It's a rough time for the animation and VFX industry as of late: DreamWorks are having to make massive cut backs; Rhythm & Hues, on the back of countless awards for their work on Life of Pi, including a BAFTA, have filed for bankruptcy. An earlier woe, though, came in September of last year, when Digital Domain ran into a whole host of financial problems, culminating in the shuttering of their animation division, Tradition Studios, and thus the unscrupulous demise of their first in-production animated feature, The Legend of Tembo.
At the time, we got to see some beautiful concept art, which just made the matter more tragic, and now, in the manner of the inexorable slew of beautiful concept art for Pixar's shelved newt, we get a fresh helping of beautiful Tembo production artwork.
Aaron Blaise, best known for his work at Disney (animator: Jasmine and Rajah in Aladdin, the title character in Pocahontas; director: Brother Bear), who was co-directing the film along with Chuck Williams (producer: Brother Bear), shared a veritable plethora of concept art, paintings, pencil tests, and even a how-to guide for drawing elephants, on his personal blog. Check out some highlights of the staggeringly brilliant work here, or head over to Aaron's blog at the above links to see the whole lot of it - click to see in higher-res.
Absolutely beautiful. Just imagine how brilliant The Art of The Legend of Tembo would have been! Sadly though, as Cartoon Brew points out, The Legend of Tembo may be destined to become no more than a legend itself... although, Animation World Network says that maybe this isn't the end after all...
Thanks so much for your kind words. The loss of Tembo was a tragedy for us all who worked on it. It would have been staggeringly beautiful. -Aaron Blaise
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