| ART |
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| Cartoon Art |
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One of the best-kept Willow secrets must be the fact that a cartoon series was
contemplated back around 1988. I never heard the slightest whisper about it
until some professional character sketches that were made during the development of the
series turned up on Ebay in June 2006. The drawings are wonderful and it's a shame that the
series didn't make it to the television screen. However,
the show was never put into production and no cartoons were made.
If the number of sketches devoted to each character is any indication, it looks
like the primary focus was on Willow and Elora.
The drawings came from the estate of Ric Gonzales, an artist who was an animator and character designer for Hanna-Barbera, De Patie Freleng, Ruby-Spears, and other animation studios on various cartoon shows from the 1960s through the 1990s. He also created illustrations for childrens' books based primarily on animated films. The sketches were in pencil, ink, lithographic crayon, and watercolor in sizes ranging from 3¾"x7¾" to 10½"x14½". Characters included Willow, Madmartigan, Sorsha, Elora, the Brownies, a new villain named Minrak, and a rather silly-looking dragon - I don't know if he was affiliated with the good guys or the bad guys. There's even a picture of Bavmorda - how is she still here?! There's also an unidentified villain who might be General Kael, and in one picture it looks like he's a ghost. The auctions were won by Joe Frese, who kindly provided pictures of the full set. Thank you Joe! |
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The good guys fight small dragons, but the big one looks friendly. There's a human enemy in the top left corner. | |