September 15th, 2015

Bodacious Cuzzins…

by John Rose

Earlier this summer, in one of my Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strips I drew Lukey giving Elviney a goat for her birthday.  As I have said on this blog before, in addition to being a big King Features fan, I’m also a big Disney fan.  After I drew this goat, it occurred to me that he looked like he could be Mushu’s cousin!

Mushu, by Tom Bancroft. ©Disney

A friend of mine in the cartooning biz is the incredibly talented Tom Bancroft.  Tom is a former Disney Animator who worked on “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” “Aladdin”, “Mulan”, and “Brother Bear,” in addition to other projects.  Tom was the Supervising Animator of Mushu in Disney’s “Mulan.”  He is an amazing cartoonist and animator. I have an original framed drawing of Mushu he did for me years ago which I treasure, as well as several of his books which are great, too!  When I told Tom that I thought my goat looked like Mushu’s cousin, this is what he sent back to me…

He drew over my goat and said that with just barely a few tweaks and a splash of color it’s there!  I thought that was so cool!  Tom and his brother Tony, a former Disney Animator and Director, produce a wonderful animation and cartooning podcast that I listen to regularly when I’m drawing.  It’s called the Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast and I find it very inspirational and informative.  Click here and give it a listen!