Best "Realistic" Draftsmen/Animator

[Javeman]

To go along with the "zaniest animator" poll, here's another thread dedicated to the animators that really put a strong effort to make their drawings look as realistic as possible.

Who, out of the given options, do you think was the best draftsmen at making realistic movement and facial expressions?

Feel free to add any other options, I only listed WB and MGM animators because they're the only ones I'm familiar with.

[UncleJunior]

I gotta go with Ken Harris. He was the best animator in Jones' unit. And he had several standout moments with facial expressions (Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote.)

[Javeman]

For the record, I voted Bob McKimson, mainly because of his work in "Tom Thumb in Trouble" and "Old Glory".

[Jaime_Weinman]

I don't think "realistic" is really the right term... none of these guys were out to mimic real life (particularly when they're animating rabbits and coyotes). More like "subtle," though that's not quite the right word either.

Anyway, I pick Virgil Ross, partly just because he's a guy whose animation I can always spot (e.g. the first dialogue scene between Bugs and Beaky in "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid," or the "pick up pie" scene in "Slick Hare," and the "There Was a Little Girl" scene in "Lumber Jerks," and many others), and because he just makes characters seem so likable and fun -- his Bugs has so much personality and charm, and "acts" so convincingly not only with his face and hands but even with the positioning of his ears. When I'm watching an early '40s Clampett or a post-1944 Freleng cartoon, I have to stop myself from shouting out: "That's Virgil" when a Ross scene begins. Somehow the people I'm watching with tend to dislike this. :)

[Daffysleftfoot]

I don't think "realistic" is really the right term...
Absolutely. Even Rod Scribner animated some realisticly designed characters now and then. Hell, he even did some rotoscoping in Bacall to Arms.

The more appropriate term would be "an animator whose work doesn't blow you away like an atomic blast but rather does it's job and does it well." I picked Virgil Ross because he was adept at both. :D

[Larry T]

Bill Tytla.

[Bartman]

Looks as though I'm part of the majority on this one - I voted for my favorite Freleng animator, Virgil Ross!!

[Frank]

I voted for Kenneth Muse because of his work on Tom and Jerry.



Realistic animation which is really fluid is what I like!

[cbrubaker]

Hmmmm.....

It's between Ken Muse and Virgil Ross. To appreciate more to his work, check out those pencil test animations Virgil Ross made, in one of the Golden Collection DVD.

[angilbas]

My pick is Ben Washam, whose distinctive style helps Rabbit Rampage a lot. Other Washam highlights are seen in Rabbit Hood (when Bugs convinces the Sheriff to build a house), Homeless Hare (he lets the construction worker strip on a teeterboard), Bully for Bugs (the bull finds a new way to discharge a firearm; Bugs writes his will) and many other Jones cartoons of the 1941-59 period (he later rejoined Jones' crew at MGM).


-Tony

[JDWeil]

I went for Bill Tytla.

[RetroMan]

This one's a tough call.... I knida like Virgil Ross' on-model perfection, McKimson's almost-rotoscoped work (the result of a concussion?), Ken Harris' vitality - I especially like what he did with the little dog in the Claude cartoons- and Preston Blair's.... two words: Red's Dance.

By the way, I just rented Pinocchio and I'd like to know what scenes were animated by Bill Tytla and the nine old men.