Worker Blog - Worker Studio News on Animation, Film, Events, and Productions in Colorado

1/11/2014

Worker Studio's Michael Hemschoot: Top 5 Animated Performances - Pick #5

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Worker Studio's Founder & CEO, Michael "Ffish" Hemschoot, is also our animation director, or Minister of Motion. We had Ffish pick five brilliant animated performances that influenced him creatively, and he responded with these unforgettable moments from master animators. It is these very animated performances that left an indelible influence on Ffish's youth, setting forth his own career in animation and filmmaking. This is #5 in a series of posts.

**#5 Tony - Disney's Lady and the Tramp (1955) from Animator John Lounsbery**

John Lounsbery Animating Tony Disney's Lady and the Tramp

A master of expressiveness in his characters, John Lounsbery was one of Disney's Nine Old Men - the formative animators that helped define the craft. One can surely see why in Tony (above), an essential role in one of Disney's most memorable scenes from Lady and the Tramp, or any animated feature at that.

What we wouldn't give to find a full pencil test of Lounsbery's Tony going on to sing "Bella Notte" from this sequence. As Ffish pointed out, Lounsbery was one of the highest regarded draftsmen at Disney. Alas the original character sketches below will have to suffice for now. Additional to animating Tony and other secondary characters, Lounsbery was the animation director on Lady and the Tramp.

Lounsbery left a legacy at Disney, animating and later directing at the studio from 1935 to his death in 1976. There's a certain affinity to Lounsbery for this Colorado animation studio, as the animator was raised in Colorado and graduated from the Art Institute of Denver. (Disney Legends)