School of Art

Contact Details

School of Art
Aberystwyth University
Buarth Mawr
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 1NG

Tel: +44 (0)1970 622460

Fax: +44 (0)1970 622461

Email: artschool@aber.ac.uk


Drawings and Water Colours / WD1110

Animation sketch for the Baby Weems sequence in The Reluctant Dragon, featuring a baby in a cot surrounded by press reporters and photographers

Artist: Miller, John Parr [1913-2004]
Manufacturer: Disney Studios,

Series title: The Reluctant Dragon

1941
Sanguine chalk and coloured pastels on thin paper mounted on card

255 x 305 mm.
Raymond Durgnat 2002

The Reluctant Dragon is a 1941 animated film which also describes the process of animation by going behind the scenes at the Disney Studios. The Baby Weems sequence is presented as the storyline of Disney artists which tells how a child prodigy courts fame. The baby was able to talk, read, compose music and solve problems soon after birth. He even corrects Einstein's theory of relativity. There was very little animation in this sequence, rather a series of stills of Miller's drawings. In the 'behind the scenes' introduction to the storyline, studio artist Alan Ladd explains the storyboard of Miller's designs which clearly includes this drawing. John Miller's drawings for this sequence are highly regarded as a refreshing departure from the Disney animation brand.





 
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