Thursday, July 21, 2011

Learning from the Best #2 - Ollie Johnston

Ollie Johnston

This man was pretty amazingly amazing. 
He was one of the 'Nine Old Men' who made animation what it is today. 
It's thanks to Ollie and the other talented men who studied and worked hour after hour and must have gone through screeds of paper, that we can enjoy and appreciate (and take for granted) so many fantastic animated movies today - whether CG or 2D. 

Ollie had many many movie credits to his name, and so many epic characters. 
Such as:
Pinocchio - Pinocchio
Fantasia - Cupids in "Pastoral Symphony", Centaurettes by the lake
Bambi - Bambi, Thumper
The Three Caballeros - "The Flying Gauchito", Donald Duck, Panchito Pistoles, Jose Carioca
Make Mine Music - "Casey at the Bat", "Peter and the Wolf"
Song of the South - Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, Brer Bear
Melody Time - Johnny Appleseed and Johnny's Guardian Angel in "Johnny Appleseed", "Little Toot"
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad - Trial Scene, Ichabod Crane
Cinderella - Evil Stepsisters, Lackey
Alice in Wonderland - Alice, King of Hearts
Peter Pan - Mr. Smee
Lady and the Tramp - Lady, Jock, Trusty
Sleeping Beauty - Three Good Fairies
One Hundred and One Dalmatians - Pongo, Perdita, Puppies, Nanny Cook
The Sword in the Stone - Wart, Merlin, Archimedes
The Jungle Book - Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera
The Aristocats - Duchess, Thomas O'Malley, Kittens, Amelia, Abigail, Uncle Waldo
Robin Hood - Prince John, Sir Hiss, Robin Hood, Little John, Maid Marian
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo
The Rescuers - Bernard, Bianca, Chairman, Rufus the Cat, Penny, Orville the Albatross
The Fox and the Hound - Young Tod and Young Copper

Epic right?!
But one of my favourite characters of Ollie's, is Rufus the cat from 'The Rescuers'. Rufus is particularly special because he was a self-caricature of Ollie! So he really did put himself in the shoes of his character. And Rufus is just such a sweet character. 
So here is my copy of Ollie Johnston's Rufus.


All credit goes to Ollie Johnston for this delightful character.
For more info on Ollie you can visit this website he set up with his fellow genius animator and best friend Frank Thomas - http://frankanollie.com/ 

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