Snow White meets Giovanni Morelli – Page 2

6. In the story sketches and animation layouts the drawing styles of the different artists are quite evident. This artist draws Snow White as a tall, slim young woman, whose total height is nearly seven times the height of her head.

 

7. These body proportions largely carry through into the same section of the finished film, for here Snow White is about six heads tall, whereas in most of the other sequences of the finished film she is between five and five-and-a-half heads tall.

 

8. Of course, producers of animated films had long been aware of this problem, and used ‘model sheets’ to show correct proportions for the figures in order to control any variations in style from one animation artist to another, but this just didn’t work fully with Snow White.

 

9. The proportions and shape of the face are where the different styles of the artists show through most readily. In this animation layout showing Snow White talking to the animals, her eyes are very large and very widely separated.

 

10. And this has been carried through to the actual painting on the cel, as have those peculiar ‘S’ shaped eyebrows that some (but not all) of her creators favoured.

 

11. Another deviation from the norm has Snow White’s eyes small and widely separated, and her cheeks exceptionally chubby.

 

12. This too has been carried through to the final frame, despite the many intervening stages of the actual animation process.

 

13. Yet another stylistic theme is the shape of the face in profile. One main variant has a flat brow and pointed tip to the nose.

 

14. While another shows a curved brow and rounded tip to the nose. Then there is the case of Snow White’s eyelashes. When her eyes are shut everyone drew her eyelashes all the way across her top eyelid.

 

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