Animation Source Forums

I'm starting this new topic here to separate the art of Balto from the Merchandise as the two are different.

You've already seen a few photos of some art that is in my possession in the other thread but I thought that I would kick this one off with something a bit interesting. This is an original hand painted background from the movie and the eagle eyed fans will probably work out which part quite quickly. Please ignore the strange line across it - that is glare from the flash on the protective plastic.



Check out the close up detail





Answers on a post card

Ok so I assume no one recognises this background... That is for good reason as it was cut from the movie despite being animated! Here is a screen shot of the scene that we will probably never see.



----------------------------------------------------
Edited to include previously posted art in the other topic... and some from the next few pages. Please do read through the posts though as not all of it is copied over here.

White wolf story boards







































Backgrounds with screenshots from the movie - many of the actual backgrounds appear much lighter than in the movie - I put this down to the powerful flash that I used with the camera:























Close up of some of the detail...





And the screenshot from the movie for a comparison... poor Steele



You may have already seen this Production drawing that I was lucky enough to add to my collection:



I decided to have a play around with colouring it and add it to one of the other backgrounds (sadly I don't have the right one) and I think it fits this one quite well...




Here's a nice drawing from a memorable scene:



Here's a couple more drawings:





Has anyone seen one of these before? It is a blue print for the background. In most cases multiple versions for the same background were painted and a blue print ensures that the layout and detail is the same on each one. The one pictured below is an original and saved from being thrown out.




Here is a challenge for you all. The following background is one that I was very fortunate to be able to purchase and I am sure you will agree that it is a stunning painting in its own right - almost a photo in quality. Now I assumed that this piece was from the opening dog sled race scene however I was wrong - it isn't from that part of the movie as far as I can tell.

Can anyone work out which part of the movie it is from?



*edit* above image has been identified

























Also see that is says to reuse footage from TR01? Well they did...

Here is the first team in the opening scene...


And here is Steele's team leaving the ravine...


They didn't even change the musher - the poor guy who is now untangling his team of dogs after Steele snaps at them is suddenly mushing Steele's team! It is so fast you wouldn't notice but check it out for yourselves at some point.

Time to update with some more original drawings







An interesting couple of background here from my collection which I thought I posted before but could be wrong:

One is screen used, the other was rescued from the studio trash...





Using a blue print (like the one I shared previously) the artist is able to make exact copies of each background so that the director can request another to be painted if the colours don't feel right or something is lacking. In this case the first one is the final version as used in the movie and the second image was discarded

Another background and one that doesn't need explaining... the white sheen is caused by the protective plastic over the top.



Once again the detail is second to none - it is amazing as to how much work goes into creating something like this that is only in the final movie for a few seconds.





Here's another interesting original background from my personal collection:



It is from the sequence where Balto is leading the team home only to be confused by Steele's marks on the trees. The scene here last for only a few seconds and again the level of detail and work is quite stunning. You'll notice that this piece comes with a "test cel" over lay that shows the direction of travel for the team.

However this piece was not complete and I managed to track down the foreground hand painted onto a cel.... there were many cels created for Balto and that is how you see the "3D" effect with characters behind scenery etc....

So here is the complete scene with the cel over lay which I might have got round the wrong way but hey




The first is another multi-layered piece but this time the foreground is painted on paper and all of the gaps are cut out. The buildings in the background are the base layer and the boats, barrels and snow line are foreground. That is how the studio achieved a lot of the "3D" views and were able to animate the dogs etc running behind obstacles. The nice part about this set is that it came complete with a 3 frame hand drawn test cel of Balto running between the boats.. it must have been created early on as you'll notice that it is Balto's original character design.



Here is a close up of some of the detail and join between the two layers



The second background is a panoramic one which allows the camera to sweep across and give a real feel of perspective. As Balto runs out from the boats, he ducks under the timbers before scaling the last boat to jump over the gap in the next frame.



And another close up for some of the detail



Both backgrounds are painted by Ray Rankin and both are quite wide. I had to take about 3 separate photos of each and stitch them together so you can see the completed image.

Yeah, I remember having seen that deleted scene picture!
It's such a shame we may never see it

But, really great find! That back picture is amazing. The art, the colors, the light reflexion from the windows, the construction... (3-point perspective it seems, I truly wish someday I can master that myself :p)

Am I the only one who feels like you could just walk into this background? The same can be said for many of the other Balto backgrounds!

Maybe if Universal ever releases a blu-ray of the film, this will be added as a deleted scene. I have my doubts, but I would love to be able to see this scene myself!

That is what I love about the art in this movie - it was so detailed and really absorbs you into the scene.

Here's a fun one from the dog race - note the artist name on the side.



I also have an original drawing that fits this background so I digitised it and coloured over the top. I'd love to create a hand painted cel from this but I lack the knowledge of how to do it.

I've wanted to paint a cel myself for the fun of it, but I'm not sure how to go about it either. But from what I've researched, you can buy acetate sheets from craft or art stores. As for paint, I've seen people say that you can use glass or acrylic paint.

Nice work on the digital cel!

I recognized that pawn shop background! It's a shame they deleted two fully animated scenes from the movie.
I love the backround artwork of all Balto movies, even if they are horribly animated (the sequels I mean) the backgrounds still amaze me.

Mighty - thanks I might try and look into that

Troll - going by what I personally know about the missing scene, it was more a longer version of the scenes from the end of the race involving Rosie's hat (in this case actually her glove) and Balto in the alley way with the other dogs baiting him. Rather than kicking snow and stones at Balto, Steele appears to be conducting the taunting from a pile of barrels which inevitably comes loose as he jumps down, sending a rolling barrel at Balto. As this happens the trio give the "that son of a..." dialogue which Balto runs into the hardware store which Rosie's father owns causing havoc and being chased out with a broom. I think Rosie comes to his aid and she gets the "he might bite you honey, he's half wolf" line. So yeah a kinda mixed up longer version to what we are used to... still it would be interesting to see the different cut of the same movie.

I thought I'd share this one next which is a really interesting piece in detail. The hospital bed lit by oil lamp present a really moody scene in the dark wilderness of Alaska. But what is quite exciting is that it shows that there WERE hand painted cels in Balto. For whatever reason the bed posts and rails are actually hand painted as a cel which I assume is due to characters or movement appearing behind it.

Again please ignore the strange lighter line across the centre - that is from the flash.

And here's a continuation of the race...

Enough of backgrounds for a while... moving on to some original Production Drawings - all are within a protective sleeve so there is light reflection. Many of the drawings are signed by the artists and some even have dates and other side notes on them if you look closely.

Jenna:

Yeah, these backgrounds are very impressive... They're among the finest, most detailed I've seen for an animated film.
I'm still hoping they do release a real HD version someday...

Same thing with the production art. Clear and thin, just perfect.
Do you have more ?

Hi Steet - yes I do it just takes a while to photograph, edit and upload. I plan to keep this going for a while yet

That's what I've always loved about the Balto art, it was so clean and crisp and would definitely look wonderful in HD. If only...

Here's some more

Some production drawings...

Balto's old design (one of few designs) on the production drawing.
When I looked storyboards with Balto, I noticed a funny thing. This thing could be a hallmark of our hero, having lived it to the final version. Throughout the production the protagonist had a strip on the nose (in the final version Balto has a wolf mask on the face).

Some backgrounds (from video Amblimation)...