Vance's Technique

Vance would sketch thumbnails of any idea that popped into his head relating to the story on a pad of ordinary 8.5 x 11 paper. He didn't judge the value of any idea before he sketched it, he would just keep moving forward. This is one of his sheets from POCAHONTAS.

Once he found an idea he liked he would draw it larger on that same 8.5 x 11 pad. This is one from HERCULES.

He would take this drawing over to the copy machine and copy it onto a sheet of off white card stock. This he would paint using an ordinary box of Pelikan watercolors.

Hercules

A simple one for a film that actually got made.

Yes, he did work on a few.

Donkey/Zorro

Some mighty fine exploration with a black prismacolor pencil and crayons. Nothing fancy, just a small pack of crayola crayons.

And this one with pen and crayons.

Not so mysterious

This is another from that time and Vance described it as Zorro with a donkey. I'm not sure who Zorro was.

Mystery Drawing

For a short time Vance was working on so many projects for the "Creative Executives" I could not keep clear what was for what. This one I have no idea what it was for. Any ideas out there?

And again.

Two more for the SWAN PRINCESS.

Two nice sketches that Vance did for THE SWAN PRINCESS, a project being developed by Roger Allers just before he was drafted to co-direct THE LION KING. The project went nowhere and the drawings ended up in the archives.

Vance was not in the habit of signing his drawings. I had to press him to sign this sketch for ALADDIN. I'll add this signature to all the drawings I post here.