Disney Artist Ken Anderson used to go to Africa - rather frequently, I gather - and would come back with sketchbooks full of drawings. I've heard that he would xerox his drawings and staple them together as books to hand out to his co-workers - whether they wanted them or not. For some reason this gas station Disney magazine did an article on Ken and his sketching trips to Africa. They feature some beautiful samples of his sketches. If anyone has one of those old xerox books I'd love to see it!
The weird part about this article is the last page where, for some reason that's not explained in the text, Ken drew some African animals dressed up as hippies. The stoned-looking Lion even appears to be smoking a joint. For a guy who always seemed to have a lot of good taste and sophistication in his approach, it seems like a striking lapse of good taste. He drew every tired hippy cliché you can think of.
It's also interesting to note the way he refers to a drawing of a sleeping leopard in his sketchbook as being "flaked out." Click to see them bigger.
0 Comments