Animation Backgrounds

Today I have a real treat for you. While I enjoy animation, I cannot
call myself an animation geek, but this site absolutely fascinates
me. It is entirely devoted to the backgrounds of some of my favorite
Disney animated movies. The pictures are beautiful and meticulously
presented. This site is worth spending some time at, it has helped me
to appreciate more the painstaking nature of animators and artists. I
will watch the old and new movies and cartoons with a greater eye to
detail from now on.

I corresponded with Rob Richards the artist from this site and this is
what he had to say, "My site features (primarily) Disney background
art. (Although on rare occasions there's something from another
studio.) I recreate the background art as follows:
By using screen captures and Photoshop, as a character moves in a
scene, I composite multiple layers of the areas where the character is
not. The sections are then assembled, patchwork style, to create an
entire background. On rare occasions, a background appears for a frame
or two before a character pops into the scene. What a joy! Usually,
though, it's a complex process to re-create these backgrounds, section
by section. Not only do the component pieces have to be assembled, but
color saturation, hues, intensity, brightness and other factors
change, sometimes frame to frame. All these have to be precisely
matched so the pieces blend together as a seamless whole. Zoom shots
require resizing the image(s) until I have a perfect match. I try keep
the art entirely original, as much as possible. Sometimes, though,
brush tool blending is required to smooth edges where the sections are
pieced together. Some pieces take an hour or two. Some take a day, or
more!

I am familiar to Los Angeles audiences as the "House Organist" at
Disney's EL CAPITAN theatre in Hollywood, where I have played nearly
4500 performances on the famous "Mighty Brazillian" since 1999, as
well as concerts around the world.

My animation backgrounds blog is a labor of love. While my career is
in the music world, I feel an equal passion for animation art. I have
a large collection of Disney animation art, mostly cels. It is
definitely not a passive interest! Thank you for your interest in my
work."

I hope you have a moment or two to enjoy this site.