Animation of 1990's

[the-reason]

Question, the films from "The Rescuers down under" to all the 90s films, when they hand drew the animation did they still hire live actors/actresses, to do the movements and then draw what they saw, or did they stop. Im very eager to know the answer to this, because in the 50s and olden days they would hire actors and such for inspiratrion on the character movements.

[numba1lostboy]

I'm honsetly not sure about using people for guidance, but I do know that for animating films with animals (Lion King), the crew brought in live critters to work from.
I would assume the animators still use actors for inspiration...its seems like a helpful process.

[Disneykid]

Yes, live-action reference footage was used for some of the 90s Disney films, but not nearly as much as the 50s (those films were COMPLETELY shot in live-action first). The 90s films I'm positive had live-action reference done:

* Beauty and the Beast (no mention of this is made whatsoever on the DVD, but there are stills in the Art of Animation book)
* Aladdin (the live-action filming for "One Jump Ahead" is a DVD supplement)
* The Hunchback of Notre Dame (I've never seen any evidence of this, but the directors say so in the commentary)
* Tarzan (skateboarder footage appears in the DVD supplements)

I've not heard of any reference footage shot for Pocahontas, Hercules, or Mulan. Out of those three, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Pocahontas had live-action footage considering how realistic that film's character animation is.

[Escapay]

Rather than film reference footage, several animators would simply view existing footage of real people. Jasmine from Aladdin was inspired by an animator's sister, and Alla Korot (soap actress at the time) was the model for Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Also, the animators watched footage of Tony Hawk and other pro-skateboarders for inspiration in animating Tarzan as he surfed through the branches.

Escapay

[Marce82]

Hey guys,

Let's not mistake taking inspiration on specific people for the LOOK of the character for live action reference. For example, Mark Henn did base the design of Jasmine on his sister (among other women), but there was also live action reference. The name of the actress who posed for Jasmine was Robina Richie.
Sherri Stoner did the live action reference for both Belle and Ariel.
As for The Lion King, they did learn to draw and understand the animals from watching the live things, but I'm pretty sure they didn't get the animals to perform for them!
As for the Hunchback of Notre Dame, I can't be sure, but I suspect they didn't use live action footage. I remember either reading or watching somewhere someone commenting on the fact that the animator who handled Esmeralda's dance (I believe her name is Anne Marie Bardwell) did so without the use of live action footage. And if they didn't use it for that, they probably didn't for the rest of the film, given that animating someone dancing is very hard to do.
I have no idea about Pocahontas...
M.

[Marce82]

Hey guys,

Let's not mistake taking inspiration on specific people for the LOOK of the character for live action reference. For example, Mark Henn did base the design of Jasmine on his sister (among other women), but there was also live action reference. The name of the actress who posed for Jasmine was Robina Richie.
Sherri Stoner did the live action reference for both Belle and Ariel.
As for The Lion King, they did learn to draw and understand the animals from watching the live things, but I'm pretty sure they didn't get the animals to perform for them!
As for the Hunchback of Notre Dame, I can't be sure, but I suspect they didn't use live action footage. I remember either reading or watching somewhere someone commenting on the fact that the animator who handled Esmeralda's dance (I believe her name is Anne Marie Bardwell) did so without the use of live action footage. And if they didn't use it for that, they probably didn't for the rest of the film, given that animating someone dancing is very hard to do.
I have no idea about Pocahontas...
M.

[Marce82]

Hey guys,

Let's not mistake taking inspiration on specific people for the LOOK of the character for live action reference. For example, Mark Henn did base the design of Jasmine on his sister (among other women), but there was also live action reference. The name of the actress who posed for Jasmine was Robina Richie.
Sherri Stoner did the live action reference for both Belle and Ariel.
As for The Lion King, they did learn to draw and understand the animals from watching the live things, but I'm pretty sure they didn't get the animals to perform for them!
As for the Hunchback of Notre Dame, I can't be sure, but I suspect they didn't use live action footage. I remember either reading or watching somewhere someone commenting on the fact that the animator who handled Esmeralda's dance (I believe her name is Anne Marie Bardwell) did so without the use of live action footage. And if they didn't use it for that, they probably didn't for the rest of the film, given that animating someone dancing is very hard to do.
I have no idea about Pocahontas...
M.

[the-reason]

To me i almost seems impossible for them to not use live actors, but I dont know, I just really enjoy the 1950s animation in how well and realistically the characters move.