Thank You Ollie

As a general rule I try not to post animation news, I just can't keep up with the other sites that specialize in that sort of thing. But I can't let the passing of Ollie Johnston go by without mentioning it. Ollie was the last of the nine old men, I don't care what kind of animation your into today, it was somehow influenced by this man and his peers. Just this morning I was try to find some well articulated advice about planning for animation and I found the perfect thing in an Ollie quote that I printed out for a student.

I'm also struck by how young our profession is, these guys helped to define animation as we know it and do it today and they have only just passed. Think about some other jobs and ask yourself if the people who created them would still be around. In a sense we are still at the beginning of animation, we still have the opportunity to push it, make it better. Ollie's work and advice will always be a source of inspiration, hopefully our generation can make a contribution aspiring to the same values as he did. Thank you Ollie.

more links:
Glen Keane talks about Ollie.
More Ollie youtube bits.
Post about Ollie on Small Room.
Post about Ollie on Cartoon Brew.

4 comments:

Kristi said...

Sad news... this was the first place I read about it.
Reading this article http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID512060.asp
about Ollie made me laugh though... I loved the two unkind references to a certain unnamed ex-Disney animator whose identity is utterly obvious.

Karl said...

It is a shame that he's gone. Although that being said he was 95. I think he lived a long and fulfilled life.
His work along with Frank's is still inspiring today. My favourite being Baloo, was such a roller coaster of energy and emotion in that character.
It would have been great to sit with him and talk. I would have loved to ask about the scene where Baloo tells Mowgli to go back to the man village. As well as the scene of Robin hood when the sheriff takes the money from the bunny to when Robin redeems the situation. Fantastic execution.

Ah, there's just so much. Goes to show how much he achieved.

Ian said...

Lucky that these days we can get alot closer to some of the top animators. Frank was telling me the other day about how he has exchanged emails with Jason Ryan, and a few years ago when I emailed Clay of the animation podcast I was delighted to get an answer a month or so later.

I advise all student to do their best to take advantage of the new smaller world we live in thanks to the internet. Ask questions, write emails, you never know who might answer.

Anonymous said...

Does this mean that we still have to follow the principles of animation?