Cartoon Art Museum

On Wednesday afternoon I went to the Cartoon Art Museum on Mission Street in SF. There were several rooms, each devoted to different themes or special exhibits. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take any photos.

The featured exhibit was titled: "Once Upon A Dream: The Art of Sleeping Beauty," a fascinating display of cels and photos along with explanations of the design process supervised by artist Eyvind Earle. The film was noteworthy for its numerous hand-painted backgrounds and its use of 70mm film, making it one of the only two widescreen animated films ever produced. In the past, Disney had fully hand inked all its animation. Premiering in 1959, Sleeping Beauty was the last Disney film to employ this technique as its sole means of animation.

A second room was dedicated to the "Queen of Comics" Nell Brinkley and her iconic Brinkley Girl. The room had over a dozen examples of her stylized drawings for numerous New York magazines and newspapers.

My favorite piece in the museum was a cell from the 1982 animated film, The Secret of NIMH directed by Don Bluth. As a child, I loved this cartoon and have fond memories of the film. The cel on display was one of the crow, Jeremy.