Something from My Childhood

 

I was thinking about this today and I remembered actually having this thing when I was very young. 

This isn't my picture. I took it off Amazon. 

This and listening to Lorde Pure Heroine, and watching a walk through on YouTube, Lalaloopsy Carnival of Friends. It all happened in a matter of an hour worth taking a nostalgic trip. 

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

Countless Varieties Of Artificially Produced Breeds (?!)

 

I was actually watching some of Hick Critic's Looney Tunes review videos, you should highly check those out they're awesome. I was watching Part 9, and when he reviews Dog Tales (1958), I saw this particular scene. 

I'm not making this up. The Warner Bros. animation studio and the McKimson crew decided that it was a great idea to trace dog designs from Lady And The Tramp which is a Disney animated feature. 

Back when I first watched this short which was 2 years ago, I didn't even notice it. I knew nothing about Lady and The Tramp at that time, and I thought that you weren't allowed to steal from other animation studios whatsoever until now.

I recently researched some of the model sheets from that movie, and I'm serious, the Scottish Terrier resembles Jock basically.

The original source was a comparative size sheet. you can tell it's exceedingly similar. 

Same with Peg, the tail, and the furry textures.

If you look into the scene again, the bulldog is exactly like this particular design. I don't think Looney Tunes makes angular and distinctive proportions like this. 

Even the dog designs later in the cartoon, feel more like Looney Tunes. 

 

Now to begin with, I'm not a big fan of the original movie, but I do have to say, these designs are really inventive and well-crafted. I don't think you'll ever see a design like Boris the Russian Wolfhound and it stinks that it's been re-traced to make it more crappy.

Even the chihuahua, is referenced to Pedro. 

Lastly, this dog is more hard to observe, but to me it looks alot like Lady, with the long silky furry ears. 

So yeah, really weird but if there is any cartoon I didn't know re-used character designs or content from anywhere else, let me know. I love looking back at short films especially if I have different opinions on them.

Character Design

 

This has been a hobby of mine for over a decade. Being a character designer is truly my pathway to my art career. 

I have a certain obsession with drawing characters, even if I never draw them again.

I add grain effects to make the drawing more retro and visually stunning.

I'm not going for surreal, abstract and nonsensical characters. I want my characters to act real and observant. 

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.

Fun and Fancy Free - Bongo

I've mentioned Fun and Fancy Free before with the Mickey and The Beanstalk segment. Now I'm willing to experience Bongo. 

I like the Bongo just fine. It's just a very straightforward and sweet story about a bear falling in love and campy but energetic songs.

I managed to capture some neat screencaps. 

This is a stellar frame. 

While I was watching, I love these designs of the squirrels. 

Heck, alot of these Disney movies from this time are comforting. This reminds me of Bambi. 

Can we all be like Bongo? This bear has such an extreme desire for nature. 

Those blue skies and clouds are gorgeous, they sure are realistic looking.

When it comes to traditional 2D animation, sure it's still existent, but reasons as to why I want this style of movies to come back is the atmosphere. Just watching Bongo walking in the forest alongside his animal buddies is why these movies were appealing. I also like their appropriate runtime. This movie is 73 minutes long and to me that's perfect for an animated film.

I'm a sucker for down-to earth, natural settings especially in cinema. It's what I like about paintings, and magazines. 

Disney obviously had one of the best nighttime backgrounds. 

And especially sunrises.

This is truly calming. These colors are vibrantly warm and relaxing. I also feel for Bongo's well assured rest.

I swear, when it comes to cel animation, and color palettes, there was something more rich but fascinating about it. I also love that bird design. I'm geniuely inspired.

Here's another outstanding shot of Bongo and Lumpjaw facing a massive waterfall, this time we get to see more of the landforms like the mountains. 

I'm not sure if this final scene was used with the multiplane camera, to me it kinda does. 

Credits to the background artists - Ed Starr, Claude Coats, Art Riley, Brice Mack, Ray Huffine, and Ralph Hulett.

 Like I was saying, I really like this movie, and the second short of the feature film, Mickey and The Beanstalk is also filled to the brim with spirit and soul. 

Last May I talked about a particular scene from that animated short and if you haven't seen it yet, here's the link to it.

https://sngexplorationblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/mickey-and-beanstalk-starvation-scene.html?m=1