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Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Noble Boy

http://www.amazon.com/Noble-Boy-Scott-Morse/dp/0977471500/ref=sr_1_8/104-2232835-6916714?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175074776&sr=1-8

The link above goes to NOBLE BOY, a board book by animation artist Scott Morse. I posted it on the page since I couldn't fit it into the little link button here on site.
NOBLE BOY is a 'board book' about animation art director Maurice Noble.

Maurice Noble is one of the great art directors of all time, animation or live. He designed the lovely outer space 'Martian" cartoons for Chuck Jones, the hilarious parody-UPA house for Witch Hazel, and the pseudo-Seussian backgrounds of HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, among other things. Noble suggested that Disney's SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS feature colored ink lines instead of standard black. He was the first art director to have the backgrounds reveal the character's mental state (in THE ARISTO-CAT, wallpaper animates and twists madly as the titular cat yells for butler Meadows. This landmark film was just released on Volume 4 of the Warner compliation discs.)

But to return to the Noble book. The title refers to the nickname by which Noble's students were known: Noble Boys (and Girls.) I shall always regret not having been one of them; I only met Mr. Noble twice, but he was a fine gentleman who loved this art form dearly. He deserves a tribute. Thing is, I'm not sure about whether this one is aimed at kids or at adults. It looks like a kids' book but the content is really a short biography of Noble. I'd like to see a long biography of him. But this is a tribute to a wonderful artist from one of his students. Check it out and see--it is a bargain.

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