Thursday, December 15, 2005
BLAIR, Preston
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Birth/Death
Birth: 1908 Redlands California
Death: April-1995
Occupation/Title
Animator, Designer, Director, Producer, Author, Watercolorist
Bio Summary
Early Life/Family
Preston was born in Redlands California and spent his whole life in Southern California working for 50 years on animation.
Education/Training
Preston attended Pomona College, Otis Art Institute, and studied Illustration at Chouinard. During the Depression Preston paid ten dollars a week to learn to animate and the animation studio Romer Gray.
Career Outline
Preston Started as a fine artist and exhibited in the California Watercolor Society and the American Watercolor Society in New York. When Preston worked in animation, he accomplished many notable achievements. During the 1940's he worked for Walt Disney Studio's. He designed and animated the hippos in the "Dance of the Hours" and animated Mickey from the "Sorcerers Apprentice" sequences from fantasia (Notably in the Whirpool scene). He also animated on the other Disney classics, Pinocchio and Bambi. Later, he worked for MGM. He directed the Barney Bear shorts and designed Red Hot Riding Hood from the Tex Avery Shorts. He also produced commercials, educational films, and half hour cartoon episodes like the Flintstones. He also put out his book through Walter Foster on how to animate which is the most popular book on animation, along with the Richard Williams book.
Comments On Style
Preston's style is marked by a solidity of volumes, combined with expressive squash and stretch. His draftsmanship was of the top order.
Influences
Personality
Anecdotes
Blair was the first animator on the Sorcerer's Apprentice/Fantasia. The first scene animated on the film was of Mickey waking up after his dream, falling in the water & running though it towards the broom.
Miscellaneous
Filmography
Little House Keeping (1932) (animator)
Pinocchio (1940) (animator)
Fantasia (1940) (animator) (segments "Sorcerer's Apprentice, The" and "Dance of the Hours")
Bambi (1942) (animator)
MGM:
"The Flintstones" (1960) TV Series (animator)
Journey Back to Oz (1974) (associate producer)
Honors
Annie Award: Winsor McCay Award 1985
Related Links
ASIFA-Hollywood Archive: Preston Blair's "Animation" Book- First Edition
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive/ John K Stuff- The 100000 Dollar Animation Drawing Course (For 8 dollars!)
IMDB Listing
Bibliographic References
"Cartoon Animation", by Preston Blair. Published by Walter Foster
"Of Mice and Magic" by Leonard Maltin. Published by McGraw-Hill
Contributors To This Listing
Josh Reed
Larry Loc
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Labels: BIO-AAA-008
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