Andreas Deja continues to post outstanding works over at his blog.

This short sequence of drawings comes from images he posted and I spent time putting together and investingating.  The drawings are by Ollie Johnston.  The color is not from the originals but rather is my (failed?) attempt to analyze the further breakdowns and inbetweens that might be generated from these keys/extremes.  In attempting to reverse engineer I was attempting to use the program Animation:Master in ways that it really isn’t intended to be used but I’m having fun using it to analyze animation while at the same time  digging deeper into what is there in the program itself.

Concerning the drawings themselves, I hope to comment more on them and post some of the fun observations I made while reviewing them.

One example of something worth noting is that of frame 123 which, if taken in isolation, would suggest that Penny is angry, cross or frustrated with Rufus.  This certainly isn’t the case and it’s worth noting that these highly skilled Disney animators had a keen sense of the use of ‘microexpressions’ long before Paul Eckman made the term popular.  Penny’s face seems to support two primary motivations; firstly it serves as an anticipation for Penny picking up Rufus (it helps to suggest he has some weight).  Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it helps to reveal Penny’s inner turmoil, her frustration with the fact of being passed over for adoption.  Despite Rufus’s reassurance Penny isn’t dealing with her thoughts of rejection very well.

The staging of this sequence is also well conceived.  It requires Penny to go from a sitting position on the window ledge, drop to the floor and then walk across the screen carrying Rufus.  This movement maximizes screen space while having the character transition in three dimensional space.

Ref:  http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2013/05/vance-gerry-ollie-johnston.html