possibility a Part 2 might come out. But I have no idea yet.

Donald Duck Cartoons That Helped Paved A Way With My Ideas

 

There is 2 Donald Duck shorts that left me feeling inspired.

I remember watching these and it left me feeling interested in watching more of the classic Disney stuff. 

While I liked the Disney stuff as a kid, I'm not too keen on knowing everything about the company. What I admire about it the most is the old movies and the Illusion Of Life, the best book on how Disney's films and characters made an impact.

The first cartoon is called Goose I mean... Duck Pimples (1945). This cartoon I liked not for it's utter surrealistic themes, but it was also really funny with a very amusing pack of one-off characters.

This short opens with one of my favorite starts. I like the intensity of the atmosphere, I love the extra detail of the tree branches and the rain effect is really cool.

You may notice that this particular cartoon hasn't had a remastered version yet, but honestly, that's for the best, I like alot of the color palette and seeing Donald without his usual sailor cap is very interesting. 

Unlike some of Donald's more unamusing hits like his Chip and Dale cartoons, the beginning of this cartoon is already insane, Donald tunes in the radio and Donald imagines that the ape is behind him and right away it becomes dark and disturbing.

I love the camera angles given here, so as the expressions. Jack Kinney rarely made any Donald Duck cartoons, he mostly made shorts starring Goofy but Donald's facial expressions here are extremely well-drawn and fascinating. The characters we get are actually likeable, unlike some of the characters in a surreal movie Alice In Wonderland (1951), they actually move and have fast paced energy without being tediously slow. For example, Leslie J. Clark who is obviously a nod to Les Clark (Nine Old Men Fame) has alot of smooth and interesting movements and feels more cartoony, and has a distinctive design. I really like it. 

The other characters are fun too and are what I expect in a likeable abstract cartoon, straightforward and energetic. Pauline has some excellent poses and an amusing personality and H.U Hennessy is a really funny bad guy and Bletcher as always does an excellent job voicing the character. 

Later in the cartoon, we get different backgrounds with each given action scene and there's absolutely no sign of filler or flawed moments in the slightest, its honestly just all played for exaggeration and creativity. 

I also love the ending punchline, that little silly voice saying "Well possibly it was only your imagination" considering that Donald had to go through a few minutes of pure unrealistic possibilities. This was so different than what you usually see in Donald's cartoons and even his personality is different here. After re-watching it, it lead me to make my own version but this time with Dredd The Moose using his vivid imagination to meet with unusually different characters and silly scenarios.

First is Groucho, obviously inspired by Groucho Marx from the Marx Bros, and his witty charming humor. 

Secondly is the beastly Wolf, his fur is a reddish-brown tone. He's described as being bold and logical, while also being welcomed to any situation. 

And lastly The Jester who is simply a performer with tons of talents, in most instances, he grabs out a yo-yo, but still keeps accidentally failing over and over again, but The Wolf can't get enough it.

This isn't where it starts, but I did it anyway, hope you like it. 

For the next and final cartoon, is something a little more passable, but it was definitely drawn to me in alot of ways, like the title of the cartoon, Donald Duck and The Gorilla, and some of the scenes are actually really enjoyable. 

Just like with Duck Pimples which would come out a year later, this film has an introduction that's quite similar. It begins with a house, it's storming, and Donald alongside his nephews are listening to the radio. 

Like I said, this version of the cartoon I captured pictures to isn't entirely the remastered version, in fact it was partially on the House Of Villains DVD, but I prefer the colors to this print alot more.

Anyways, this film heavily focuses on the suspense that a gorilla has escaped the zoo, and the nephews worried that they are fully aware that it might break through their house. It's all pretty darn good so far.

Then completely obvious out of nowhere, Huey, Dewey and Louie decide that they would disguise themselves to trick and scare Donald. It's weird how the costume looks identical to the actual real gorilla we get to see later in the cartoon.

This is fresh for a short subject by Disney. I remember first watching this film and being heavily impressed by how creative you can get in only 7 minutes and a straightforward premise. 

This frame of Donald accidentally using the candle to burn the door knob is an underrated and stellar image. 

My favorite sequences are when the chase actually begins, especially when the gorilla tries to destroy Donald's table, it's fantastic.

I did feel like the ending to this cartoon was kinda embarrassing. Both the gorilla and Donald crying while the nephews use the tear gas is just not that clever to end it off. 

Still both these cartoons have alot of good qualities and have interesting premises and character development. 

So what I came up with was Dredd The Moose meeting with spooky, or horror novel characters.

The first one I created was a tap-dancing skeleton named Ol' Smoky. I talked about this character of mine in another post I made last September. 

Here's the link if your curious.

https://sngexplorationblog.blogspot.com/2024/09/halloween-is-coming.html?m=1

If you read that post, you'll know that I came with alot of more conceptual characters that Dredd will meet next.

Dredd The Moose, quietly relaxing in his house, he'll meet 

The Grim Reaper

Dracula

The Imp

The Witch

Krampus

The Dust Bunny

Golem

Cyclops

The Bloodhound

The Wise Ol' Owl

The Headless Horseman

The titles will be inspired by those classic Abbott and Costello movies.