Sunday 27 March 2011

DEJA VIEW

Disney animator, Andreas Deja, at the press junket for the new Winnie the Pooh feature film held at Buckhurst Park, Withyham, Hartfield, East Sussex (on the edge of the original '100 Aker Wood') in March 2011, draws his character from the film, Tigger...

Andreas Deja and Tigger

“Taking on such a well established and much-loved figure as Tigger,” says Andreas, “is obviously very different from creating an entirely new character for the screen. But the secret is to reach a point where you have mastered the knack of how to draw Tigger, so that you can forget about the business of drawing and start inventing things.”

Anyone who has ever seen a Disney Pooh film will be familiar with Tigger’s fast moving and bouncy persona, but Andreas wanted to introduce one or two characteristics that people hadn’t see before.

There’s a line in Tigger’s famous signature song in which he growls, “I’m the only one!” The performance by voice-talent Jim Cummings provided him with a fun moment of inspiration. “The way Jim delivered the line,” he says, “reminded me of Clint Eastwood, so – just for a second – I have Tigger screw-up his eyes in an Eastwood way!”

The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers

Andreas Deja




8 comments:

Andy Latham said...

A great drawing there! Andreas is great isn't he? I'm really looking forward to the new Pooh film :D

Brian Sibley said...

Yes,it was great to see Andreas again and we chatted (amongst other things) about your visit to the Studio! :)

Andy Latham said...

Haha really? Did he remember me? I figured he must meet so many people in the same way as me that it must get hard to recall who is who!

I don't suppose you ever met Milt Kahl did you Brian?

Brian Sibley said...

Of course he remembered you! :)

Sadly, I never met Milt Kahl. I only ever met five of the 'Nine Old Men': Woolie Reitherman (whom I interviewed once) and the other four whom I met and corresponded with over many years: Frank (Thomas) & Ollie (Johnston), Marc Davis and Ward Kimball.

Other veteran Disney designers and animators whom I encountered and/or got to know included Joe Grant, Grim Natwick, Art Babbitt, Burny Mattinson, Shamus Culhane, John Hench, Herb Ryman, Bill Justice, X Atencio, Sam McKim, Blaine Gibson and Kendall O'Connor.

Andy Latham said...

Well that's good to know :)

Yeah I remember the others that you've met from some of your previous blog posts, but wasn't sure about Milt. His were big shoes for Andreas to fit! Seems like he managed well though :)

Steven Hartley said...

Ah yes - Winnie the Pooh. I like the old Tigger voice - Paul Winchell is a good voice actor - he later did Boomer in "The Fox and the Hound".

Brian Sibley said...

Steven – Unfortunately Paul Winchell died in 2005, so it was necessary to find a new actor to voice Tigger. But Jim Cummings does a very good job with a performance that is virtually an homage to PW. Cummings also provides the voice for Pooh and, again, is faithful to the vocal performance originally created by Sterling Holloway.

Steven Hartley said...

In 5th comment: Interesting that you knew these guys! So it means that you never knew Cliff Nordberg?

Cliff is an excellent animator to me who highly influences me. But he is a pretty unknown animator.