Daniel73 wrote:Santiago Scalabroni C. wrote:My answer to this question could end up to a long essay, Egg.
Do you think I should give it a try here ?
Yes, that would be great.
Well , the promised " essay" is thanking you for the invitation. It is part of a text I wrote in 1993 , while training a group of young artists in Athens, Greece , aiming at their qualification in the style of Disney comics , at Egmont' s request to form a team for Mickey's production. It deals with the general concept and rules that make the difference between Disney comics on one hand and illustration and animation on the other. It is "the Grammar" that should be learnt, forgotten and applied spontaneously while one is drawing. It could also be a safe tool for checking the level of an artist's knowledge of his "craft".
( Now, please, let me thank Mrs. Philippa Currie and my wife, Anastasia Kelesakou for translating it from Spanish to English ).
1 . Years of research, constant observation , comparison and work continuity have driven me to the discovery of this "grammar" within the balanced , structured fluency of Gottfredson , Barks and Paul Murry who are always aware of their young readers' needs. Their stories are very nice with a clear design and narrative text which attracts children's attention so there is no dependance on written dialogues. In their stories I have noticed something essential that makes Mickey's image exceptionally outstanding without having exaggerated physical movement or facial expressions.
There is something special about these stories : It is Mickey who has more movement of the head and expression of his face than his friends, thus showing that he is the only hero with substance, intelligence and a wide spectrum of feelings and emotions. All this gives facial expressions of feelings of kindness, anger, as well as the profundity of his rational thought through expressions of discernment or perspicacity, observation and doubt. That is to say everything distinguishing Mickey from the other characters in the society he lives in.
In addition there is no doubt about the fascination and enchantment which makes him so dear to children. These are details Walt Disney himself cared a great deal about, as he was his most beloved creation.
The secondary characters usually appear in profile , repeated in different pictures of the same page. This particularly important detail prevents these characters from attracting the reader's attention.
It must be noted that Gottfredson and (even more) Paul Murry have used other resorts for secondary
characters. In this case, for example, the fact that Goofy was to appear alone in a close up picture. These artists wouldn't have made him any bigger than a standard size of a close up picture , where he would appear with Mickey. In this way certain characters would not appear enormous alongside Mickey thus diminishing his image on the overall page.
Gottfredson and Paul Murry can now be seen to resort to other means such as the fact that Mickey is never overcome by the background. Furthermore , background lines very rarely touch Mickey's image, least of all his head. This emphasises his intelligence.
It is well known that the abuse of background is absurd as is the constant change of focus in the picture, both of which confuse children when reading comics.
2 . In order to confirm this point I should like to give my opinion on the concept that identified Barks, Gottfredson and Paul Murry and which I believe stems from Walt Disney's leadership, as these artists produced memorable stories while he was still living . ( to be continued ...)