For the second homework assignment i went to the ’Inspiring Walt Disney’ exhibit at The Wallace Collection. The premise of the exhibit was to showcase how the French Rococo period inspired the work of Walt Disney Studios when they created animated films such as ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ’Cinderella.’
Peter J Hall was a concept artist on the Walt Disney film ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ Hall was a costume designer by trade and focused on creating historical costume designs for the film. He was tasked with creating the whimsical supporting characters of the Beast’s furniture. These characters are all anthropomorphised objects based on furniture items from the French rococo era. His original designs were elaborate in response to the stylings of the time period but were developed to become more symbolic for 2D animation later on.
I chose Peter J Hall as my main artist inspiration from this exhibition because I was captured by his ability to transform an inanimate object into a person whilst still keeping the design recognisable. I was inspired by the way he kept the shape of the original object yet still being able to translate it into a believable ‘alive’ character. In Hall’s original sketches for Mrs Potts, he was able to retain the shapes of a teapot in her design even after her transformation back to a human. This was achieved by giving her dress a unnaturally round appearance and her bonnet shaped like a teapot lid. He also does this in his design for human Lumière where he subtly mimics the swirling pattern created in his candlestick reference with the creases in the fabric of his clothes. The tight white sheet also manipulates his shape to replicate the top heavy form of the candlestick. This combination of subtle and more obvious choices makes them well thought out designs which are both immediately recognisable due to distinct features but also cleverly inform the viewer in a less direct way.
His design for Cogsworth the clock took inspiration from clocks made in Paris between 1690 and 1720. He was inspired by the already human-like proportions of the clock due to its height and ‘face’ to create the character. I particularly liked his use of the hands of the clock to emulate a moustache.
Despite the limitations of the 2D animation medium at the time, Hall’s designs would go on to influence Disney’s later live action adaptation of Beauty and the beast in 2017 along with the other elaborate rococo pieces that initially inspired his work.
In this sketch I was inspired by one of the rococo pieces at the exhibition to create an environment and character based on it. The shape of the piece was reminiscent of a ship so I created a pirate character with clothing details inspired by the patterns on the pottery. I imagine the lion figurehead on the bow of the ship to be alive.
