Hand Reference, Part Three

The first set comes to us from the 1999 Warner Brothers film "The Iron Giant" and belonged to the lead character, a young boy named Hogarth, though I feel that they would work for a stylized male character of almost any age. The second set of sheets come from the soon to be released Disney animated Feature film "Tangled" and were created by the celebrated Disney animator Glen Keane. Remember that portfolio reviewers will almost always look for how you handle the faces, hands and feet of your characters, as avoiding any of those three areas sends up a warning flag about an artist's overall competence as a draftsman.

Disney's "Tangled" Character Design Development.

Once "Rapunzel", then "Rapunzel Unbraided", and now "Tangled", Disney's 50th animated Feature film, set for release November 28th, has gone through many changes throughout it's years in development. One thing that hasn't changed much, though, is the artistic influence of two artists in particular. One was the French Rococo painter Jean-Honorer Fragonard, specifically one of his best known works; “The Swing” which inspired the lush fairy tale world that Rapunzel inhabits. The second is animation legend Glen Keane, who was the original driving force behind the film. Glen's masterfully solid, appealing, expressive and  passionate animation and drawings are admired across the globe. He is currently being honored with a gallery exhibit in Paris and is touring with a retrospective of Disney Art in Australia. Below are just a few of Glen's character designs for Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, and Mother Gothel, along with a glimpse of other visual development art for the film. More of these images can be found in the newly released book "The Art of Tangled":

Early concept art:

Glen Keane's drawings:

Final character:




Flynn Rider (Students: keep these expression sheets in mind when doing your final projects!):

 

Final Character:



Mother Gothel:

  Final Character:



A few other character designs. Who are they? You'll have to see the film to find out!