Preston Erwin Blair (October 24, 1908 â€" April 19, 1995) was an
American character animator, best remembered for his work at Walt
Disney Productions and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio.A native
of Redlands, California, Blair began his animation career in the early
1930s at the Universal studio under Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan. He
later moved over to Charles Mintz's Screen Gems studio, and in the
late 1930s moved over to the Disney studio. At Disney, Blair animated
cartoon short subjects, Mickey Mouse scenes in "The Sorcerer's
Apprentice" section of Fantasia (1940), and the hippo-alligator dance
in Fantasia's "Dance of the Hours" sequence. He also did some work on
Walt Disney's Pinocchio (1940) and Bambi (1942).Blair left Disney
after the 1941 Disney animator's strike, and was hired to work for Tex
Avery's unit at MGM. There, he became particularly known for animating
the titular female character in Red Hot Riding Hood. "Red" later
re-appeared in more Avery cartoons, including Swing Shift Cinderella,
Little Rural Riding Hood, Uncle Tom's Cabana and the Droopy cartoons
The Shooting of Dan McGoo and Wild and Woolfy, with animation by
Blair. In the late 1940s, Blair teamed with Avery animator Michael Lah
to direct several Barney Bear cartoons.Blair continued his career in
animation into the 1960s, working on The Flintstones at Hanna-Barbera.
He is better known, however, as an author of animation instructional
books for Walter Foster Publishing. His first book, Animation, was
published in 1948 and originally included images of the MGM & Disney
cartoon characters he had animated, who were redrawn to obscure their
origins in the second edition of the book. Blair would write many more
animation how-to texts over the next forty years, culminating with
Cartoon Animation (1994), a 224-page book which compiles most of the
content from his previous books. A new edition of Cartoon Animation
will be published in 2020 by Walter Foster Publishing, an imprint of
The Quarto Group.
American character animator, best remembered for his work at Walt
Disney Productions and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio.A native
of Redlands, California, Blair began his animation career in the early
1930s at the Universal studio under Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan. He
later moved over to Charles Mintz's Screen Gems studio, and in the
late 1930s moved over to the Disney studio. At Disney, Blair animated
cartoon short subjects, Mickey Mouse scenes in "The Sorcerer's
Apprentice" section of Fantasia (1940), and the hippo-alligator dance
in Fantasia's "Dance of the Hours" sequence. He also did some work on
Walt Disney's Pinocchio (1940) and Bambi (1942).Blair left Disney
after the 1941 Disney animator's strike, and was hired to work for Tex
Avery's unit at MGM. There, he became particularly known for animating
the titular female character in Red Hot Riding Hood. "Red" later
re-appeared in more Avery cartoons, including Swing Shift Cinderella,
Little Rural Riding Hood, Uncle Tom's Cabana and the Droopy cartoons
The Shooting of Dan McGoo and Wild and Woolfy, with animation by
Blair. In the late 1940s, Blair teamed with Avery animator Michael Lah
to direct several Barney Bear cartoons.Blair continued his career in
animation into the 1960s, working on The Flintstones at Hanna-Barbera.
He is better known, however, as an author of animation instructional
books for Walter Foster Publishing. His first book, Animation, was
published in 1948 and originally included images of the MGM & Disney
cartoon characters he had animated, who were redrawn to obscure their
origins in the second edition of the book. Blair would write many more
animation how-to texts over the next forty years, culminating with
Cartoon Animation (1994), a 224-page book which compiles most of the
content from his previous books. A new edition of Cartoon Animation
will be published in 2020 by Walter Foster Publishing, an imprint of
The Quarto Group.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.