Author Archive

Thursday, May 11th, 2023

Animation: Musical Timing Rediscovered

Shuffle Off To Buffalo

One of the biggest differences between the way animation were made in the golden era and today is the way they were timed. Before the TV era, cartoons were timed to a musical beat, and how musical timing has become a lost art.

Rudy Ising and Hugh HarmanRudy Ising and Hugh HarmanWell, almost lost… I happened to be speaking to Mark Kausler about the article, and he mentioned that he had a complete set of bar sheets, given to him by Rudy Ising, for an early Merrie Melodies cartoon- "Shuffle Off To Buffalo". He graciously offered to let us digitize it and share it with you. This document is the "smoking gun" that animators interested in timing theories of the past have been looking for. It’s a highly detailed plan for the timing of a typical cartoon from the early days of sound. This isn’t a particularly good cartoon, but it gives us a clear look at the process. That makes it invaluable.

I’ve gathered together all the reference you need to analyze these bar sheets… I’ve supplied you with frame grabs from each scene to act as a storyboard, and I’ve posted a 24 fps movie file of "Shuffle Off To Buffalo". My own knowledge of animation timing theory is extremely limited, so I would appreciate it if the professional animators who are reading this blog would share their expertise through the comments link below, or by posting analysis to their own blogs. Nick Cross and Michael Sporn are the first to weigh in with their comments. I’ll add links to other blogs discussing this topic as I am made aware of them.

Musical timing is one of the principle aspects of early cartoons that set them apart from modern animation. The perfect rhythm of cartoons is what makes them so appealing and magical. Rhythmic timing doesn’t cost any more, in fact, careful planning saves money. “Shuffle Off To Buffalo” was planned down to the frame by two men- a director and a musician- before a single animation drawing had been done. The results are "magical perfection". Modern animation timing requires constant testing and revising by teams of artists and technicians to look "natural". Who wants cartoons that look natural? How many manhours could be saved with this technique? Let’s share info and try to recapture the "lost art" of Musical Timing!

RUDY ISING’S BAR SHEETS

Shuffle Off To Buffalo Bar Sheets

These 20 pages comprise the complete "detail sheets" (aka "bar sheets") for the 1933 Merrie Melodies cartoon, "Shuffle Off To Buffalo". This document was prepared by the director, Rudy Ising in collaboration with the musical director, Frank Marsales.

Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 01
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 02
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 03
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 04
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 05
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 06
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 07
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 08
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 09
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 10
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 11
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 12
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 13
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 14
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 15
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 16
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 17
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 18
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 19
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Page 20

STORYBOARD

Feel free to print out these images to use as a visual reference when you’re studying the bar sheets. Every scene in the picture is depicted here, along with its scene number.

Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard
Shuffle Off To Buffalo Storyboard

24 FPS MOVIE FILE

Shuffle Off To Buffalo Movie

I have encoded this Quicktime movie at 24 frames per second, so you can count frames and compare to the bar sheets. If the movie fails to load quickly, check back a little later.

Shuffle Off To Buffalo (WB/1933)
(Quicktime 7 / 30.6 megs)

COMMENTARY AND RELATED LINKS

Director, Michael Sporn provides examples of other formats of bar sheets and a discussion regarding how timing theory morphed over time

Kevin Langley discusses how he is applying musical timing principles to his own work, and offers scans of bar sheets by Bill Hanna and Scott Bradley

Mark Mayerson explains how to use a metronome to time animation

Hans Perk posts lecture notes by Disney composer, Albert Hay Malotte and bar sheets by Dave Hand for Trader Mickey. More on bar sheets at afilmla.

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

Animated CartoonsAnimated Cartoons

This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Animation.

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Wednesday, May 10th, 2023

Pinups: Alberto Vargas

Alberto Vargas

Alberto VargasAlberto VargasWe’re very grateful to archive supporter, Chad Coyle for allowing us to digitize his collection of cartoons and illustrations from 1960s Playboy magazines. You might remember our previous posts on Erich Sokol, Eldon Dedini, Doug Sneyd and Phil Interlandi. Today, we focus on the "Grand Old Man" of pinup art, Alberto Vargas.

Vargas was born in Peru in 1896, and travelled to Europe with his family in 1911. His father was a photographer, and Vargas was exposed at an early age to the airbrush as a retouching tool. He studied to be a photographer, and worked in New York as a retoucher for a time, but Florenz Ziegfeld hired him as an illustrator for his Follies in 1917. He scraped by through the depression illustrating for various publications and movie studios. When George Petty left Esquire in 1940, Vargas took over his position with the magazine. Even though this brought much-needed exposure for Vargas’ work, the contract with Esquire was extremely unfair. The magazine even trademarked the name Vargas had been working under… "Varga" and wouldn’t allow him to use it for any other work. Vargas sued and broke the contract in 1950.

Alberto VargasAlberto VargasVargas added the "s" to his name and proceeded to rebuild his career, illustrating playing cards and taking freelance work for True magazine. In 1960, he was hired as an illustrator for Playboy, the venue that made him famous. The "Vargas Girl" represented a high level of perfection in beauty, erotic- but never vulgar. Even when Playboy would have allowed him to depict full frontal nudity, Vargas always kept his models discretely draped. He worked for Playboy until his 90th birthday in 1976, when he retired. Vargas passed away in 1982 at the age of 96.

Completing this group of postings on the Playboy artists of the 1960s, here is the work of the great Alberto Vargas…

VARGA IN THE 1920s

Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas

VARGAS IN THE 1960s

Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

Magazine CartoonsMagazine Cartoons

This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Magazine Cartoons.

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Thursday, May 4th, 2023

Animation: Jules Engel’s Color Keys For The Alvin Show

Jules Engel The Alvin Show

Jules EngelJules Engel
In his wonderful blog, Cartoon Modern, Amid Amidi recently posted some thumbnail background keys by color stylist, Jules Engel and invited his readers to comment. I happened to have a nice little stack of Jules Engel keys from The Alvin Show sitting here on my desk, so I decided to scan them and post them to follow Amid’s lead.

Jules Engel The Alvin Show
Jules Engel The Alvin Show
Jules Engel The Alvin Show
Jules Engel The Alvin Show
Jules Engel The Alvin Show
Jules Engel The Alvin Show
Jules Engel The Alvin Show
Jules Engel The Alvin Show
Jules Engel The Alvin Show

Cartoon ModernCartoon ModernMake sure to pick up a copy of Amid’s great new book, Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in 1950s Animation.

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

Animated CartoonsAnimated Cartoons

This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Animation.

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