Monday, July 13, 2009
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Inbetween Searle Report
More on the Ronald Searle story next week. Some fountain pen doodles in the meantime.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
A Day with Ronald Searle - Part 2 - Animation
SEARLE ON ANIMATION
That wonderful afternoon we spoke of a million and one things in no particular order. Topics bounced across the table like ping pong balls. And, partly due to the generous flow of champagne, Matt and I have since been finding it a little difficult to recall all that was said. Here is what I do remember - in no particular order and not necessarily with one hundred percent accuracy.
Due to a prior conversation with Matt Jones, Ronald knew of my background in animation and he seemed interested in how I had ended up running my own studio in London. It soon became clear that, on the subject of animation, the Searles have a very strong view; they appreciate what is hand-drawn and simply can’t warm to what they referred to as “plasticine”. With that they mean CGI (a term which didn’t make much sense to them) and kept referring to “Shrek”. Ronald was friends with William Steig and respected him as an artist and writer. He seemed pretty certain that Steig wouldn’t have been very happy about how his creation was translated to film.
Ronald is very much of the opinion that animation should be ‘Line’, a view that doesn’t surprise me, coming from the most influential and innovative satirical graphic artist of the 20th century.
He loves the Felix the Cat cartoons from the 1920s and prefers those to the early Mickey Mouse films. Ronald and Monica like the early Disney Features such as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Pinocchio” but feel that the Disney movies went downhill later on. They were friends with some of the artists - he mentioned Ken Anderson, Marc Davis and Ward Kimball in particular. During the production of “101 Dalmatians” Ken Anderson had asked Ronald to sketch London streets, which Ronald did for him as a friend, but other than that he was not involved in the film.
Ronald remembered having a great time at LA pool parties with some of the Disney artists and thought that they were remarkably uncompetitive and friendly. He didn’t have any nice things to say about Walt though; I don’t think Ronald and Mr. Disney got on very well.
When Monica was diagnosed with cancer, a lot of the Disney artists sent her get-well cartoons - she especially remembers the one that Ward Kimball drew for her, Minnie Mouse dancing on a piano.
Ronald has created designs for other animated projects and was never entirely happy with the outcome. The feature film “Dick Deadeye” produced at Bill Melendez’ London studio seems a bit of a sore spot for him. He drew all the backgrounds for the entire film and designed the characters but was not happy with what the animators did with his designs. There are not a lot of artists in animation that can draw in his particular style and the low budget for that film did not help. Anyway, I felt it was a rather painful experience for him and he didn’t seem very comfortable talking about it, even 35 years later.
If I remember correctly, Ronald thought that Ivor Wood was one of the only animators who could bring a drawing to life in the way he wanted it. Funnily enough, Ivor Wood is best known as a stop-motion animator who created “The Magic Roundabout”.
We didn’t talk much about contemporary animation. Neither Monica nor Ronald seemed to know much about what is being produced today. They did mention that they liked “The Simpsons” when it was first aired because of the quirky and strange design. However, Ronald felt that they should have stopped the series after a few years when the novelty inevitably ran out - he is a strong believer in quitting an idea when it’s at the peak of it’s success (in his case it was the St. Trinian’s cartoons which he killed off after five years and refused to continue despite growing demand).
But animation was not what I wanted to talk about, I was much more interested in Ronald’s work as one of the last (perhaps the last) reportage artist.
But more about this in the next chapter…
That wonderful afternoon we spoke of a million and one things in no particular order. Topics bounced across the table like ping pong balls. And, partly due to the generous flow of champagne, Matt and I have since been finding it a little difficult to recall all that was said. Here is what I do remember - in no particular order and not necessarily with one hundred percent accuracy.
Due to a prior conversation with Matt Jones, Ronald knew of my background in animation and he seemed interested in how I had ended up running my own studio in London. It soon became clear that, on the subject of animation, the Searles have a very strong view; they appreciate what is hand-drawn and simply can’t warm to what they referred to as “plasticine”. With that they mean CGI (a term which didn’t make much sense to them) and kept referring to “Shrek”. Ronald was friends with William Steig and respected him as an artist and writer. He seemed pretty certain that Steig wouldn’t have been very happy about how his creation was translated to film.
Ronald is very much of the opinion that animation should be ‘Line’, a view that doesn’t surprise me, coming from the most influential and innovative satirical graphic artist of the 20th century.
He loves the Felix the Cat cartoons from the 1920s and prefers those to the early Mickey Mouse films. Ronald and Monica like the early Disney Features such as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Pinocchio” but feel that the Disney movies went downhill later on. They were friends with some of the artists - he mentioned Ken Anderson, Marc Davis and Ward Kimball in particular. During the production of “101 Dalmatians” Ken Anderson had asked Ronald to sketch London streets, which Ronald did for him as a friend, but other than that he was not involved in the film.
Ronald remembered having a great time at LA pool parties with some of the Disney artists and thought that they were remarkably uncompetitive and friendly. He didn’t have any nice things to say about Walt though; I don’t think Ronald and Mr. Disney got on very well.
When Monica was diagnosed with cancer, a lot of the Disney artists sent her get-well cartoons - she especially remembers the one that Ward Kimball drew for her, Minnie Mouse dancing on a piano.
Ronald has created designs for other animated projects and was never entirely happy with the outcome. The feature film “Dick Deadeye” produced at Bill Melendez’ London studio seems a bit of a sore spot for him. He drew all the backgrounds for the entire film and designed the characters but was not happy with what the animators did with his designs. There are not a lot of artists in animation that can draw in his particular style and the low budget for that film did not help. Anyway, I felt it was a rather painful experience for him and he didn’t seem very comfortable talking about it, even 35 years later.
If I remember correctly, Ronald thought that Ivor Wood was one of the only animators who could bring a drawing to life in the way he wanted it. Funnily enough, Ivor Wood is best known as a stop-motion animator who created “The Magic Roundabout”.
We didn’t talk much about contemporary animation. Neither Monica nor Ronald seemed to know much about what is being produced today. They did mention that they liked “The Simpsons” when it was first aired because of the quirky and strange design. However, Ronald felt that they should have stopped the series after a few years when the novelty inevitably ran out - he is a strong believer in quitting an idea when it’s at the peak of it’s success (in his case it was the St. Trinian’s cartoons which he killed off after five years and refused to continue despite growing demand).
But animation was not what I wanted to talk about, I was much more interested in Ronald’s work as one of the last (perhaps the last) reportage artist.
But more about this in the next chapter…
Monday, June 22, 2009
A Day with Ronald Searle
On Friday June 19th, I caught an early flight from London to Nice in the South of France where I met Matt Jones who had kindly arranged for us to meet my all-time hero.
The following day we drove to a tiny village in the skies of the Haute Provence where we were to have lunch with the satirical graphic genius that is Ronald Searle and his wife Monica.
We arrived a little early at the restaurant where a table was laid out for us in an upstairs room. A few minutes later, through a window, we saw Ronald and Monica, arms linked firmly, struggling up the steep road towards ‘La Table’.
I have to admit that I was quite nervous to finally meet the man whose work I have been admiring for as long as I can remember and I’m sure Matt felt the same way, even though he had met him before. But the butterflies in my stomach flew elsewhere the moment we had made our introductions and sat down for what was to be one of the most memorable lunches of my life.
A bottle of Champagne (Searle’s favorite tipple) was already waiting and during the next few hours we had an amazing four-course meal accompanied by a different bottle of fine wine for each course. The Searles certainly know how to enjoy their food and drink. Ronald celebrated his 89th birthday earlier in the year and Monica is only a few years younger, but both are incredibly lucid, witty and sharp. Monica has been battling cancer for the past 40 years and Ronald has had problems with his health but their positive approach to life is undeniably infectious and quite remarkable.
After lunch the Searles invited us back to their house, an incredible honor since they normally do not entertain at home.
The afternoon lasted for seven hours during which we talked about art, animation, politics and life in general. Ronald and Monica shared many stories from their extraordinary lives.
I’ve been making notes of what I remember from that day and will share them with you all in the days to come.
Matt Jones will post his memories on his Ronald Searle Tribute blog which you can find here, make sure to check it out frequently.
http://ronaldsearle.blogspot.com
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
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