Dumbo Storyboards

This is somewhat a continuation of the previous post. More artwork and storyboards from the hill climbing sequence.

I think I can!
I thought I could!

These scenic shots are some of the most cinematic in the whole film.
One of the last images in the movie. I suppose once you've made it big as a flying elephant you can buy your mother a garishly-painted airstream-shaped private car. So odd...

Dumbo story art


One of my favorite images.  I love how the door to the engine shed has the little cut-out for the smoke stack.  
This shot shows some actual interaction between Casey Jr. and Dumbo and Timothy, something that never made it into the final film.
Like all of the backgrounds in Dumbo, this color study looks to be watercolor.

The mood in both of this images is great.  Casey looks pretty worn out.

Character designs

These are model sheets most likely created for Dumbo. Drawn by Ward Kimball, they were passed out to the animators as reference for the characters they were animating. Whats interesting is the number of characters that were created for the film that were not used. The switch character is back from The Reluctant Dragon, as well as several Semiphore characters. Ward even created an Engineer character that bears striking resemblance to himself. Eventhough these characters never made it into the final film, some did make it into a Casey Jr children's book, which I will post as soon as its scanned.





Dumbo

On October 23rd, 1941, just four months after Reluctant Dragon, Dumbo flew onto the big screen. This time Casey stars as the locomotive pulling the circus train. The melody of his music remains the same from The Reluctant Dragon, but this time lyrics have been added. Perhaps the line "Casey Junior's back" refers to the fact that audiences had just seen him in the studio's prior theatrical release; however, it could simply refer to the fact that the circus has come to town once again.