Mary Poppins - Sketch in Time

Mary Poppins, sketch
Black ink and carmine red pencil on paper.
21.6 cm x 27.9 cm (8.50 in. x 11.00 in.)

From the moment that I returned to Disney as a staff artist over five years ago now, I embarked on the quest of drawing as many different Disney characters as I could. It is a fairly impossible achievement, but it does give me something on which to focus instead of falling back on drawing more Disney Princesses.

Mary Poppins (1964) is not only a landmark film in the Disney filmography, but also in American filmmaking. It has a spectacular cast lead by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. The middle sequence of live actors on a jaunt through an animated world set new standards for special effects and continues to hold up next to today’s CGI confections. The songs are great - period.

Arguably, it is a bit too long if only because the fun has to come to an end to return to more meaningful story concerns like mending George Banks’ relationship with his family.

In this sketch, I return to overlaying Milt Kahl’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians styling to Ms. Andrews’ caricature - basically she’s Anita. It works for me because Dalmatians was released three years earlier, and one can do a lot worse than try to learn from Mr. Kahl’s strong draftsmanship.

The skyline is an afterthought. Were I to further develop it, I’d make it with more London flair.

As posted on Instagram @monstergram7.