Don Bluth's Cutting Room Floor

[wolfsymphony]

Here's two more pictures from a previous version of Anastasia, I really like the first one, it looks as if the image was taken from an animated scene... perhaps an animated color test that was put together to give the studio heads at Fox an idea of what the character was going to look like?...hmm, who knows.





..To me both the above designs are very much reminiscent of Marc Davis design style for Briar Rose in Disney's Sleeping Beauty. It's great to see how the design for Anastasia changed throughout the different stages of production, from naturalistic to stylized to kinda like a compromise of the two styles in the final version.

Wow, even more amazing finds. Somehow I like this design a lot more than her "gangster" look. Still not the same as the Anastasia we know now, who seems more mature, while this one has a certain charming yet innocent and naive quality about her in those stills. I quite like it. Also, the color palette! Where did you happen to find those images?

[Paul91]

Amazing! Very reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty indeed!

I wonder if that's the test Don and company did to convince Meg Ryan to do Anastasia's voice...

Keep going, Felice! We cannot thank you enough

[feliceworkshop]

Thank you wolfsymphony & Paul91 I wish I could keep going on forever but unfortunately my resources of goodies are limited. This however shouldn't prevent anybody from this forum to keep posting here. If you have any rare finds about Don's art or movies that did not make it through the official channels, please feel free to share here on this thread!
...on the other hand, it seems that after the recent forum's facelift my last post got deleted... I'll re-post those Dragon's Lair Storyboards soon, meanwhile here are some more early concept art designs for Anastasia that seem to be so popular here on this thread...

[feliceworkshop]

....and two more.





...yes I know, Dimitri looks scary. I still love this designs so bad though... perhaps one day somebody will make a movie with this level of exquisite craftsmanship, detail and realism.
Let me know what YOU think!

[OwenWelsh]

That is quite a different look for Anastasia and Dimitri. Thanks for posting those Felice. They are very detailed. That would be a quite a task to animate something that detailed. These drawings are moving into the realm of illustrations. Every time I watch an animated film that gets too detailed in their designs, things tend to get a little stiff... Perhaps technology will allow us to animate more detailed drawings in the future and retain the elasticity and flexibility of traditional animation.

[arif]

wow!!!!!i love these drawings so much!!!!!!!!!........Don`s drawing?

[feliceworkshop]

Arif, glad you like them!... yes, I am pretty sure that those are Don's designs....
Owen, I have to agree that I've seen animated movies that because of the amount of detail in their designs they ended up looking too stiff...however, I believe that the fault is not to be pinpointed on the amount of the detail in the design rather on the poor craftsmanship of the animators who failed to manage or animate diligently those details. Off the bat my thoughts jump to Singe the Dragon in Dragon's Lair, to animate so many details -warts, the crests on the back and the tail and the striations on his belly- must have been a real nightmare! .. however in the end that character in the final scene of the game looks anything but stiff. More recently I have to say that I've been really impressed with the amount of detail in the design for Comet's The Illusioniste. Although the movie is not exactly action packed there are few scenes with characters who dance and move around in a very fluid and organic manner with plenty of details in their design -buttons, pockets, creases and folds in their outfits-. So in conclusion, yep, I have to agree that generally details are avoided because they are time-consuming and difficult to animate, however when they are managed successfully by a competent animator they sure are a sight to behold!

[arif]

can you post them on facebook also so that i can share those drawings among my friends ?

[Don Bluth]

Arif,
It has been a long time since we have talked. I hope everything is going well in your life and career. I very much miss the seminars that we used to do which for one thing, kept me current with your progress as an artist. With the creation of our new website, I hope to get more involved with the old gang; I love to hear success stories. To answer your question, yes, these are my drawings in the early stages of character development on the film, Anastasia.

[arif]

Arif,
It has been a long time since we have talked. I hope everything is going well in your life and career. I very much miss the seminars that we used to do which for one thing, kept me current with your progress as an artist. With the creation of our new website, I hope to get more involved with the old gang; I love to hear success stories. To answer your question, yes, these are my drawings in the early stages of character development on the film, Anastasia.

Dear Sir..
We miss you a lotttt..So, we have made a facebook group to keep in touch daily so that we can share our feeling and daily update among the all Don`s forum peers.Sometimes, we felt so dishearten not getting any update from you or any post. But, we are so happy to see your post once again..just feeling the old days when we were here.

I have kept learning myself and applying on my drawings continuously.I will be really eagerly waiting to hear from you some critics and comments on my works on my gallery thread...

Welcome back Sir...you never know how we missed you!!!

Regards,
Arif