The Dalmatians sketch style really brought that story to life. It was better than live action, it was imagination animated. Those sketchy lines were like the little ghosts that told on each character.
Can’t believe Walt hated it! Man. I really hope Anderson knows, in the end, just how much his work was appreciated. Maybe not by Walt 🥲 but by us 🤍
We definitely hope that Anderson didn't let the bad experience sour him on Dalmatians -- it became so beloved by so many people (and hugely influential). You can see its impact in the design risks of the Disney renaissance films, and especially of Disney's 2D movies from the 2000s. A real achievement of style.
A pity Walt Disney didn't like the look of this film. This and Aristocats caught my attention as a child because of those backgrounds and sketchy lines on characters. Films like Sleeping Beauty and Bambi were wonderful explorations of style and art that I hope comes back to the company
He had really particular ideas about what animation should be, which pushed his artists far in the early days and often held them back later. It was a complex and pretty painful situation. And we'd love to see more stylistic adventurousness from Disney's 2020s work ourselves -- there just haven't been enough risks lately.
The same for me. Bowl over by the details. I am going to re-watch 101 Dalmatians at the weekend. Loved seeing the concept art. As a youngster, I could tell the difference but like either style. Could it be that the cartoons on TV in late 60s/70s (in the UK) that conditioned me?
I'll be honest, I've always been a bit passive on Dalmatians art style for a long time. My strongest connection to Disney is the renaissance period, that defines Disney animation and art to me. Include some of the 70's films like Robin Hood, which felt a bit dull to me, it has just resulted in me not really feeling connected to it.
However, now the artistic process has been explained to me, I'm starting to re-evaluate the style. Even if the look had originally put me off, I could definitely still detect the classic movement of characters that Disney defined. And maybe it was supposed to be closer to their concept designs and I just dismissed it.
Another great post that has made me think afterwards.
Thank you! Wonderful to hear that. It's always a goal of ours to give folks a fresh perspective on the work we cover here. For us, Dalmatians is one of the nicest-looking films in Disney's 20th-century catalog -- we feel that everything clicks in a way that the later Xerox movies (Robin Hood included) don't tend to manage. Happy we could go behind the scenes of this one.
Glad you enjoyed! Sorry it took us a while to get back to you. For the basics of animation, we recommend Alex Grigg's YouTube channel, which does a great job explaining this stuff. His video "Animation Basics in 14 Minutes" is a good place to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF--YKCCUMw
Fantastic story! I recently put on 101 Dalmatians for my son after not seeing it for decades, and was shocked by the backgrounds in particular. They really stand out within the Disney catalog. Loves this history.
Thank you! The film's look holds up incredibly well, for sure -- Disney really did something here. Not all of the studio's mid-century modern work rises to the level of its competitors' stuff from the time, but this is one that absolutely does. (And sorry it took a couple of weeks to reply: we fell behind on emails and comments are are still getting to everything!)
Haha, it's a good point! So many people had to leave the studio to do the kind of work they wanted to do. He definitely opened the way for important things in animation, but, as Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston wrote in their book, "No one had an easy time with Walt or found him particularly comfortable to be around."
Fantastic piece as always. I would point out that the adoption of xerography was driven less by artistic motives than by purely economic ones: xerox allowed Disney to drastically reduce its inking staff, from around forty (mostly women) artists down to just two. These were years in which Disney was seriously considering even shutting down its animation operations altogether, since live-action production was far more profitable.
Thanks very much! And cost-cutting was definitely a main consideration in adopting the Xerox process. That's mentioned in the piece in passing, but much more could be said (it's come up in our previous issues, as has the loss of the inkers).
The timeline on the adoption of Xerox is a little bit murky, since Dalmatians seems to have been using it prior to the release of Sleeping Beauty, whose failure almost killed the animation division. The Disney people were already looking for ways to save money -- they'd gotten into xerography in the '50s before the Dalmatians deal was even signed. It was a growing trend in the industry, also affecting UPA.
The story there is intriguing and deserves its own article. It's messy, too -- we feel that the quality of Disney's original classics really relied on the ink-and-paint team, and that something got lost in the studio's Xerox films made post-Dalmatians. Still, as Amid Amidi wrote in Cartoon Modern, "Anderson's reasons for using Xerox were not merely economic." We opted to focus on that creative side here, since the technology was so effective for this specific film. But we'll absolutely be revisiting this topic in the future, and your comment is a great motivation to do so. Really appreciate it!
Thanks! Definitely worth it to focus just on the artistic implications of Xerox, as Dalmatians itself holds even more examples. I’d encourage anyone reading to look into the experiments carried out on Cruella’s car, which were, and still are, remarkably unique, pushing the animation into an uncanny aesthetic territory: not quite rotoscoping, not quite live-action inserts, definitely not traditional animation.
Appreciate this response, very enlightening! I do really like that the article as-is highlights the complementarity of Xerox with the artistic intention of the leads on Dalmatians and of folks at UPA/other studios. Xerox might have been a cost saving technology, but its look simultaneously amplified some of the aesthetic experimentation that animators influenced by the modernist movement were already exploring. Fun that this method was, in some ways, a providential intersection of both practical and artistic pressures of the time; historical narratives sometimes neglect how dynamic the interplay between these two impulses can be.
Great points! That tension between the practical and the creative ran deep in mid-century animation -- even UPA's style was influenced by a mix of artistic ambition and low budgets. Depending on who you asked from the studio, "limited animation" was either a cost-cutting measure or a hyper-intentional rejection of Disney, or both. It's a complex thing and simple answers don't really capture it.
Hmm, yes—I’d love for this to be better reconciled in-article, as I had heard that this was primarily an economic consideration, as well. A surprising one given how much Disney apparently hated the aesthetic of Xerox, though.
The discussion of Raoul Dufy and the tension between color and line was revealing. I’ll be looking at the film in a new way on the next watch! It was also great to read about the collaboration to arrive at the final style
The Dalmatians sketch style really brought that story to life. It was better than live action, it was imagination animated. Those sketchy lines were like the little ghosts that told on each character.
Can’t believe Walt hated it! Man. I really hope Anderson knows, in the end, just how much his work was appreciated. Maybe not by Walt 🥲 but by us 🤍
Actually might rewatch the movie this weekend 🍿
We definitely hope that Anderson didn't let the bad experience sour him on Dalmatians -- it became so beloved by so many people (and hugely influential). You can see its impact in the design risks of the Disney renaissance films, and especially of Disney's 2D movies from the 2000s. A real achievement of style.
A pity Walt Disney didn't like the look of this film. This and Aristocats caught my attention as a child because of those backgrounds and sketchy lines on characters. Films like Sleeping Beauty and Bambi were wonderful explorations of style and art that I hope comes back to the company
He had really particular ideas about what animation should be, which pushed his artists far in the early days and often held them back later. It was a complex and pretty painful situation. And we'd love to see more stylistic adventurousness from Disney's 2020s work ourselves -- there just haven't been enough risks lately.
This continues to be my most favorite and interesting and random substack follow. Who knew
Same
Thank you!
The same for me. Bowl over by the details. I am going to re-watch 101 Dalmatians at the weekend. Loved seeing the concept art. As a youngster, I could tell the difference but like either style. Could it be that the cartoons on TV in late 60s/70s (in the UK) that conditioned me?
That's really kind -- thank you so much! Very glad you're enjoying.
Just so beautiful as always. I always see in a different way after reading these posts. Talk about bringing light into the world! Thank you.
This is amazing to hear -- thank you so much!
Thank you for sharing all this! I loved this movie when I was a kid. I love it more now :)
So glad you liked the piece! Dalmatians is a beautiful film to look at -- we enjoyed digging behind the scenes.
Same.
I'll be honest, I've always been a bit passive on Dalmatians art style for a long time. My strongest connection to Disney is the renaissance period, that defines Disney animation and art to me. Include some of the 70's films like Robin Hood, which felt a bit dull to me, it has just resulted in me not really feeling connected to it.
However, now the artistic process has been explained to me, I'm starting to re-evaluate the style. Even if the look had originally put me off, I could definitely still detect the classic movement of characters that Disney defined. And maybe it was supposed to be closer to their concept designs and I just dismissed it.
Another great post that has made me think afterwards.
Thank you! Wonderful to hear that. It's always a goal of ours to give folks a fresh perspective on the work we cover here. For us, Dalmatians is one of the nicest-looking films in Disney's 20th-century catalog -- we feel that everything clicks in a way that the later Xerox movies (Robin Hood included) don't tend to manage. Happy we could go behind the scenes of this one.
I know absolutely nothing about animation.
I found this, and think it's absolutely fascinating, so thank you very much.
Can you point me to a very basic primer in how it all works?
Glad you enjoyed! Sorry it took us a while to get back to you. For the basics of animation, we recommend Alex Grigg's YouTube channel, which does a great job explaining this stuff. His video "Animation Basics in 14 Minutes" is a good place to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF--YKCCUMw
A wonderful piece, thoroughly detailed, with many great illustrations. Thank you. :)
Super glad you enjoyed! We appreciate the kind words.
Fantastic story! I recently put on 101 Dalmatians for my son after not seeing it for decades, and was shocked by the backgrounds in particular. They really stand out within the Disney catalog. Loves this history.
Thank you! The film's look holds up incredibly well, for sure -- Disney really did something here. Not all of the studio's mid-century modern work rises to the level of its competitors' stuff from the time, but this is one that absolutely does. (And sorry it took a couple of weeks to reply: we fell behind on emails and comments are are still getting to everything!)
Brilliant stuff, excellent 🔥
Thanks so much!
in my attempts to have a happy life, i avoid thinking about all that was lost due to Walt's inflexible resolve
Haha, it's a good point! So many people had to leave the studio to do the kind of work they wanted to do. He definitely opened the way for important things in animation, but, as Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston wrote in their book, "No one had an easy time with Walt or found him particularly comfortable to be around."
Fantastic piece as always. I would point out that the adoption of xerography was driven less by artistic motives than by purely economic ones: xerox allowed Disney to drastically reduce its inking staff, from around forty (mostly women) artists down to just two. These were years in which Disney was seriously considering even shutting down its animation operations altogether, since live-action production was far more profitable.
Thanks very much! And cost-cutting was definitely a main consideration in adopting the Xerox process. That's mentioned in the piece in passing, but much more could be said (it's come up in our previous issues, as has the loss of the inkers).
The timeline on the adoption of Xerox is a little bit murky, since Dalmatians seems to have been using it prior to the release of Sleeping Beauty, whose failure almost killed the animation division. The Disney people were already looking for ways to save money -- they'd gotten into xerography in the '50s before the Dalmatians deal was even signed. It was a growing trend in the industry, also affecting UPA.
The story there is intriguing and deserves its own article. It's messy, too -- we feel that the quality of Disney's original classics really relied on the ink-and-paint team, and that something got lost in the studio's Xerox films made post-Dalmatians. Still, as Amid Amidi wrote in Cartoon Modern, "Anderson's reasons for using Xerox were not merely economic." We opted to focus on that creative side here, since the technology was so effective for this specific film. But we'll absolutely be revisiting this topic in the future, and your comment is a great motivation to do so. Really appreciate it!
Thanks! Definitely worth it to focus just on the artistic implications of Xerox, as Dalmatians itself holds even more examples. I’d encourage anyone reading to look into the experiments carried out on Cruella’s car, which were, and still are, remarkably unique, pushing the animation into an uncanny aesthetic territory: not quite rotoscoping, not quite live-action inserts, definitely not traditional animation.
Appreciate this response, very enlightening! I do really like that the article as-is highlights the complementarity of Xerox with the artistic intention of the leads on Dalmatians and of folks at UPA/other studios. Xerox might have been a cost saving technology, but its look simultaneously amplified some of the aesthetic experimentation that animators influenced by the modernist movement were already exploring. Fun that this method was, in some ways, a providential intersection of both practical and artistic pressures of the time; historical narratives sometimes neglect how dynamic the interplay between these two impulses can be.
Great points! That tension between the practical and the creative ran deep in mid-century animation -- even UPA's style was influenced by a mix of artistic ambition and low budgets. Depending on who you asked from the studio, "limited animation" was either a cost-cutting measure or a hyper-intentional rejection of Disney, or both. It's a complex thing and simple answers don't really capture it.
Hmm, yes—I’d love for this to be better reconciled in-article, as I had heard that this was primarily an economic consideration, as well. A surprising one given how much Disney apparently hated the aesthetic of Xerox, though.
101 Dalmatians has been my favorite movie since i was a little girl🩷✨️ thank you for sharing this beautiful research🫶✨️
Really happy you enjoyed the piece! It was fun to dig into this classic.
The discussion of Raoul Dufy and the tension between color and line was revealing. I’ll be looking at the film in a new way on the next watch! It was also great to read about the collaboration to arrive at the final style
Really glad that the piece could give you a new angle on Dalmatians! Thanks very much for the kind comment.
Love how in depth your article is, learned a lot, and will definetely watch the movie again after this. A great read!
Thank you for this very kind comment! So glad to hear that you enjoyed the piece.
Sooo fascinating. Thank you for sharing all of this!