In this comprehensive text, Preston Blair shares his practical knowledge to explain and demonstrate the magic of cartoon animation as well as many of his techniques. It describes how to: create a cartoon character's shape, personality, features and mannerisms; develop movements such as walking, running, stretching and dancing; construct dialogue and co-ordinate it with movement; and includes familiar and famous sketches, drawings and other artwork.
Preston Blair (1908–1995) was an American character animator, most noted for his work at Walt Disney Productions and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation department.
A native of Redlands, California, Blair began his animation career in the early 1930s at the Universal studio under Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan. He later moved over to Charles Mintz's Screen Gems studio, and in the late 1930s moved over to the Disney studio. At Disney, Blair animated cartoon short subjects, Mickey Mouse scenes in The Sorcerer's Apprentice section of Fantasia, and the hippo-aligator dance in Fantasia's "Dance of the Hours" sequence. He also did some work on Disney's Pinocchio and Bambi.
Blair left Disney after the 1941 Disney animator's strike, and was hired to work for Tex Avery's unit at MGM. There, he became particularly noted for animating the titular female character in Red Hot Riding Hood. "Red" later re-appeared in more Avery cartoons, including Swing Shift Cinderella, Little Rural Riding Hood, Uncle Tom's Cabana and the Droopy cartoons The Shooting of Dan McGoo and Wild and Woolfy, with animation by Blair. In the late 1940s, Blair teamed with Avery animator Michael Lah to direct several Barney Bear cartoons.
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